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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday November 07 2019, @08:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the Neo-Malthusian dept.

From Bloomberg:

Forty years ago, scientists from 50 nations converged on Geneva to discuss what was then called the "CO2-climate problem." At the time, with reliance on fossil fuels having helped trigger the 1979 oil crisis, they predicted global warming would eventually become a major environmental challenge.

Now, four decades later, a larger group of scientists is sounding another, much more urgent alarm. More than 11,000 experts from around the world are calling for a critical addition to the main strategy of dumping fossil fuels for renewable energy: there needs to be far fewer humans on the planet.

[...] The scientists make specific calls for policymakers to quickly implement systemic change to energy, food, and economic policies. But they go one step further, into the politically fraught territory of population control. It "must be stabilized—and, ideally, gradually reduced—within a framework that ensures social integrity," they write.

Others disagree, stating

Fewer people producing less in greenhouse-gas emissions could make some difference in the danger that climate change poses over time. But whether we end up with 9, 10, or 11 billion people in the coming decades, the world will still be pumping out increasingly risky amounts of climate pollution if we don't fundamentally fix the underlying energy, transportation, and food systems.

Critics blast a proposal to curb climate change by halting population growth

Journal Reference:
William J Ripple, Christopher Wolf, Thomas M Newsome, Phoebe Barnard, William R Moomaw. World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency[$]. BioScience. doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz088


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  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Friday November 08 2019, @03:06AM (3 children)

    by driverless (4770) on Friday November 08 2019, @03:06AM (#917705)

    In a few countries (e.g. some African ones that have child support) this is particularly bad, you get paid for each baby you have and after that there's no recording of what happens to it. So people will drop the babies in a ditch or a dumpster once the birth is recorded and their payment is set up, and then get to work on producing the next free-money token. That's the extreme consequences of what happens when you're paying people to have babies.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @09:39PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @09:39PM (#918049)

    In a few countries (e.g. some African ones that have child support) this is particularly bad, you get paid for each baby you have and after that there's no recording of what happens to it. So people will drop the babies in a ditch or a dumpster once the birth is recorded and their payment is set up, and then get to work on producing the next free-money token.

    [citation needed]

    And this better be good because, frankly, it smells like rank bullshit.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by driverless on Friday November 08 2019, @11:33PM

      by driverless (4770) on Friday November 08 2019, @11:33PM (#918089)

      In a few countries (e.g. some African ones that have child support) this is particularly bad, you get paid for each baby you have and after that there's no recording of what happens to it. So people will drop the babies in a ditch or a dumpster once the birth is recorded and their payment is set up, and then get to work on producing the next free-money token.

      [citation needed]

      And this better be good because, frankly, it smells like rank bullshit.

      Child support worker in Gauteng province. Current case (as of a few days ago, there's a constant stream) is a lovely ten-year-old girl who's been thrown out by her parents because they don't want her any more. She's currently being housed in the local school, with various mothers taking turns to bring her lunches. If you want to adopt, PM me.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by driverless on Friday November 08 2019, @11:38PM

      by driverless (4770) on Friday November 08 2019, @11:38PM (#918092)

      Oh, and if you want a more formal ref, there are dozens of them a quick Google away, for example this one [iol.co.za]:

      However, a 2018 study conducted by the Medical Research Council revealed that about 3500 children survive abandonment every year. It is estimated that for every one child found alive, two are found dead.