Let slip the dogs of unbridled procreation…

During my studies in engineering I have often been exposed to the topic of sustainability, which currently seems to be the top ethical issue at my university. In fact, since Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth I would say that a lot of people in the Netherlands concern themselves with sustainability, which has become synonymous with environmentalism, though nowadays the former is the preferred nomenclature.

However, the counter-measures taken are hardly constructive, sufficient, efficient, etc. At my university for example, the curriculum and its contents haven’t really been changed to gear towards sustainability. All the ‘fuss’ merely translates to articles in the university paper and special lectures and such on the topic. It’s not really introducing engineering students with the issue in any broad way and relies heavily on personal initiative by the student to invest any thought in it. In Dutch society as a whole, sustainability has left the political arena and is now at the heart of ‘green’ advertising. This in turn leads to backlash from consumer organizations, magazines and TV programmes all offering their (often just) criticisms on this commercialization of the issue. The debate turns from environmental concerns to consumer ethics. The real issue of sustainability itself is therefor no longer the point of discussion. Ofcourse I’m describing the current state of affairs in rather broad strokes, but this is how I perceive it.

An even larger problem is this; any environmental concern, energy issue, etc. is merely a cause, or symptom of overpopulation and consumerism, which together explain how too many people use too much of what this planet has to offer. Now I’ve come to this conclusion some years ago, and have since then become amazed at how little overpopulation is a political, or even a public theme. In fact, it’s not. All we talk about is various side-effects that occur naturally as economic and population growth are allowed to take place in an unbridled fashion.

So, why is that? And what do the few people who are worried say about it? Also, what happens in the long run? I’m perfectly familiar with all sorts of doomsday scenarios, but even if they occur, what is the state of human affairs afterwards? I will attempt to read as much material on the topic as I can, and summarize my findings here in order to come to my own conclusions, both in terms of opinion and how I (believe I) should conduct myself accordingly. I will attempt to do this objectively, but since I already have this concern, and will start with seminal literature by those who are concerned themselves, there is an inherent bias to this blog.

Well, here goes… At the moment I finished reading Paul Gerbrands’ Tien miljoen als duurzame bevolkingsomvang (Lit. Ten million as a sustainable population size*), started on Paul & Anne Erlich’s The Population Explosion, downloaded various UN-reports, and ordered T.R. Malthus’ An Essay on the Principle of Population, Massimo LiviBacci’s A Concise History of World Population and D.H. Meadows’ The Limits To Growth: A 30-Year Update.

I will try to find some more moderate or dissenting literature, but I hope to avoid Björn Lomborg’s work, since I can’t really take him seriously anymore as I’ve read convincing counterarguments to his book on different topics. Maybe I’ll give him a chance, especially if someone does recommend him.

So, what can you expect?
I will more or less give summaries and reviews of any books, websites, reports, documentaries, articles and movies that I encounter on the topic. I will attempt to categorize them based on their format but, more importantly, based on their stance, so that you may read what people on both ends of the debate, and those in between, have to say.

*The Dutch population is currently at 16,5 million people.