Many environmentalists believe that environmental destruction is a
product of “overpopulation”, and that the world is already “full up”. So
are population reduction strategies essential to solving the climate
crisis?
At best, population control schemes focus on treating a symptom of an
irrational, polluting social and economic system rather than the causes.
In China, for instance, such measures haven’t solved that country’s
environmental problems.
At worst, populationist theories shift the blame for climate change onto
the poorest and most vulnerable people in the Third World.
They do not address the reasons why environmental damage, or even
instances of overpopulation, happen in the first place and they divert
attention away from the main challenge facing the climate movement — the
urgent need to construct a new economy based on environmentally
sustainable technologies and the rising of living standards globally.
Full article at http://links.org.au/node/736
Subscribe free to /Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ -
at http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=343373