The hysteria around the topic of overpopulation can be very selective, and therefore offensive. Those who argue for reduction in number of births in third world countries, are too often the same who push for population growth in the West, and who lament over the small family size in Western countries. Currently, the right to abortion is being challenged in the USA among predominantly white majority Christian states (see reversal of Roe v Wade) , while at the same time birth control methods are encouraged amongst blacks and minorities, through state and federal agencies. We can hear this same distinction made in Europe, by Right Wing politicians who complain that immigrant families have too many children, while claiming that European births numbers are dwindling, feeding public anxiety about the mythical vanishing ‘White’ race.We cannot allow ourselves to forget this double-standard, each time we hear about the topic of overpopulation. The selective racial undertones of that conversation are too obvious to be ignored. The hypocrisy is salient, especially when research has overwhelmingly shown that school education of girls is enough to balance family size. Taking care of female education and empowerment was also proven to impact the development of entire countries, as demonstrated by the positive results of micro-economy, when women are put in charge of their family’s budget. There is therefore no need to engage in campaigns or rhetoric of “mass depopulation” to remedy global sustainability. Besides all this, one could argue that recent global economic developments, such as China’s emergence, have revealed that the number of people in a country can be a real resource on the world stage. All such a resource needs, is intelligent self organising, compassionate management, and true participation to remain relevant. Things tend to self-balance, especially when intelligently tended to.
Outside of girls education and women empowerment, what other methods are being proposed or implemented? If one wants to have a grasp of the extent of this problematic, think for a minute about this question.