Move Over, Would Ya?

Move Over, Would Ya?

Mighty Neighborly, a regular feature on the Precipitate blog, explores how everyday, local decisions impact a larger community and the environment.

Depending on who you ask, sometime between this past Monday and February of 2012, the seven billionth person will be born. That’s a lot of babies.

Fortunately, many predict that when we hit nine billion in 2050, the population will peak because in most developed countries, fertility will be on the decline. In Iran, for example, the norm went from eight children to less than two in one generation.

Just as economic growth under a certain percentage isn’t considered growth by economists, many demographers writing about this trend talk about it as a negative. There are, of course, issues that come with an aging, shrinking population. Will there be enough workers to pay into my generation’s social security, for example?

The other issue, of course, is that while the population is still rising, consumption is still on the rise as well. The U.S. and other countries like it use more than their fair share, and China and India are growing increasingly interested in meat, cars, and cement. So while it’s great that women’s greater access to education, birth control, and healthcare has brought the population down, we’re still not dealing with the main issue: we use too much stuff.

On Tuesday of this week, I had coffee with my friend who’s was visiting from Portland, and we talked about my last trip to Boulder. I spent the first few days in Boulder at a yoga retreat, then took a writing workshop at Naropa. On the last day I was there, I walked away from campus, went to the mall, and watched a movie. A 3D children’s movie actually. Why did I do it? As I told Sarah, I can’t be this granola all the time. It’s hard.

Every so often, I break. I eat some sushi. I have a coke, or, god forbid, a pineapple. I fly instead of taking the Amtrak because I want to get somewhere sort of on-time. These breaks, I tell myself, are something I deserve. When I read that the population was actually going to decline I got really, really excited. That, I think is at the heart of what makes the downward trend in population so scary. People will start to think that what they’re doing doesn’t matter.

To some extent, nature takes care of itself. The planet, after we’re gone, will happily grow plants through the cement walls we’ve erected and develop bacteria that use nuclear radiation for food or respiration. But we’ve really messed things up good in the meantime, removing what checks and balances were put on us. We’ve killed our predators, our competitors, and a good deal of our own food if it’s not easily processed and made profitable. If consumption continues as such, we’ll have to wait longer than those fifty years for the plant to recover. My hope is that people who haven’t thought this through read the news articles the way they do most others: only the first paragraph. That way, they see the birth of the baby but not the decline. Stay appalled; that’s where you need to be.

In the meantime, I’ve reminded myself why, even if resources weren’t scarce, I wouldn’t go and buy that McMansion: it’s just tacky. Beauty is truth and truth, beauty, right? I gave up meat in the first place because animals are cute, but many of them aren’t. Many animals are gross-looking. But they have just as much right to live as anyone else. Ultimately, it wouldn’t hurt the environment much if I eased up on the restrictions I’ve placed on myself, but it would hurt me. Just as it’s great to take a vacation from work, vacation shows you how much work is necessary to what people are. Similarly, a relaxation from personal discipline can go on too long and can lead to a bloated stomach, a cluttered apartment, or a too-full schedule. A little struggle, a little filth are more beautiful than Scottsdale. And yes, I do like granola.

H.V. Cramond, Staff Blogger

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