George MonbiotBecause the issue of population change is so widely misunderstood, here's a short thread which seeks to lay it out simply.
It explains why there is almost nothing anyone can do to change the global population trajectory, both as numbers rise, then as they fall.
🧵1/13
The residual rise is due to: A. the birth rate 60-100 years ago, which created a larger current base population. This means more children being born even as birth *rates* are in radical decline.
The global total fertility rate, by the way, is now 2.2, just above the replacement rate of 2.1.
2/13
B. infant mortality has declined very fast and longevity has risen very fast.
Again, there's nothing you can do about either of those things and, I hope, nothing you would want to.
3/13
All women should have total reproductive freedom and full access to modern birth control. *Because it’s a fundamental right.* NOT because old men on other continents want them to have fewer children. Even if it became universal now, it would scarcely nudge the curve, due to the factors above.
4/13
Before long, people will be fretting instead about the downwave, a very rapid decline in populations as the impact of 60+ years of falling birth rates overtakes the effects mentioned above.
5/13
There's almost nothing we can do about that either. It's about as locked in as any human behaviour can be. As the opportunity costs of childcare rise (i.e. as prosperity increases), the birth rate declines.
6/13
Of course, if economic and social life collapsed, the process might go into reverse, and birth rates could be expected to rise again. But is that really what you want?
For my part, I’m heartily sick of people who think collapse is the answer to anything.
www.monbiot.com/2023/10/04/t...
7/13
The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fe...
The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fe...
In the short run, we can survive the decline in wealthy countries by reopening the door to immigrants, which would also offer sanctuary to people fleeing from the climate breakdown and conflict we've caused overseas. Two wins, in other words. In the long run, we'll steadily shuffle away.
8/13
Whether you think that's good or bad will not affect the outcome. I see demographic change as an underlying factor, like gravity, we simply have to adapt to as well as we can. If you want to pick a fight with a mathematical function, go ahead. But it seems to me as if you’re wasting your time.
9/13
Surely there's no harm in it? Surely we can seek to change the population trajectory while also campaigning against environmental breakdown, inequality, injustice? Some people who worry about population do. But in my experience, most fixate on population *to the exclusion* of other issues.
10/13
Something must be done about *them* breeding too fast, rather than *us* consuming too fast. All too often, residual population growth is used as a scapegoat to shift blame from rich-world impacts, which means that the people in places where growth is still occurring are themselves scapegoated.
11/13
The result, broadly speaking, is wealthy white people pointing the finger at much poorer Black and Brown people and saying, “You're the problem.” It's more than a distraction, it's a grim and sometimes racist alternative to effective action. It’s an excuse for *inaction*.
12/13
So yes, do both if you want to, while being aware that one activity is useful and the other is futile. But be aware that for most population obsessives, it's either/or, and is used to avoid moral responsibility and effective action.
More on all this here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
13/13
The facts are stark: Europe mu...
The facts are stark: Europe mu...
Page by George Monbiot | @georgemonbiot.bsky.social
Because the issue of population change is so widely misunderstood, here's a short thread which seeks to lay it out simply. It explains why there is almost nothing anyone can do to change the global population trajectory, both as numbers rise, then as they fall. 🧵1/13
JĂĽrgen HubertI'd argue that it is pretty much _always_ a racist distraction.
Frieke@georgemonbiot.bsky.social the USA MAHA is trying hard to change B with their no vaccination, criminilising reproductive healthcare, stopping investments in health research and making healthcare itself a luxury item đź«Ł
Dan Hatton@Frieke72 @georgemonbiot.bsky.social
Not just in the USA. Pretty much the whole world is now letting Covid spread without any control measures, and as long as that remains the case, I expect the only direction life expectancy will go in to be downwards.