Population, Demand, Sovereignty and Shortages

Garrett Hardin discusses population and scarcity of resources.Show more

Biologists consider long-term to be millions of years; economists consider it to be five years. If there are too many people on the planet, we must slowly adjust by decreasing birth rates with respect to death rates. Famines are a result of local food and population imbalance.

The number of people we could have in the US is related to pollution and quality of life. Sprawl is a consequence of overpopulation. "We can not cure a shortage by increasing the supply - not when the population is growing. The only way to cure a shortage is by decreasing the demand." "Stabilizing the population is one way of decreasing demand. Other ways are getting people to settle on a lower energy diet, food diet, etc." "The point is: to decrease demand, you either have to decrease the number of people demanding, or you have to decrease the demand per person."

We must "make each nation that claims sovereignty - and every nation does claim sovereignty - say as the price of that sovereignty, comes responsibility. You are responsible for taking care of your own people."

Educational Communications program 803 - segment 1, 1990.

Learn more about Garrett Hardin:
https://www.garretthardinsociety.org