Too Many People? 3/5

No one, not even us socialist “cornucopianists,” believes that the resources of the planet Earth are unlimited. Usually, the position we take is that there are more factors involved in the issue of overpopulation than simply the idea of too many people and not enough resources. The real problem is how those resources are distributed. This is the real problem–this class division among human beings. The widespread ownership of land is also a major problem to be combated. As land is a natural product, it should not be a commodity to be bought and sold. When the concept of land ownership is not in question, it becomes apparent that little land is actually needed to give most people comfortable living space. Some blame the “explosion” in population for problems such as environmental degradation, the crises of overproduction and the widening gap between the rich and poor, but the problem is not so much overpopulation as it is a distribution of resources.

Powerful forces have been spreading a myth for years that the world is overpopulated or heading in that direction. The facts, however, show otherwise.  False beliefs and wishful thinking about the human experience are common. They are hurting people — and holding back science and society. The truth is that we may be heading towards a "global depopulation" crisis, with the result that almost every single country in the world will be unable to replace itself. Despite the fact that overpopulation is a myth, it is still a commonly held belief. Many point to crowded cities as "proof" of overpopulation - however, this is really "over-concentration" or "overcrowding", not overpopulation. Note that people choose to live close together to share resources and increase living standards. And, a high population density does not equal poverty - there are countries that are densely populated which are some of the richest countries in the world. There are starving people in the world. However, it is not because the earth cannot produce enough food for them, but because there is a problem getting the food to the people. People often starve due to their governments, for political reasons, or because certain groups are intentionally oppressing others. People not having access to food in some countries does not mean the food is not available or that it is impossible to feed all of them. In fact, food production has exceeded population growth and better farming techniques have allowed producers to produce more food on less land. It is said that American farmers alone can feed 1/3 of the entire world's population. The fact is that there is enough room on the planet - and enough food capacity - for many times the number of people currently living on earth. There is no overpopulation crisis, but a real danger of under-population that threatens may parts of the world in the years ahead.

The world's population also has enough to eat. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the rate of global food production outstrips the growth of the population. People grow enough calories in cereals alone to feed between 10 billion and 12 billion people. Yet hunger and malnutrition persist worldwide. This is because about 55% of the food grown is divided between feeding cattle, making fuel and other materials or going to waste. And what remains is not evenly distributed — the rich have plenty, the poor have little.

“Overpopulation is really not overpopulation. It's a question about poverty,” says Nicholas Eberstadt, a demographer at the American Enterprise Institute. People who know the facts use it as an excuse not to pay attention to the problems we have right now, such as the example of economic systems that favour the wealthy. Where starvation in the world is present, it isn’t caused by a lack of food. Studies consistently show the world has and can produce enough food for the present and future population.

Of all the myths about Africa prevailing in the West, none is propagated with more vigor and regularity than the notion that overpopulation is a central cause of African poverty. Each new famine has given propagators of this myth fresh ammunition. Indeed, in many African regions, the problem is underpopulation: The people are so thinly spread over large areas that it is often difficult to create a meaningful infrastructure to promote the interaction crucial to development. Africa's average population density is only 16 per square kilometer, against China's 100 per square kilometer and India's 225. Furthermore, Africa has more arable land per capita than any other developing region. Africans also point to the case of India, condemned by many experts in the 1960s to perpetual hunger. Today India is producing the bulk of its own food.

Western journalists blamed the Ethiopian famine on "overpopulation," but that was simply not true. The Ethiopian government caused it by confiscating the food stocks of traders and farmers and exporting them to buy arms. That country's regime, not its population, caused the tragedy. In fact, Africa, beset with problems often blamed on "overpopulation," has only one-fifth the population density of Europe, and has an unexploited food-raising potential that could feed twice the present population of the world, according to estimates by Roger Revelle of Harvard and the University of San Diego.

Yes, there are cities that are overpopulated, crammed to the brim with people. However, the Earth is not overpopulated in area—most of the land area is empty. While the earth does have a finite number of resources and a finite area with which to cultivate those resources, again, most of it is political and economic, i.e., the world’s supply of crude oil running out due to the financial interests of those in charge of the oil companies, the lack of an alternative being developed due to capitalist interests holding back science, the crises of overproduction and waste due to the market, international conflicts and of course, poverty.

Over-population is a myth and it has no direct link to poverty, development, food scarcity or environment. The overpopulation myths are handy for the exploiters, giving them a "scientific" excuse for the misery they cause so they can enjoy their blood-money without remorse. As Murray Bookchin argues, "If we live in a 'grow-or-die' capitalistic society in which accumulation is literally a law of economic survival and competition is the motor of 'progress,' anything we have to say about population causing the ecological crisis is basically meaningless. Under such a society the biosphere will eventually be destroyed whether five billion or fifty million people live on the planet"