Over-population OR Mis-spacialization?
It seems as though the THEORY of overpopulation continues to make its way through many media outlets...textbooks, the Internet, cable news, etc. As I ride by the structures in my hometown I see the effects of urban sprawl continually rising...more traffic, more empty commercial buildings, more widespread and isolated businesses and residential units. Jim Kuntsler refers to this period as the "greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the planet," and I can't really disagree with him on that. To me, it appears as though we have more than enough space to fit the billions and counting people on this planet as well as feed us at the same time. Monstrous parking lots, empty crossroads, and one story suburbia has failed in its design.
If there is to be a true economic recovery the people who are so-called in charge of everything will lose the return on their investment. The debt ridden Ponzi-scheme must continue for big corporate businesses, federal agencies, and non-elected global bureaucracies or else the game is over and the curtains shall be pulled. As we transfer into the new paradigm of truly living, we must realize that we are suffering from a systemic design problem. One that starts with our monetary system. As permaculturists we save energy by tackling the largest problems that we can foresee and heading downstream from there.
The "too big to fail" idiom should be seen as the most violent act ever perpetrated on the human population. Overpopulation and "too big to fail"-ists go hand in hand. The solution to overpopulation (misuse of space and time) and "too big to fail" (violent military expansion) remains an issue of design. The attempts to eradicate the seed of reality will continue, but the energy and resources that it takes to do so is not only failing, but has almost failed to the point where even the largest claims of ignorance shall be futile. As we end this war story, we transfer into a narrative of peace, understanding, and acceptance.
The idea that we are reaching a population crisis, that is as a species humans are overpopulating the planet, is becoming an increasingly held opinion. This would appear not to take into account that global population limits are dictated in large part by our social behaviour. Our world population has grown more since 1950 than it has in the previous four million years.
ReplyDeleteWe must begin to understand the carrying capacity of our planet, but we also need to start making decisions about how we function as a society. The population limit for a society that is focused on an economy of infinite growth and one that is concerned with an intelligent systems approach to providing a high standard of living for our entire human family coupled with biosphere sustainability is two completely different things.
http://socialrebirth.org/overpopulation-is-a-symptom-not-a-problem
awesome article reply link Sean Hurley
ReplyDelete