Overpopulation

[Marvin]

Humans aren't the only species on the planet though, human population growth puts other species at risk of extinction.

Other species don't really matter that much. Like, they're cool to look at sometimes, but outside of that or practical concerns relating to human survival... meh.

 

[RepQuest]

Other species don't really matter that much. Like, they're cool to look at sometimes, but outside of that or practical concerns relating to human survival... meh.

It depends on the species and how important they are to human survival. Massive bee die-offs would be much more concerning than, say, some random species of marmoset going extinct.

 

[Marvin]

It depends on the species and how important they are to human survival. Massive bee die-offs would be much more concerning than, say, some random species of marmoset going extinct.

That's a huge, practical concern relating to human survival. That's precisely what I'm talking about.

Bee deaths was brought up as an issue to me recently, actually. Someone came to me with a petition about regulating neonicotinoid pesticides. The petition was full of overly dramatic language about "THIS TOXIC PESTICIDE IS HORRIBLY EVIL AND PROBABLY KILLING BABIES". Like, it's toxic... to insects, which is its intended purpose. But I actually looked into it and it did seem there was cause to investigate a possible connection between colony collapse disorder and neonicotinoids. Bees are a big pollinator and very important to US agriculture. So I signed the petition.

But I felt kind of annoyed about it, because while I bothered to look into the details of the claims, I bet almost no one else did. They just signed it because "evil science, pesticides, crying bees" nonsense.

If someone is going to try to persuade me about something, emotional appeals about crying indians aren't going to work. And I'm really annoyed that they work for lots of other people. I need something substantial, like facts or figures.

Or hell, even if the motivations purely are sentimental, then just say that. If we're talking about preserving campgrounds because camping is fun, then I'll totally sign that petition.

Just be real with me. Don't give me a lot of scary sounding words involving "destroying the environment!" or "toxic pesticides" if you don't have the facts and figures to back it up.

 

[AnOminous]

Just be real with me. Don't give me a lot of scary sounding words involving "destroying the environment!" or "toxic pesticides" if you don't have the facts and figures to back it up.

Activists will never do this because more people are motivated by emotion than by things like facts and figures. Facts and figures just bore them. So it's just not an efficient, effective strategy when doing broad-based shit like randomly approaching people for petition signing or donations or whatever. Sarah McLachlan singing about anguished puppies is just always going to be more compelling.

 

[autisticdragonkin]

I think that it is very unlikely that we will see overpopulation become a serious issue assuming that we are talking about resources and not jobs. Technological advances have significantly increased the amount of people that can survive on earth and they are unlikely to stop anytime soon

 

[Sperglord Dante]

While I doubt we'll see famine or water scarcity powered chaos and dumbfuck on a global scale in our lifetime, believing we'll always figure out a way out is overly optimistic.