| Malthus wrote in his classic work, "An Essay on the | | | | use. |
| Principle of Population and survival", as population | | | | Another problem is many feel a need to "keep up with |
| continues to increase and the amount of resources | | | | the Joneses" and the sense of entitlement, whimpering |
| needed to support the population decreases the quality | | | | at the slightest inconvenience, delay, or restriction. Why |
| of life goes down. | | | | have a 3,000 square foot home when 1,000 would |
| I know a lot of people think we have room for a few | | | | suffice? Why a Hummer when a small compact car |
| billion more and in a sense we do - If all you consider is | | | | will get you from point A to point B as just as quickly |
| sheer volume of land mass and not available | | | | while consuming fewer resources? |
| resources, then yes, we have standing room for a | | | | They have what I call "the look at me" syndrome, |
| few billion more. | | | | were their entire existence consists of trying to |
| But land mass does not equal sustainability, fertile | | | | impress everyone else around them, no matter the |
| productive land does. Alaska has over 378,242,560 | | | | cost or expenditure of resources. I'm fully convinced |
| acres or roughly one acre for every American. But try | | | | that at least 75% or more of the average family's |
| to support that population with the resources available | | | | financial assets are dedicated to feeding this |
| solely in that area and you will experience a lack of | | | | syndrome. |
| resources leading to mass die off to a sustainable | | | | As you can see; overpopulation is only one of many |
| level. | | | | contributing factors to resource depletion, poor |
| All land is not created equal, nor suitable for human | | | | management of existing resources, greed and a sense |
| habitation, food production, clean water, energy, waste | | | | of entitlement are also taking their toll. |
| disposal, housing etc, should all be taken into | | | | If the resources required to sustain a given area are |
| consideration when weighing carrying capacity against | | | | consumed faster than they can be renewed, then that |
| population. The amount of land needed to support an | | | | area is overpopulated and will collapse without huge |
| individual goes far beyond were he lives. | | | | amounts of cheap imports from other areas. |
| We should also consider population of a given area, | | | | The availability of cheap oil has made this possible by |
| take for instance San Francisco or New York City - | | | | keeping shipping cost and retail prices low at a |
| both major population centers who's populations are | | | | consumer level. As the demand for oil and other |
| sustained through importation of necessities. If outside | | | | resources outstrip production and supply, look for |
| imports were suddenly cut off, neither could sustain | | | | prices to rise and supplies to contract accordingly, |
| their populations for very long. | | | | leading to shortages and chaos especially in areas |
| To put it another way, say you have three people in a | | | | suffering from overpopulation. |
| given area but only sufficient resources to sustain two | | | | As individuals there isn't a lot we can do to change this, |
| of them - then the area is essentially overpopulated no | | | | the only feasible thing for us to do is to get out of |
| matter how vast the land area maybe. They have | | | | major population areas and become as self-reliant as |
| exceeded the carrying capacity of their environment. | | | | possible, by simplifying our life and reducing our needs, |
| With that being said, overpopulation is not the most | | | | for outside imports. |
| significant contributing factor (at least not yet) to a lack | | | | While it may be impossible to become totally |
| of resources, but an inefficient use of the resources | | | | self-reliant, at least for an extended period of time, we |
| available. For example; Despite steadily increasing need | | | | as survivalists should see this amount of |
| for food production, we continue to divert prime | | | | self-sufficiency as our ultimate goal, and plan |
| agriculture land into other non-sustaining forms of land | | | | accordingly. |