Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Ultimate Invasive Species

Imagine a species that is so fecund that it spreads to every habitable corner of its ecosystem. Then imagine that same species as it voraciously consumes all of the natural resources within its own ecosystem to the point where many of these resources are in danger of immanent collapse.

Then go one step further: imagine this same species—the ultimate carnivore—as it preys on all the other inhabitants of its ecosystem, threatening the very extinction of many of these species.

If such a predator was, let’s say, the Asian carp, there would be no end to discussion about how to limit its spread and manage the harm that it is causing to the Mississippi and potentially to the Great Lakes region. In fact, we would declare war on the Asian carp, calling it an invasive species, and investing as many resources as necessary to reducing its numbers. We’d have a national program of carp birth control with the sole aim of correcting some of the damage that this insidious predator has already inflicted upon the fragile ecosystem of the Mississippi.

In fact, we already have such a plan to deal with the Asian carp, and there is very little outcry about it, because we all recognize this creature for what it is—an obnoxious invasive predator that must be stopped at all costs.

But there’s another invasive species that’s even more obnoxious than the Asian carp, because it threatens, not just a specific habitat, but the continued existence of all life on this planet. If you haven’t guessed by now, the species that I’m talking about is none other than our own human species.

And our species has just reached a dubious milestone. This week the United Nations estimates that humans will reach the seven billion mark. And what does this landmark mean for the planet, you might ask? As the Center for Biological Diversity writes, "The human race is not only the most populous large mammal on Earth but the most populous large mammal that has ever existed. Providing for the needs and wants of this many people — especially those in high-consumption, developed countries — has pushed homo sapiens to absorb 50 percent of the planet’s freshwater and develop 50 percent of its landmass. As a result, other species are running out of places to live.”

Human population in fact has doubled during the last 50 years, leaping from three billion in 1950 to six billion today. The problem gets even worse when one considers that by the end of the century, the human race is predicted to add two billion more members to it’s ranks. That’s nine billion people on a planet that can barely sustain the seven billion inhabitants we already have.

And what does this projection mean for the future of our planet? It means more ecological stress, more deforestation, more mass species extinctions, more global warming, more pollution, more disease, and more famine. Life
, in short, by the end of this century, will not only be far less habitable for other species, it will become far less hospitable for our own as well. It’s already estimated that approximately 900 million people around the world experience food insecurity or chronic malnourishment. That number will only get worse as our human population increases.

So what do we do to solve this problem—if, indeed, it can be solved at all at this point? Economic development and the education of women have already done a considerable amount to reduce population rates in the developed world, and there’s some evidence that programs like these are having some positive effects in the developing world as well. But that’s simply not good enough at this point.

Along with economic development and education, therefore, we also need a global population control program that includes access to birth control and support services for women around the world. And more than that, we need a cultural shift whereby we begin to see the wanton procreation of our species as the ultimate sin.

“More trees, fewer people,” should be our new mantra. And those who opt not to have children at all, for whatever, reason, should be celebrated and become role models for the rest of us. We might even consider giving tax breaks to those noble souls who are helping to solve this problem of overpopulation by refraining from spawning offspring—gays and lesbians, clergy, and young couples who simply opt not to have kids.

This may sound a bit extreme, but is it any more extreme than simply standing by while our species destroys what is left of the planet? Is it any more extreme than condemning future generations to a continually declining level of existence in which there will likely be global wars fought to control things we now take for granted, like water?

The Center for Biological Diversity is trying to do its part through a condom campaign aimed at making people aware of the ultimate costs of our profligate population growth. I think this campaign should be supported morally and economically. The Pope may not approve of this kind of campaign, but, in fact, he’s already doing his part at population control. Now, the rest of us need to start doing ours.


43 comments:

  1. You sound like the Chinese goverment now. What do you want to do - inforce a one child only policy on the entire world? Or would you prefer mandatory sterilization of excessive procreators?

    There is a natural biological need that human beings have to spread their genes as widely as possible. You are fighting against the inevitable.

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  2. Your right, this does sound a little extreme! Rewarding people for not having children? Maybe we should allow people to have children but hope to help them sustaint he planet and enviornemnt for both them and their children. Although it cannnot happen overnight the efforts thus far have made a great impact. The generation to come (mine) and the one to proceed will only help to enhance our go green theme. Already one in your generation can clearly observe the difference, recylcing, green cars, green chemical products, etc. It is a work in progress and hopfullt the way many are trying to preserve now will pay off in and for the generations to come/

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  3. You don't sound all that extreme to me. I'm in my late 20s and have a terrific sex life with my current boyfriend. But we have absolutely no interest in having children - ever. WE can live for ourselves, have lots of money between the two of us to buy what we want and travel as much as we want, and can pursue our own passions (art for me and climbing for him).

    The idea that EVERYONE has to have children in order to have a meaningful life is, quite frankly, absurd. Our life is as wonderful as you can get and we don't need kids to make it better.

    The planet simple can't support any more of our species, and, if we're going to survive on this planet in the future, we definitely need to reduce our human population to a more ecologically sustainable level. What that level is may be a matter of debate, but it is probably half of what it is right now.

    We definitely need a comapaign to convince people that it's perfectly fine NOT to procreate.

    This may sound radical but I also think that we should be encouraging gay partnerships, since these don't usually lead to childbirth. I have several female friends who were in relationships with men and are now with other women. They are much happier and more fulfilled now than they were before, and none of them are planning to have children. From my own experience, I think human beings are innately bisexual, but society tells us that we have to be in heterosexual relationships that lead to having children. That's total bullshit!

    Great post, Alex!!!

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  4. Wow, to think about putting a cap on a family having children sounds ludacris to me! I understand the past,(probably Dr Russo's) generation has almost killed the enviornment but we (the younger)generation have become more self aware about how to better the planet, and many people I am surrounded by seem to comply. I feel through all of the hard work, education and re-education of the elders will save the world when all is said and done. ;)

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  5. I believe it is a personal choice,if you like children; if you can reproduce, you can afford it, you should go for it. I am talking about mature and responsible human being,

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  7. I believe not everyone is meant to have kids, and I don't think there is anything wrong with that. But to reward them for not? Why aren't parents who bust their butts providing for their children rewarded? The solution to the problem is not going to be fixed overnight and certainly not by possibly limiting the amount of children someone can have. What we need to do as a country is make conscious decisions about matters that affect the environment, which I believe many in the up and coming generations are doing.

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  8. This is just rediculous. If anyone feels this way they can move to China. There is seriously something wrong with caring more about the planet than your own species. If people chose not to have children that should be for their own reasons, not because they dont want to bring more people onto this planet. There are definitely other options that could be considered instead of not having children as a means to save the earth. The only good thought in this article is that women should have access to birth control, but they shouldnt be forced to use it.

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  9. This is just rediculous. If anyone feels this way they can move to China. There is seriously something wrong with caring more about the planet than your own species. If people chose not to have children that should be for their own reasons, not because they dont want to bring more people onto this planet. There are definitely other options that could be considered instead of not having children as a means to save the earth. The only good thought in this article is that women should have access to birth control, but they shouldnt be forced to use it.

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  10. I understand why some people don't want to have kids and that is the individuals choice and i see nothing wrong with that. Yet i haven't met anyone who says they are not having kids to help the planet? If people have the choice to not have kids and are being "rewarded" for that i think that is ridiculous seeing that these people are doing it for their own reasons and usually that reason does not include saving the planet. I believe there are so many other ways to help save the planet. there are a lot of people in this world and to sustain living all of these people can make a difference in protecting our planet other ways then not having kids because limiting children will bring its own drawbacks. The planet isnt automatically going to be fixed by limiting children. People shouldn't be "punished" for having children. You have the right to have children the people who should get rewarded are the people who have children and do everything and anything to provide for those children rather then just having children by accident without having the means to provide for them. I do not believe in this at all i believe there are much better humane ways of protecting this planet then making people feel like they shouldn't have children. Just like people shouldn't be looked at differently for not having children we shouldn't do the opposite and look at people differently because they have children. If you have the means to provide for children then you shouldn't be limited. There are others ways to protect the planet and people are becoming more aware of things they can do to do so. It isn't going to happen overnight but if people are educated about it i think that is the first step. More people need education on the environment and how to take care of it.

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  11. Wow, I think this is a little extreme tell people to stop having children to save the planet and reward them? That's crazy! There is absolutely no way you are going to be able to tell someone they can't have children, unless of course for medical reasons. Also getting people to even "protect" themselves is a hard issue, so best of luck telling them they can not have kids. I don't think the amount of people on the planet is the problem, I think it's the lack of education people have about protecting our enviroment that is a problem. I think we should focus more on educating people on what they can do to protect our plant. But jumping right away to just stop people from having kids is too much.

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  12. In my opinion I believe that stopping from children can not really help the lack of resources and prevent global warming. People now do not really worry about saving the environment now and don't think it will get any better in our future and putting a blockage on reproducing wont really help. I believe that God has a point of when he wants the planet and environment to be destroyed. I do not think someone should be told to not have kids to help our environment. Nobody really says I'm not going to have kids to save the environment. People need to take the time to help recycle the plastic, chemical products,cans and boxes and many people do not.

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  13. This is ridiculous! There are other ways to help the environment than try and control birth rates. We can educate and be more proactive with being environmentally friendly. You can't impose birth control on women to eliminate a higher population rate. That's a disgusting movement to try and rally.We have to protect the future generation and us by eliminating bad habits. We need can do the same damage if we do not make a change.

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  14. I agree that humans are the most evasive species. However, I do not agree with telling people not to procreate. I feel everyone should have a right to choose. I think there are other ways such as going green can help. Also if every person on the planet plants at least 1 tree or native plant to there area. By doing so, then there would be more trees and other plants then people respectively. Also it would give back to the environment by having everyone planting plants that especially endangered animals are currently losing.

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  15. Telling people to stop having children seems extreme. Although, I do not think it is wrong if a person decides not to have children, and are entitled to that decision. However, what's the use of decreasing the population, when we are still continuing to damage our environment? I think that even if we were to tell people to not procreate, it would take many years to see any change and we would still continue to endanger our earth with our bad habits. People need education of how to save our environment, learn to stop our bad habits, and enforce more environment friendly actions to help save the earth.

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  16. The go green theme has started to be seen everywhere, as it should be. I started my own recycling company about four years ago called TC Eco-Solutions. I did this for two reasons. One, obviously to make a few bucks and two, because recycling and going green is very important for future generations. However, as more statistics come about, it is important to take care of the environment for right now. My environmental studies class I took last semester really opened my eyes to how this planet really operates. The theory of paying people for not having kids is not a bad idea. I think it could increase the necessity of taking care of the planet and letting the planet take care of us. As generation are coming, hopefully the "go green" movement will not be a second thought but imbedded in their daily routines.

    Chris L.

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  17. The go green theme has started to be seen everywhere, as it should be. I started my own recycling company about four years ago called TC Eco-Solutions. I did this for two reasons. One, obviously to make a few bucks and two, because recycling and going green is very important for future generations. However, as more statistics come about, it is important to take care of the environment for right now. My environmental studies class I took last semester really opened my eyes to how this planet really operates. The theory of paying people for not having kids is not a bad idea. I think it could increase the necessity of taking care of the planet and letting the planet take care of us. As generation are coming, hopefully the "go green" movement will not be a second thought but imbedded in their daily routines.

    Chris L.

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  18. At the end of the day, it is an individuals decision whether or not if they want to increase or decrease factors in our environment. I could care less about what this writer has to say due to the fact that he/she is not changing my views on having a child in the future. by reading this article, in other words, you are basically trying to say that the world would be better if everyone was dead. How would you feel if your parents decided not to procreate and have you if thinking about this same issue? Think about it. I think this problem of the environment is not necessarily because there are too many people on the earth, but there is less concern about it due to other factors such as consumerism. If human beings put more focus onto important issues such as the environment, then we will live a stable life for individuals and generations to come.

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  19. In my opinion, I think that it is OK to have at least one child per family, but I don't think people should never have kids! There can more people in this world to help with our environment such as getting rid of wastes and recycling.

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  20. I think this sounds ridiculous. Human beings are not having children thinking about the planet. They are having children to form a family and because of love. When they are having kids, they aren't thinking about how this new child will add onto the population list. Increasing the population is not the only cause of global warming and pollution. There are many other factors that are causing damage to the world. We should focus on saving water , instead of thinking there isnt much water because of so many people living in the world. We should also recycle and limit littering.

    - Sunny C.

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  21. This is a radical viewpoint although I do think the author has made some good points but in reality nobody thinks of the environment when starting a family. Usually people have kids to start a family, not just to add overpopulation to the Earth. Ultimately I feel that people should definitely have a choice on whether to reproduce or not. Although it does harm the environment I think that that we has a human population can find other solutions to save our planet Earth.

    - Alexandra P.

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  22. I do think that this idea is a bit extreme. By giving "tax breaks" to those who are solving overpopulation problems we are ultimately encouraging people to not populate. Whether someone wants to have children or not shouldn't effect our planet to the point where you will be rewarded if you opt out. Why can't be awarded with tax breaks for things other than not having kids? Birth rates can be controlled in other ways less extreme. There are other things that we can be focusing on such as how much waste product we are producing, how much water we are using or how we are using toxic and damaging chemicals each day. I think things like this will help our environment, not taking a radical stand against populating the world.

    -Jenna G.

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    Replies
    1. I don't agree with giving those whom share not to bare children a tax break, although maybe a tax break should be given to those who buy protection either it be condoms or birth control over the counter. Yes, I agree over population is hurting the human race as well as all living things and will continue to do harm. This is going to be harsh but people who have 6 or 7 children like that show "18 and counting" makes me furious. There is no need to have that many children and therefore make themselves and others suffer due to insecurity with food, water, clothing, etc. This might sound insane but maybe we as a planet should put a limit to how many children people ought to have. Instead of people dying of disease maybe if there were less people we would die of natural causes.
      - Antoinette K

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  23. I think that its crazy to tell people to stop having children in order to save the planet.How can you tell someone their not allowed to have kids? If someone wants to get married and start a family you can’t tell them their not allowed to do that.I believe the reason why this planet is the way it is, is because the lack of knowledge people have. There are many precautions we can take to make this earth better and people aren’t doing anything about it.

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  24. I don't agree with giving those whom share not to bare children a tax break, although maybe a tax break should be given to those who buy protection either it be condoms or birth control over the counter. Yes, I agree over population is hurting the human race as well as all living things and will continue to do harm. This is going to be harsh but people who have 6 or 7 children like that show "18 and counting" makes me furious. There is no need to have that many children and therefore make themselves and others suffer due to insecurity with food, water, clothing, etc. This might sound insane but maybe we as a planet should put a limit to how many children people ought to have. Instead of people dying of disease maybe if there were less people we would die of natural causes.
    - Antoinette K

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  25. I don't agree giving rewards to people who don't have children. I am a catholic, the bible tells us to be fruitful and multiply. Maybe the couples that have children should get the tax break. That money that should be put towards educating on how, where and why it is so important to conserve all our natural resources!
    Maybe just maybe if water was limited X amount per household instead of this constant steadily stream of abundance one would limit themselves and would not take for granted.

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  26. I personally think that people should have the right to make there own decisions as weather they want to have kids or not. Yes our planet needs help but that doesnt mean that not having children should be an option. As for the idea mentioned about rewarding women for not having kids thats ridiculous. There are mothers out there slaving just to support there familes. That should count. Educating people on how to treat the planet should be an option. Many people doesnt know how to conserve, or even go green. The idea about paying women money to not have children, use that money to educate the uneducated about how to treat the planet. Kadian G.

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  27. I do not agree with this issue. I do believe that people can make their own choices by creating a better environment for the population as a whole, but preventing individuals from starting families and freely having a child is something that I'm completely against. I do believe that practicing safe sex and using condoms is needed more often than not in this world, but giving privelages to people who choose not to have children is morally wrong. They can choose not to reproduce for any of their personal reasons, but shouldn't be rewarded for that. The planet does need some sort of aid within its environmental factors and humans should do everything in their power to help save the environment. Taking these actions one human at a time will eventually make a difference, but realizing that it can help each person's personal life will begin a small step to improvement.

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  28. I don't agree with many aspects of this article. For one, I believe that people should be able to make educated decisions regarding child bearing. Doesn't the bible teach us that from the beginning of time, adam and eve were put on this earth to make children? Now we want to reward those individuals who go against what we were taught? I do feel that wether deciding to have kids, or not is up to that individual. One thing I do see frequently is individuals that have numerous kids, and are on some time of government assistance. This infuriates me, what's the sense of that. Having tons of kids and can't take care of them. Leaving it up to tax payers to help provide for them. I feel if an individual can have 5 kids and take care of them, that's fine. I feel that many people do their part to help save the environment, and feel that we should shine more light on those people. show how many people take care of needing animals and strike to help save the rain forest. By doing such your not only showing how many do their part for the environment but you also inspire others to start!


    By: Sheika B

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  29. I personally do not agree with this issue at all. Parents do not think about adding to the population when they think of starting a family. They want to have kids to create memories with and start a family of their own. Rewarding women for not having kids is wrong, and they should use that money to help other issues facing the environment today. No one should be rewarded for choosing not to have children. In fact we should spent more time on education people on how to live "green". Each human being can do their part to make the world a better place and everyone should be educated on how we can help the environment.

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  30. I agree with the author’s argument, indicating that humans are the most invasive species. Although this is true, trying to impose a worldwide birth control campaign is a bit irrational. Unlike the Asian Carps, humans can be taught about the effects their actions have on the environment. Instead of simply “caging” our species, everyone should limit the use of resources that are lost in unnecessary actions every day. Realistically not everyone will comply with ease, but everyone that does is working toward a better world.

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  31. In reading this article I do agree that we are living in a world that is too overpopulated. I don't agree with forcing or making laws that would tell people how many children they should have. More time and funds should be put into education as well as making birth control more affordable. People behaving irresponsible tend to add to these problems,sometimes out of pure ignorance. People have differences in opinions but we need to come up with a solution that will help our planet and economy that will make people really think before they act irresponsibly. The U.S. Spends so much money on things that they shouldn't. We should continue to educate or maybe change the way we are educating to find something that will produce change.

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  32. I believe it is a personal choice if people want to have children or not. You can force upon people not to have children, or how many to have. Yes the planet is getting overpopulated but there are many people who do want to have children. Plus couples who are having children can obviously afford it. Rewarding people who do not have kids? It should be your own choice and for your own reasons why you do not want a child not because you want to get rewarded or looked up as a role model. People should prevent pollution, and help recycle that would help the planet, but by saying not to bring humans into the world is just wrong!

    Yelena M

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  33. I do not agree with this at all. Why should we have to stop our lives and our future due to the fact that the planet may become over populated? It is completely immoral to tell people to stop having children. There is no reason why individuals should not make their own families and experience the miracle of life. Just because of what may or may not happen on the planet later on. Although the planet is overpopulated, people are going to live their lives how they want, so there is really no point in saying that we should not have more babies. Prevention of having children is such an extreme debate, and I do not tolerate it. It is ridiculous behavior and I don't stand for it. It is a personal decision, and that is how it should be.

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  34. Personally I think this absolutely ridiculous. I love animals and I'm all for helping the environment. But personally I believe that it is a little extreme to go to the extent to tell families to have less kids so the environment could be saved. A family is not something that a limit should be put on. They're too many over populated areas in this world, yet there are many places that the population is very low. They're many ways to help the environment without making families cut down on the amount of kids that they want to have. The picture with the owl saying "Wear a condom save the spotted owl" I believe is absolutely ridiculous and unfair. Im sure that they're other ways to help the environment then cutting down on the production of children.

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  35. This entire idea seems very extreme. I do agree that we are living in a world that is over populated but applauding people who do not have children and giving them a tax break seems absurd. I believe that it is our biological right to reproduce and to further the advancement of humankind. If you chose not to have children I do respect that. Not everyone wants children for their own reasons. I think as a society we should teach more about being more environmentally green. With more knowledge we can slowly try to change things for the better.

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  36. Although this idea is extreme it is an idea we might have to consider. I think that “tax breaks” for a person refraining from having children is a good idea. Although, I am not sure many people will support the idea of limiting births. I do believe that couples having excessive amounts of children are impractical and are hindering our overpopulation problem. Yet, most of the time the people with too many children are the ones receiving the tax breaks. An excessive amount of births is only one of the causes contributing to overpopulation. Life expectancy has doubled over the centuries. With our advanced healthcare we are able to keep humans alive to the average age of 78.2 years. I am not saying we should start killing off the elder population, but rather grading the quality of life and supporting euthanasia. An older adult with no quality of life is taking away from the possibility of a healthy newborn.

    -Brenna D.

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  37. This issue is very interesting and opens up a lot of discussions. I personally have always tried to conserve water and learn more about making our planet more Eco-friendly. The start of this story obviously makes us all say the same thing get rid of the problem simple as that but when we are forced to put ourselves in the same position of being the harmful mammal it is not so easy. I would not agree with the writer as he says to limit having children and praise those who do not have any at all. There are other ways one can change for the better like investing in green products, and spreading the word to others in order to save our planet. I understand that it can be hard to do what is right for the planet but telling someone they cannot have two children is in my opinion wrong. Go a different route to save the place we live in today and educate yourselves on what we can do to better our personal life styles.

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  38. When the article was discussing the Asian Carp and talking about them being over populated I thought the simple solution was to control the amount of babies they had or to just wipe out the whole species completely. But now I realize that Asian Carp are no better than the humans that are having more and more children, more than the earth could handle. If we keep on having children and not thinking about the effects of it then we are heading for disaster. Overpopulation is going to eventually lead to wars and suffering for not only humans but the animals and plants that we are killing to make more room for us. We need to take responsibility and do our part to keep our planet from becoming overpopulated. Though I do not think we should make such drastic changes such as having no children or monitoring it so closing I do believe that we should honor those who choose not to have children in order to help the environment and to educate people about what their actions are doing to the plants and animals that coexist with us.

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  39. I think this blog post has a lot to say about the way that people look at life. To me, what the man is trying to say is that in order to keep the population at a certain rate, reproduction has to be lowered. To me, I do not understand this because in fact, isn’t the reason we are here is to eventually reproduce with a loved one and continue on the population? What I don’t agree with are people who reproduce for the spite of having a television shows such as Jon and Kate plus 8, and shows like 18 kids and counting, because that is a little too excessive. But, what the blogger is saying, in this post, I do not agree with and think that he went a little too far with expressing his emotions.

    Sara V.

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  40. This is ridiculous. People join together and reproduce under the right circumstances because they both want to have children . The government telling people they shouldn't have a right to reproduce is none of their business. They cannot control what people want to do regarding having a family. If people choose to not reproduce then thats there choice, they shouldn't be rewarded for having their own preference. Everyone has their own opinion and they make their on choices. People now are more aware of the issue of global warming and should help with regards to recycling every resource there is.

    - Rodeliz R.

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  41. I think its sad how much we, as a people abuse the land we are fortunate to inhabit. We are a growing species which can not be denied. Morally, there is nothing we can do about this. We are not going to kill people simply to appease the population crises. However, this is something that we can do, morally, to give the planet the respect it deserves by responsibly preparing the planet for tommorows inhabitants....Craig Calderone

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  42. I agree the as we human have polluted the earth a lot with all the chemicals we used in order to live our daily lives but I don’t believe the not existing is the solution. We should just be more careful of the things we used or maybe used them less. I think we were created with a purpose to have fun and enjoy our lives. We should care about our environment since we are living in it but not even think about stop reproducing. We need the future generation we just need to educate them more. OLga Aguilar

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