“It’s (not) the population, stupid!”

Li há uns tempos um pequeno artigo (paricalmente reproduzido abaixo), bastante bem argumentado, sobre "falso problema de excesso de população". Basicamente dizia que o problema é a pegada ecológica dos países desenvolvidos, a forma como gastam matérias primas, poluem, contaminan - nos seus países mas também nos outros! De acordo com a regra, 80% dos recursos são usados por 20% da população. Os restantes 80% estão entregues a eles próprios, morrem à fome e são alvo de doenças. E são estes desgraçados o problema? Ou somos nós?

(e sobre estes 80%, alguns têm a sorte de ser alimentados com os excedentes dos países desenvolvidos, uma situação win-win a curto prazo, mas que a médio prazo não ajuda a agricultura local)

Control cash not people
To blame our social and environmental problems on a population explosion in the developing world is to ignore the real bottom line, says Asoka Bandarage

"(...)
Research shows that for family planning to be voluntary, economic security of the population and women’s access to material resources, education and healthcare must be available. In regions such as Kerala, in India, and in Sri Lanka, voluntary fertility declines were associated with social welfare and the reduction of social and economic disparities, including social class- and gender based inequities.

In contrast, aggressive family planning in contexts of extreme impoverishment is leading to crisis-led fertility declines among some of the poorest populations in the world today.

Widening economic inequality, not overpopulation, is the critical issue. The 20 per cent of the world’s population living in the highest-income countries account for 86 per cent of total private consumption, whereas the poorest 20 per cent account for 1.3 per cent of the same. Clearly, the rich put more pressure on the environment than the poor.

Militarism and the arms trade emanating from the North pose a threat to life and the environment; population control advocates call for timetables and quotas for population stabilisation, but not specific strategies to level overconsumption and economic growth, which would be completely unacceptable to wealthier segments, which would feel robbed.
(...)"