The Crowding That Restricts Access to Desirable Places in Cities

Executive Summary

• Adding population is often presented as a net positive, and the perspective is presented from the individual’s perspective who is immigrating.
• This interesting quotation underlies the natural limitations to desirable things as population increases.

Introduction

I don’t dislike Australia, I just don’t have a desire to have a life there, as I do in Croatia. I would not have the work experience to get my old job back. My kids would be in daycare all week, and I’d probably be stuck living out in Western Syndey Again, with no access to the beaches, cafes and traveling opportunities like I do here. – Chasing the Donkey (Travel Blog)

Thie comment illuminates the fact that population additions have consequences, and it is not just Sydney. I am presently in Los Angeles as I write this, and one has to be very careful when thinking of visiting the ocean touching areas of the city because it means enormous congestion. However, neither Syndey nor Los Angeles was like this back in the 1950s or 1960s. At that time, the population in each area was much more reasonable, and the quality of life was better for those that lived there. This author explains that Croatia is now more appealing for her — even though she faces significant language and other barriers because at least in Croatia she can access the beautiful things that the area has to offer. Her commentary around her children being in daycare in Australia is a tacit admission to the increased costs of Australia that would require her to work (rather than just her husband working) to make ends meet.

International Population

Stepping outside the US for a minute, it was gratifying to see a liberal publication like Mother Jones published an excellent article that questioned why it is that no one is willing to discuss population control. I think rightly, the magazine placed the blame on many factors and organizations, and while conservative institutions are the most out of touch on this issue, there is plenty of blame to go around. Even with humans consuming the resources of 1.4 Earths currently, it is still challenging to get any consensus on the need for limiting population growth. The article points out that

Overpopulation combined with over consumption, is the elephant in the room… we don’t talk about overpopulation because of real fears of the past – of racism, eugenics, colonialism, forced sterilization, forced family planning…..we don’t talk about over consumption because of ignorance about the economics of overpopulation and the true ecological limits of the Earth. – Paul Ehrlich – From the book Population Bomb

As with global warming, all countries focus on finger-pointing rather than doing anything constructive. The rich point to the population growth in the poor countries and the poor countries point to the consumption in rich countries.

In the developing world, the problem of overpopulation is seen less as a matter of human numbers than of western consumption, yet within the developing community, the only solution to the problems of the developing world is to export the same unsustainable economic model fueling the overconsumption of the West. – Kavita Ramdas, President of the Global Fund of Women

The following quotation further emphasizes this.

“The vision of the world teeming with environmental refugees is daunting, even for wealthy countries such as the United States,” said John Cairns, University Distinguished Professor of Environmental Biology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blackburg, Virgina.

“When countries capable of absorbing refugees are at or beyond their carrying capacity, every individual on the planet becomes a potential refugee with no place to go,” Cairns said. “The world’s population is increasing at 77 million net gain per year, but natural support systems are decreasing.”

“It’s abundantly clear that many countries have exceeded their carrying capacity,and can only survive by exporting surplus populations,” Cairns said. Additionally, the United States, with five percent of the world’s population, creates 25 percent of greenhouse gases. Will we take responsibility for environmental refugees flooded out of their counrtries or islands by rising oceans from climate change? That number could reach into the hundreds of millions. – American on the Brink

Clear to a scientist, but there are very few articles that layout this reality.

What is the Carrying Capacity of the Planet for Humans?

Right now, Earth’s carrying capacity is thought to be somewhere in the range of 1.5 billion to 2.0 billion people with a Western standard of living. We sport 6.7 billion today and grow by 240,000 every 24 hours as we add 77 million annually. – American on the Brink

What is the Carrying Capacity of the US?

The United States possesses resources to sustain less than half of its current population of 306 million (quote is from 2009, the US population in 2020 is roughly 330 million), according to ecologist Paul Ehrlich, who first called attention to the potential population problems in 1968 with his book, The Population Bomb. – American on the Brink

Helping People Achieve the American Dream?

Americans will often propose that they think people in third world countries have a right to “the American Dream.” This is generally without understanding the enormous ecological footprint of developed countries. It is seldom discussed how the American Dream is primarily about resource consumption.

Do you understand that when a third world person reaches America, their ecological footprint changes from near zero to 12.6 as soon as they take a job, buy a car, rent a house, buy goods and produce waste? This occurs into the millions with legal and illegal immigration annually. Environmental refugees that survive will converge on the America and other successful Western societies at all costs. – American on the Brink

Why No One Wants to Hear It

While the population problem is obvious and dramatic, it is rarely discussed. Why? The article points out that many groups will not touch the issue of fundraising issues.

Many conservation and non-governmental organizations that run on member support..shy away from the population issue.. because it puts their funding at risk. – Ed Barry of the Population Institute.

And..

The most astounding aspect of this data — that ties my mind in knots — stems from the fact that the average citizen doesn’t seem to have a clue about what’s coming — and not one national leader will address it.

Why? Money! Follow the money. Every time an environmental shock wave surfaces — like climate change, fisheries collapsing, species extinctions and oil depletion — our leaders think of a dozen ways to obfuscate, deny or ignore our accelerating calamity. Meanwhile, citizens go about their business completely clueless. – American on the Brink

Now typical that no one wants to hear it. Everyone would like someone else to reduce their population, but not, of course, their own.

In the Amazon rainforest, I witnessed the astonishing, if not sickening cutting and burning of trees at the astounding rate of 1.5 acres every second. Schellnhuber’s climate model shows that a warming globe will convert the wet Amazonian forest into a savannah within this century, and “the loss of trees will render the region a net carbon dioxide producer, further accelerating global warming.” – American on the Brink

This excellent video shows how the human population got out of control just recently. 

This looks like mass idiocy. Why the human population would be so reasonable for nearly all of human history and then be allowed to explode because technologies reduced mortality certainly seems like it should be a significant discussion point.

The Repeating Pattern of Non-White Immigration to White Countries

Conclusion

The book Planet of Slums lays out the very negative ways that cities have grown worldwide and the increasing problems that come from their continued growth. Cities are growing uncontrollably, and even the most crowded cities are scheduled to have even more population added to them. And each new person added, reduces the quality of life in that city — and along with this the ecological implications are rarely considered. Instead, it is the interests of employers, property developers, and new immigrants that predominate.

References

*https://www.chasingthedonkey.com/5-years-living-in-croatia-moving-to-croatia-tips/

*https://www.populationmedia.org/

*https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Slums-Mike-Davis/dp/1784786616

*https://www.amazon.com/America-Brink-Added-Million-Americans/dp/1438960743