So today there is now officially over 8 billion people alive on our little blue planet

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881428#Comment_119881428

Well I have seen it written and heard it spoke that in underdeveloped countries, children are seen as an economic benefit where’s in developed countries they are seen as an economic cost due to expensive childcare and education etc.

So when a country becomes developed and expensive to bring up kids- people have less kids.

jimmybobbyschweiz

Too many very old and sick people are being kept alive and draining resources from younger people. It isn't a big problem with a high birth rate so much as it is a problem to have burdensome demographics like the very elderly and the sick. A difficult discussion for sure but unfortunately it is important in the context of sustainability.

bnt

There is this idea called the Demographic Transition Model that describes how populations evolve over time. It describes how population growth has slowed or stalled in some countries / regions and not in others. Overall population forecasts use this model, but that requires certain assumptions about the adoption of birth control in particular. In some parts of the world adoption rates are low for reasons relating to culture, intelligence, religion, etc.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119881666#Comment_119881666

You're forgetting about culture. Child mortality rates have been hugely improved in the third world.

Ireland's birth rates only really started to drop steeply when we shed our strict allegiance to the Catholic Church.

But who's going to tackle the cultural issues?

Also, anyone who says the world is still "underpopulated", surely this basic graph shows how extraordinary population growth in the 20th and 21st century has been?

world population.jpg

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119888723#Comment_119888723

So if child mortality rates have dropped in the third world- are we seeing less births due to more children surviving or are we seeing an increase in third world population due to improvements in infant mortality?

japprentice

We need to import another 2 million at least to get our population up to standard.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119888785#Comment_119888785

You could just check yourself! But yes, the improvements in child mortality rates have slowed population growth in some countries. Other countries, mostly in Africa, continue to have the highest birth rates in the world despite this. And also despite improvements in living standards generally, e.g. Angola in the top 3 birth rate in the world, despite going from one of the poorest countries in Africa to (nominally) in the top 10 GDP.

tom1ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119889114#Comment_119889114

So yeah- the human population is still growing but at a much slower rate.

By 2080 we will have plateaued.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119889126#Comment_119889126

How many more billions will we add before it plateaus in 2080? (when most of us will be dead)

tom1ie

Another 2bill. Due to plateau at 10 and then as economy’s mature and birth rates fall it’s not bound the realms of possibility that population levels fall.

I plan on being around in 2080 thanks 😉

steddyeddy

It's worth saying that all of those 8 billion aren't equal in terms of impact. Those in developed countries place more burden on the earth in terms of energy, food consumption and space than those in developing countries.

Unfortunately those of the more right wing disposition misunderstand this fact.

thinkabouit

One of The biggest problem facing the planet is desertification of land & losing our top soil.

Every year millions of acres are being burnt, eroded or turned to desert.

wd don’t have to few humans, we have too few animals to keep the grasslands healthy

nobody, is talking about it

japprentice

We can import cattle also.

donaghs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119891591#Comment_119891591

That’s a politically correct justification for overpopulation. Migrations trends will mean many of those will end up in cities living as modern consumers. And what about the effects of overpopulation in underdeveloped rurul areas? Deforestation for firewood and agriculture, animals driven towards extinction etc etc.

we need to get past ideology and accept that we can still have kids at replacement rate but we need to stop growing the world population.

Mr. teddywinkles

Deleted

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119888821#Comment_119888821

Have you heard about the housing crisis or will these 2 million people be happy to live in tents?

japprentice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119896601#Comment_119896601

There is no housing crisis, there is not even 10,000 homeless. Eu lowest. We need to build up or cities.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119896629#Comment_119896629

People who say there is no housing crisis are the worst people in Ireland. If theirs no crisis why is it almost impossible to find somewhere decent to rent in Ireland? We have ran out of places to house Ukrainians and students have put off college places as they can't find accommodation. Yes we need to build up, loads of building required but we need to create more homes before we can let more people into the country.

japprentice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119896688#Comment_119896688

We have loads of hotel rooms. Tourism can be put on hold for 5 years no problem.

Mr. teddywinkles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119896629#Comment_119896629

Why do have to do what other countries in the eu is doing the whole time. Look at the germans with there problems with energy at the moment. Now the knock on effect here. Dont get this mantra the whole time. Mainland europe is far from perfect.

Mr. teddywinkles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119896720#Comment_119896720

To hell with peoples jobs and businesses that depend on it. This has to be a wind up

japprentice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119896736#Comment_119896736

A payment scheme like covid payment would be setup.

japprentice

40% and more of rooms are taken in tourist spots so the country cannot function as a tourism industry.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119896795#Comment_119896795

And what about all the money lost due to no tourism industry? Do we just raise taxes even more on working people?

japprentice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898076#Comment_119898076

Provide supports. At the moment parts of Clare have over 50% of rooms permanently taken.

Season 2023 with 50% rooms out of stock will be a poor season.

Two things that can be done is free up stock or close the tourism industry and give supports.

Greyfox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898846#Comment_119898846

Closing tourism and giving supports is just wasting more money

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119896629#Comment_119896629

Exactly, we can sit back without worry. We can let homeless numbers build up. If they reach the tens of thousands only then should we sit up and take notice. These problems only affect a small number at the margins anyway.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898076#Comment_119898076

Shutting down tourim for a few years or indefinitely, would be a major boost to our efforts to cut emissions. Instead of people continuously flying in and out we have a one way flow inwards. Massive reduction.

We definitely need to build up. We can fit many more people and want to get many more people into public transport. Our living footprints are too large and downsizing from a typical 3 bed semi or a horrendous one off abomination to apartment living wholesale in a gradual shift will be superior too. We can trade back gardens for community gardens in the name of progress and improve of standards of living massively while saving the planet.

Bring on the millions and greater diversity. Ignore the racist naysayers.

The next steps the state should be taking are to compulsory purchase holiday homes for refugees. It could be done under the banner of taking on air bnb and how it would be relieving the so called housing crisis

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119899728#Comment_119899728

There are cities in the UK with populations as big or bigger than Ireland consisting almost entirely of semi D's. Space isn't an issue.

Compulsory purchasing is mainly for essential infrastructure,not sure any Government could arbitrarily decide to purchase properties. Anyway holiday homes would be in the wrong place,better off building where the facilities are.