How Much Is Too Much? Octomom Sparks Overpopulation Debate
Those who haven’t spent the last few months corralled by the lithosphere no doubt have heard about Nadya Suleman, the “Octomom” who gave birth to eight babies in late January, despite already having six children at home (and being on public assistance). Oh, you’ve heard? Good, then we can jump to the chase.
Though the California native recently admitted her behaviour was irrational and unrealistic (gee, ya think?), it did raise an important point. Namely, how many children are too many when you can barely provide for yourself?
While the daytime talk shows dispatch with Ms. Suleman and her predicament, how many is too many is a question some feel we need to start looking at on a broader scale. A growing cadre of activists say the planet is in overshoot – the point where carrying capacity buckles under load – and that overpopulation threatens our food supply, environment, and even the ability to sustain our species. Forget the friendly and giving images of Mother Nature from storybooks past. Rather, the planet has gone full–on Octomom, overburdened and materially depleted by the weight of its progeny, and we ought to do something about it soon, they say.
Every year, the world’s population grows by an additional 70 million people, mostly in areas such as Africa and Asia. According to the United Nations, the planet currently supports 6.7 billion people – a number which has sharply risen since the early 20th century, when numbers hovered around 1.6 billion. With global population expected to rise to 9.2 billion over the next 40 years, who gets what isn’t the only problem – it’s will there be enough at all.
“We haven’t started to get serious of economics in an age of scarcity,” says Madeline Weld, director of the Population Institute of Canada, a non–profit group that has been working since the 1980s to raise the issue of overpopulation and its consequences. She presses the need to focus on a steady–state economic model that doesn’t see growth as merely greater output, but rather an intricate balance of finite resources and people. “I think we’re going to, whether we want to or not, end up going more and more in that direction as time goes on, as we come to realize that this resource draw down is real.”
