Stately retreat

"Once tipping points are passed and critical natural thresholds exceeded, however, few populous societies can manage the stately retreat of human numbers needed to return to balance with finite natural resources." - Robert Engelman, MORE, Island Press, 2008

Stately retreat of human numbers. Why is it hard for populous societies to scale back? Part of the difficulty is getting people to look at the problem of overpopulation, to trace the problems to their source: too many people for sustainability. There is a percentage of people who will not look at the problem, who are in denial about the problem, and not only that - they're pissed off that people are even discussing it!

Another factor is that our economic system, at least in the US, is built on an ever-expanding model. It's like a pyramid scheme, where more and more consumers need to be produced (born) so others can be gainfully employed manufacturing goods and services for them to use. Unfortunately, this is not sustainable and many would argue (myself included) that we have already reached unsustainable levels in population/resource use, and need to find a way to scale back.

Luckily I'm not the only person thinking about this stuff. If you look around, you'll find information about what is called steady state economy. If we are going to scale back, an alternative to classic capitalist economy is going to be crucial in that, because our current business model doesn't allow for scaling back...at ALL. I'm also finding information about ecological economics, also known as Green economics.

In general, once you begin to dip your toe into the information available on all the interrelated issues concerning population and sustainability, you realize you're on the shore of a rather large body of water. I'm overwhelmed. I've bookmarked a ton of sites, printed out a lot of .pdf articles, and ordered a stack of books. As I start to digest this glut of information, I'll continue to write about it here.