scarlett__mage's Blog
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Resources > Human Life: My Problem w/ One Dude's Equation
- Posted on 10.07.09
"In a world where our population is outgrowing the resources that nature can provide would the death of people, which includes -sorry to say- children, be considered a form of Population control. It’s a cruel way to look at things, but by saving million of lives yearly you are making it more difficult for the planet to sustain itself. As the planet is now it’s beyond is point of stability… The more people the planet tries to support, the quicker it dies. Simple as that."
- Chris Petruno, heartless bastard (& possible spawn of Hitler?)
Petruno’s comment is the most recent on the page of the Ted Talk featuring Michael Pritchard’s LIFESAVER water bottle, which I mentioned a couple of posts ago (http://bit.ly/LSVERP). I have to ask you, Petruno—would you be saying the same thing if we were talking about saving the cities of London, Paris, or Madrid? If a natural disaster had ravaged the capital of the US instead of the capital of the Philippines, would you still be giving the OK for the death of millions?
I attribute part of Petruno’s comment to the fact that it’s very easy to wave off a few million lives when you don’t know them. Well, how about this? Let’s say, OK mister, you pick 1 million kids, handpick 1 million children by looking them straight in the eye and saying, “You’re taking up too much space. You don’t deserve to live anymore.”
Yes, we’re draining the earth of its resources so let’s take the population that has the VERY LEAST access to these resources and let’s allow them to perish. That will fix the problem. That makes sense.
Because when he says “population control,” I would wager to say that he’s primarily referring to the hard-hit populations depicted in Pritchard’s presentation—populations in the developing nations of Asia and Africa.
The planet IS going to sustain itself. This rock’s been around for billions of years. It’ll be around for billions more. The issue then is our ability to sustain ourselves. Instead of indifference to the plight of many, I believe that the planet would benefit more from our reassessment of the disproportionate allocation of wealth and resources. Hm, get rid of people of have no home, no food, no water. Keep people who have millions of dollars and vast acres of land all to themselves. (That is, keep people who have the ability to give the basic necessities for life to those who don’t have it and still have more than enough leftover for their mortgage in the Hamptons.) Yes, that is a good survival model.
And I suppose it is. Except I value all human life. Whether you have $1,000,000 or $1 in the bank or don’t have a bank account at all, I believe that your existence is just as valid as the others. I believe it unjust for people to die in the wake of natural disasters, to die at all from the lack of basic human needs—food, clothing, water, shelter—and the onset of preventable, curable, treatable diseases.
Petruno not only devalues human life, but he grossly underestimates humanity’s intellectual resources—resources demonstrated by Pritchard, resources that manage to sustain both people and the planet we inhabit. His comment is simply a cop out, a quitter’s bitching. As for myself, maybe it’s just me, I believe the world is not beyond saving, but we must each do our part to save it.
x-posted: Tumblr (http://bit.ly/LSVERP)
Related causes: Community, Environment, Health, Human Rights, Youth
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We seem to be mixing a lot of concepts here. Yes the earth will be around no matter what we do, but that's not the point. It might not have us on it, or it might be extremely difficult for us to live on the earth if we screw things up badly enough.
Real population control should be something we aren't afraid to explore. But it doesn't have to be government mandated and it doesn't have to involve dying children. We can get control over the population quite easily simply by educating women. Reduces population growth every time.
Talk about a win-win.
Amen Wendy!