Earth Day - Sustainability

For more on geologists talking about Earth Day, take a gander over at Andrew Alden’s About:Geology, the host of The Accretionary Wedge #8.

Geologists normally have a slightly unfriendly attitude towards floral biota. It is, after all, one of the major obstacles normally preventing the viewing of outcrops. Geologists are also the people who look for, find and then think up fantastic new ways of mining petrological resources, like petroleum, natural gas and coal. The use of these products normally releases CO₂ and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and unless this is your first interaction with the modern media in the last 20 years, I’m sure you’ve heard why this is problem. In a way, geologists have made it easier to use these products. But I’m hardly going to start laying blame for climate change, because this is a positive article. This is how I think geologists, scientists in general, and everyone else can help save the world. And it comes down to a single problem.

The Biggest Problem

The biggest problem with climate change and what’s causing it is very simple. The solution is also very easy (objectively). You literally don’t have to do anything. It’s a topic that no one (including the IPCC, overview here) seems to want to talk about. The main problem with climate change and the biggest problem currently facing the biosphere of the Earth is there are too many human beings. The solution is for humans to stop having so many children. It’s that simple. And I’m hardly the first to suggest it. With a universal one-child attitude and over a mere four or five of generations, we could quarter the human population (through absolutely non-violent means) to a more sustainable level. This would help to ensure the continuation of the species. Want to save humanity? Stop it from growing in size.

Suggesting this as a political goal or by the way of policy would be nothing short of political suicide, unless you’re at the helm of a totalitarian communist state (and even then, it doesn’t really work). The only way to achieve this is to make having one child the universal fashion (and keep it that way for a few centuries) and that somewhat runs against basic human nature.

The political problems surrounding that suggestion, have placed it firmly into the “too hard” box (no double entendre intended). But if you look at the problem objectively, the overpopulation of the planet is the root cause of the problem, and that’s one of the many fronts it should be tackled from (in a fair, humane manner, mind you. I’m a humanist after all and am most often in utter awe of some of humanity’s achievements and disgusted by its ill deeds).