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canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

The Overpopulation Project has an English translation of Frank Götmark's short essay which explores the idea that Homo sapiens is an invasive specie [overpopulation-project.com]. The essay was originally published on March 30^th in Svenska Dagbladet and has been very slightly modified.

An invasive species can be defined as an alien, non-native species that spreads and causes various forms of damage. Such species are desirable to regulate and, in the best case, eliminate from a country. But compared to our population growth they are a minor problem, at least in Sweden and many European countries. In North America and Australia, they are a larger problem. But again, they cause a lot less damage than Homo sapiens, who is in any case the cause of their spread.

Invasive species tend to appear near buildings and infrastructure; for example, on roadsides and other environments that are easily colonized, or in the sea via ballast in ships. It is often difficult to draw boundaries in time and space for invasive species. For example, in Sweden several species came in via seeds in agriculture during the 19th century and became common, such as certain weeds.

The idea has been explored before, for example back in 2015 by Scientific American [scientificamerican.com]. It's also relevant to note that the global population might be underestimated substantially [newscientist.com].

Previously:
(2019) July 11 is World Population Day [soylentnews.org]
(2016) Bioethicist: Consider Having Fewer Children in the Age of Climate Change [soylentnews.org]
(2015) Poll Shows Giant Gap Between what US Public and Scientists Think [soylentnews.org]
(2014) The Climate-Change Solution No One Will Talk About [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission