New NPG Forum Paper Wants Less Name-Calling and More Focus on Overpopulation
- NPG
- August 30, 2022
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New NPG Forum Paper Wants Less Name-Calling and More Focus on Overpopulation
Overpopulation Activists Are Pro-Humanity
Alexandria, VA, (August 30, 2022):  Negative Population Growth, Inc. has published a new work in their Forum paper series. Titled The Verdict Is In: To Be Anti-Growth Is to Be Pro-Human, and written by Dr. Karen I. Shragg, this paper seeks to free population activists from the constant narrative that they are unjust and racist. Addressing years of experiencing and witnessing various accusations, Shragg shines a light on how detrimental this attitude can be, noting: “At best our meager lot of degrowth and overpopulation activists are told we only care about trees and wildlife at the expense of human rights. At worst we are labeled racists and just plain anti-human. This is an expedient way to shut down a much-needed conversation, avoid the truth, and any hope of solving what is behind our booming environmental crisis. It is a lazy discourse at best and environmentally damaging at its worst.”Â
Shragg sums up the purpose of her piece, sharing: “This NPG Forum paper is a call for the need to create a safe discussion space for those who have a great depth of knowledge and concern about what our anthropologic views and the untethered growth of the human enterprise are doing to the very possibility of even having a future on a planet we are systematically destroying.” She goes on to say: “Too many people hear overpopulation and immediately jump to the conclusion that this will become a scientific excuse to destroy people, especially those already marginalized…Overpopulation can, and does, happen to all species and humans are no exception. Humans are quintessential consumers and when their numbers are excessive their damage is also excessive.”
Steering directly into the dangers and pitfalls of cancel culture, Shragg proposes a daring truth: “If we were truly anti-human and racist our best approach to this issue would be to remain silent and just want the continued collapse of all we hold dear. Collapse will always find the marginalized first. They are living in the valleys which will become more flooded and have the least economic resilience.” She asserts that fuzzy math and exponential growth are here to stay and that overpopulation cannot be reversed by pointing at overconsumption by the elite. In reviewing the perils of canceling environmental activists that openly discuss overpopulation issues, Shragg shares: “Without ecologically and morally justifiable laws in place to keep us in balance with the resources needed to survive, we will continue to grow to such an outrageous population size that conservation efforts will become increasingly ridiculous. We keep telling the public to be sure to wash out their peanut butter jars and shop with reusable bags, meanwhile we add approximately 200,000 new customers net gain to Mother Earth’s limited store each day.”
At its root, fighting overpopulation is an act of social justice. Shragg maintains this position by zeroing in on two specific platforms: the burden of large city living and prioritizing the earth’s biosphere. Supplemented with data from The Knight Foundation and the Journal of Future Studies, Shragg contends the critical needs of community members cannot be met in ever-growing populations. She also reminds readers: “Mass immigration’s role in the contribution to growth from the developing world to the developed world is well documented.” She shares: “Many developed countries would be stabilizing their growth rates if it weren’t for immigration. If sustainability is truly the goal, then it must be dealt with within each country as that is where the laws are made. Climate change is already stressing every country on earth and overpopulation and its continued growth just adds fuel to this game-changing fire.”
In closing, Shragg implores those who cry foul and cancel overpopulation activists to stop throwing spears. She also continues in her role as a steward of the environment by reiterating salient data and encouraging a broader scope when examining the work of activists, sharing: “Growth is cultivated by high fertility rates and lack of women’s empowerment, immigration policies and oligarchic capitalism…If a better world is truly desired, it’s time to put down the rhetoric and see that joining forces is the best strategy going forward.” Adding, “To demean and diminish those who work on overpopulation as racists or ecofascists is antithetical to the goals of all of us, to make the world a better, more livable, more humane place in which to live.”
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