March 5, 2023
Why Overpopulation is a Myth
By: Art da Rosa, PE, MPA, CFM
Two weeks ago, in the liberty and constitution class that I lead every Monday, we were discussing the topic of overpopulation from an economics point of view. I just read that US News reported that half of the world’s population will be overweight or obese by 2035. Similarly, PragerU posted a video on “The Myth of Overpopulation.” I shared that video in the Patriots for Liberty and Constitution Facebook group.
These messages are in sharp contrast with many of the doomsday naysayers, who claim that the world cannot support the continuous population growth, as we will not have the resources to feed ourselves. These naysayers have been preaching this message based on scare tactics for over a century. Within this time, the world’s population grew from 1.7 Billion in 1900 to 8 Billion in 2020, an increase of almost 500%.
Rather than massive starvation, we are facing obesity and overweight issues. How can this be? Is there a logical explanation for this issue? Yes, there is. There are actually two important explanations which we should know about, as the war drum of crisis looms.
First, mankind is intelligent. When confronted with a problem, we can work together and solve the problem. The more people we have, the more intelligence we gather and the better we are able to solve a problem. In the case of food, the world population grew by five times and yet we are facing an obesity problem.
The same is true for other crises. Covid or some other pandemic can be solved by us if we work together. The real problem is when we are prevented from solving any crisis by so-called experts who impose their will by disguising it as the solution for everybody.
Second, food as a resource is not limited. When we are running short, we simply grow more, using modern technology to help us. The world that God gave His children has enough resources to go around. The fallacy is to assume that many of the resources are finite. They are not.
Work is another example. By assuming that there is only a finite amount of work to spread around, we created labor laws that are nonsensical and anti-capitalistic.
The fallacy of a limited amount of resources runs deep in our society. This mentality guides many of our government policies. By adopting a mentality of abundance, our government could tackle many other pressing problems.
I decided to write this letter to the editor because we are facing many more problems: Drought, Unemployment, Inflation, etc. These and many other issues are discussed every Monday in our Liberty and Constitution classes. You are invited to check it out.
Art da Rosa is the founder of the book discussion group Patriots for Liberty and Constitution. Beginning in February, he will be leading the group in a discussion of Henry Hazlitt’s classic book, Economics in One Lesson.
