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Burning down the house

July 11, 2015

 

Burning down the house

Today is World Population Day (July 11)

Picture the street where you live. Now imagine that a building in your neighborhood bursts into flame and burns to the ground. Day after day, the calamity is repeated.

With safety and livelihoods at risk, people begin to argue about the best way to counter the threat. Some say that the fire department budget should be increased to support more trucks and firefighters. Others say that infrastructure is the problem to fix, that building codes should mandate construction with nonflammable materials.

No one bothers to ask, “What is causing the fires? Is there a gas leak or an arsonist on the loose?”

If this were the public response to a crisis in your neighborhood, you’d call it dangerous. It would be laughable to simply fight the fires without seeking and addressing their cause.

And yet even that superficial level of conversation is deeper than the typical response to the ecological and social conflagration engulfing the Earth — the great unraveling of nature and the unprecedented number of people living in crushing poverty.

Mostly, we just don’t talk about it, let alone ask, “What is causing the fire? The answer is too uncomfortable. Unintentionally, but in effect, humanity has become a planetary arsonist, burning down the houses (habitat) of our neighbors in the community of life. Our numbers and behavior are transforming the Earth, causing unnecessary suffering for people and for the other creatures with which we share the planet.

It’s time to talk about the size of the human family and the way we organize our economic activity (and not just today, on World Population Day), in language that is both honest and non-accusatory. It’s time to move beyond old arguments about whether population size or overconsumption is most culpable (both matter) and work urgently to expand rights, opportunity, and health for people in high fertility countries.

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Olduvai IV: Courage
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Olduvai II: Exodus
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