PHIL 2270 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Barry Commoner
14 Jun 2018
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“How Poverty Breeds Overpopulation” by Barry Commoner
Commoner stresses that the world population is increasing and there is only a finite
number of resources. Problems: overpopulation and low quality of life.
So how can we achieve a decrease in birth rate?
1) Providing people with contraceptives
2) Legal sanctions for having more than a specified # of children
3) Withholding food from starving nations whose birthrate is too high
Demographic Parasites: dominant countries that steal wealth from their colonies
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Document Summary
Commoner stresses that the world population is increasing and there is only a finite number of resources. So how can we achieve a decrease in birth rate: providing people with contraceptives, legal sanctions for having more than a specified # of children, withholding food from starving nations whose birthrate is too high. Demographic parasites: dominant countries that steal wealth from their colonies. Life expectancy has increased over the years: decreasing scarcity of natural resources. E. g. , copper has decreased in price steadily indicating it is less scarce. The same with oil and aluminum: food a benign trend . Deaths due to famine have decreased in the last century. Existing food shortages on continents such as africa is due to civil wars and collectivization of agriculture. Increase in population has given rise to an increase in food resources and affluence including access to electricity: people are the one scarcity.
