A site like this is started with the best of intentions. If my experience is anything to go by, entropy follows very swiftly.
Anyway, here's a thought I'd like to transmit even though it's probably a waste of time.
Almost every problem that confronts this planet, and it's likely to be facing a catastrophic nexus of events quite soon, seems to me to be downstream of one central fact: the exponential growth of human population. (Does this need elaboration? I would have thought it pretty obvious; if you think it isn't, well, move away and read something else.) And yet the issue is almost never addressed, in any public context, whether political, economic or environmental - if indeed these categories can be said to be independent. Is it not incredible that public discourse on these global issues (and conflict arising from resource competition is now an ever more conspicuous component) almost NEVER raises this subject? The "Elephant in the room" indeed - completely taboo.
Until the objective of slowing population growth becomes the #1 global priority, all the other attempts to retard the current headlong slide into chaos are utterly futile. We'll leave aside for the moment the question of human consciousness and its inherent deficiencies. It's necessary to immediately address the raw numbers. This can be done relatively easily (compared to environmental manipulation, for example.) The Chinese did it quite effectively for a couple of decades. Taxation policies alone are capable of having a huge impact in developed economies - even those labouring under the burden of insane theological impositions.
So, let's start somewhere. One child family; base-level taxation. Two child family; 2X base level. Three child family; 6X base level. Etc. You get the picture.
Or we can ignore the cause and argue endlessly about ways to address the symptoms. Unfortunately the day will dawn when a politician out there somewhere, at the height of some unimaginable turmoil, will remember that mankind has invented the neutron bomb...
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