Is population growth a good thing?

kabayiri

One of the problems here is that we can't achieve a regionally balanced economy. As a consequence, more and more people are going to gravitate to the wealthy S.E until it chokes.

Asheron

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

Worldwide it is not sustainable.

I'm waiting to find (I'm sure some tin-hat type has done the maths) what the impact of 7 Billion CO2 emitters is considered to be...

and whether it is more than airlines, cars, industry etc.

1) CO2 does not cause Climate Change

2) Climate Change happens all the time,

3) If you believe in this Global Warming Scam/Fraud/Hoax good luck to you! I hope you enjoy paying your extra Carbon Tax, and your 1 child policy!

Cannon_Fodder

I agree Climate Change happens all the time.

I am also sceptical about how much effect man/CO2 is having.

To think that man/CO2 has zero effect is naive, however.

I would like to see a 'Top Ten of Factors on the Climate', so everyone can see "their pet theory" on the list and instead of it being an argument about what the causes are, it becomes a realistic discussion about what actions need to be taken - not building on flood plains, cleaner energy production, etc etc.

If it turns out to be 60% man-made and 40% "natural forces", or those %'s are vice versa, doesn't matter.

And whether its another Ice Age on the way, or still in the warming direction of the cycle, doesn't matter.

What matters, imo, is that if we deal with or focus upon man-made effects only, we could still be in deep trouble/water and surprised by future events.

Sapphire

I think population growth is a very bad thing. There is a limit to how many people the planet can sustain.

People should be paid not to have children. :cool:

LilacPixie

It is a difficult question. On one hand we as a generation need younger people to be working to keep paying for our pensions/NHS treatment just as we are paying for the older generations at the moment.. But the UK is an island and there is only so much of a population it can support physically and financially. I think capping child benefit to 1 or possible two children implemention the plan from now so those with 6 kids already still get childbenefit but wont get anymore.

I still maintain that if you need to relay on the £18 or so child benefit a week to raise a child then you are in no position to be having more children.

Rob_Marx

LilacPixie wrote: »

But the UK is an island and there is only so much of a population it can support physically and financially. .

cool i will move to france and have 100 kids:rotfl:

nitr02007

Population growth is bad when there are not enough resources to go around.
Copenhagen is about supressing the development and population increase of the developing countries.

Co2 is being demonised by politicians, not because it is causing global warming, but because its created by burning the world dwindling supply of fossil fuels. The Politicians don't want China, India and other developing countries burning increasing amounts of fossil fuel because there's a finite amount left. More people using it in increasing amounts means the world runs out sooner.

Therefore this whole GW charade is about limiting the use of fossil fuels by the developing world so the western world can continue their lifestyle for longer.

The MMGW debate should be over - there's been no warming over the last decade - where was that on the hockey stick graph? Wake up people.

sabretoothtigger

Population generally a good thing because people are generally a good thing and productive and able to pay taxes and so on.
The population growth of pensioners in ratio to working people does form a drag on the economy.

Russia, Japan, Spain among others have falling populations, which will cause problems eventually. Russia might be ok as it has natural resources and is coming from a low base but Japan has problems because they expect so much and have increasingly less resources to service government obligations to the non working population

So the UK growing is a good thing. If the population were growing in people who wont perform in the economy then I'd agree its a negative whatever their age or race

America also has this growth factor I believe. Imagine if we were growing the debt at this present rate but without also the increasing future potential to pay it off, so it is a positive


As far as resources go, its how people use them and reuse them that matters more, the argument is fixed ignoring that this is a changing world beyond anyones estimation. Demand should necessitate supply innovations


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_power

Stompa

Sapphire wrote: »

I think population growth is a very bad thing. There is a limit to how many people the planet can sustain.

People should be paid not to have children. :cool:

I don't think we can afford that, but as a deterrent there should be financial pernalties for having children (the more children the more severe the penalties).

cepheus

For a societal/economic point of view we really need stabilised population so there are enough balance between young and old. From an environmental point of view a population increase or even to hold it at present values, is disastrous. There are too many humans on the planet, if it was any other species they would be viewed as vermin and controlled ruthlessly.

The UK is a special situation with a large amount of the population rise due to immigration, so I'm not sure if the population increase here (as a contribution to the world) is the main problem. Of course it will get more crowded locally which is not desirable.