Experts Fear Collapse of Global Civilisation

[antigone382]

159. Yes, you're right, and I don't mean to dismiss your point.

Desertification and biodiversity loss can certainly where people are just trying to survive. It is just that I often see people on DU and elsewhere reduce the entire problem to overpopulation, a problem which happens to be mostly associated with the relatively powerless, and ignore the incredible environmental destruction wrought by the profligacy of the developed. Birthrates decrease with better access to education, medical care, and a decent standard of living (particularly for women), and those are things that we in the developed world need to prioritize; at the same time, we can't keep living, and more importantly, modeling to the developing world, a lifestyle that is utterly crippling to the planet.

In any case, it seems like I'm preaching to the choir here

I hold out hope that our numbers and our consumption levels will be reduced in the less painful, more enlightened way...although I realize that this is a less and less likely hope.