Global population reduction? How?

THE EDITOR: Europe, North America and China are literally baking in record-breaking heatwaves. In parts of India, temperatures have already hit 49 Celsius degrees this year, 12 degrees above the normal average. Heat, as never felt before, has brought wildfires to many parts of Western Europe, forcing thousands of people from their homes.

In the United Kingdom, the weather office issued its first ever red alert. On Tuesday temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius for the first time. Additionally, drought has made large areas of Spain and Portugal more susceptible to wildfires. France is at its highest state of alert for extreme temperatures. Kilometres of land have already been lost to wildfires.

So what do all these soaring temperatures mean? Can’t we (globally) realistically contribute to bringing them down gradually, at least by a few degrees annually? It has already been established that in the course of the production of everything over the last century, diverse emissions in humongous volumes into the atmosphere and deforestation are the two main causes of the skyrocketing temperatures. So, how do we stop or at least slow down these vast quantities of manufactured emission and rapid deforestation?

And here we are talking about the production of everything – food, clothing, shelter, essential and non-essential, from a simple pencil to a modern passenger aircraft, building materials for a simple shack to a mighty mansion, transport that includes the millions of cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes and ships (all of which contribute to atmospheric deterioration), and production of parts for their maintenance, working equipment in every field, from the simple bicycle for the postal delivery officer to the manufacture, operation (land and sea) and maintenance of equipment in the production of oil, gas and associated energy products (globally), the now billions of cell phones, computers and other electronic equipment – all to support a population of now eight billion people, many of whom are yet to get their hands on these products.

Mother Earth is truly crying. We are demanding too much of her. But how do we lessen our demand of Mother Nature? Does she have the kind of speedy regeneration capability that we are presently, and increasingly, demanding of her?

There can only be one possible solution: if it was possible to reduce our global population, wouldn’t there be a simultaneous lesser demand for all these products, thereby reducing the production of them, thus less hazardous emissions being emitted into the atmosphere? And of course a reduced global population would also mean less deforestation. Consequently, wouldn’t we be generating a much needed all-round environmental change?

Whether we admit it or not, over the last century our global population has peaked to a tipping point without sincere checks and balances. So how do we even begin such reduction? With so many developed countries wanting to have their own way and many Third World countries claiming independence, no one seems prepared to do what is required to combat what looks like an inevitable global environmental disaster. On the contrary, over the past seven to eight decades greater consumption of everything meant greater yield for commercial businesses.

If we truly love and care for the future generations, something needs to be done now to save our planet.

LLOYD RAGOO

Chaguanas