The Economics Of... Overpopulation
When we think of overpopulation we might think of overdevelopment, reproductive responsibility, or even Black Friday. The main practical concern involved with a growing human population, however, is our ability to allocate and consume the resources of Earth sustainably. A term for effective, long-lasting environmental management, sustainability as an economic concept is discussed in my latest post, “The Economics of… Sustainability.” But to what extent does our relationship with our planet depend on how many of us are living on it? As summarized by David Satterthwaite from the International Institute for Environment and Development in London, "it is not the number of people on the planet that is the issue – but the number of consumers and the scale and nature of their consumption." This consumption is a major motivation for economic policy, which serves to maximize production resources and balance of trade for the purpose of further consumption.
BBC predicts that the areas with the highest growth rates in the upcoming decades, urban centers of low and middle-income countries, have historically low consumption as measured by their greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to drastically varied lifestyles between high and low-income nations; households in developed, urban areas have a far larger overall environmental footprint. The production habits of a developing country such as India or China are undeniable, but the consumption habits of the western world are equally detrimental to humankind’s ability to responsibly sustain population growth. Changes that are necessary to be made to decrease household consumption are cultural, ranging from driving less to conserving running water.
Another type of cultural change that would dramatically slow the population growth rate internationally is increased access to birth control options and career-building for women. Underdeveloped areas of the world ,where hunger and limited education are the greatest threat to its people, would see the greatest benefit from this humanitarian change. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization founded to study and educate on reproductive health and rights, with adequate family planning services “[u]nintended pregnancies would drop by more than two-thirds, from 75 million in 2008 to 22 million per year.” If the goal, though, is to leave the smallest footprint in our efforts, how can we also optimize the resources we use in our solutions?
Technology is a source of efficiency in global problem-solving, such as the Carl Bosch’s Noble Prize-winning invention of chemical fertilizers that broke open the potential for food production. This discovery may have addressed supporting a growing population, but the negative effects such as resource pollution and global warming are modern dilemmas that technology being asked to address. Instead of considering how to maximize resources, we ask something else: how can we minimize consumption? To answer this, we need to understand where we are starting and what our goal is. The Nature Conservancy claims that the average per capita carbon footprint in the U.S. is 16 tons of CO2 per year, 12 tons higher than the global footprint and 14 tons higher than the required average footprint to avoid a 2 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures by 2050. You can use their carbon footprint calculator to see the estimated carbon dioxide usage of your household dependent on your income, utility usage, and travel and shopping habits. The Columbia University Earth Institute blog State of the Planet has similar current and required footprint estimates; they provide solutions such as “eat low on the food chain,” shop secondhand, and fly nonstop.
The collective cultural change that is necessary within the middle and high-income areas of the world will be an overhaul of energy-centric habits instilled by retail, hospitality, and transportation markets and approved by consumers. The supply of sustainable and low-waste good and services will need to be driven by demand from the social and political contributors of the world. Besides the solutions to overpopulation based on slowing population growth, it is important to consider ways to minimize the negative implications of a growing population through effective and responsible consumption.
""It is not the number of people on the planet that is the issue – but the number of consumers and the scale and nature of their consumption." " -- David Satterthwaite from the International Institute for Environment and Development in London
Works Cited
“Adding It Up.” Guttmacher, The Guttmacher Institute, 2009, www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/AddingItUp2009.pdf.
Cho, Renee, et al. “The 35 Easiest Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint.” State of the Planet, 26 Aug. 2019, blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/.
Cumming, Vivien. “Earth - How Many People Can Our Planet Really Support?” BBC, BBC, 14 Mar. 2016, www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160311-how-many-people-can-our-planet-really-support.
“What Is Your Carbon Footprint?” The Nature Conservancy, www.nature.org/en-us/getinvolved/how-to-help/carbon-footprint-calculator/?redirect=https-301.
“World Population Prospects - Population Division.” United Nations, United Nations, 2019, population.un.org/wpp/Graphs/DemographicProfiles/Line/900.