Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet, 2021a

3 Population 47
exactly, did they decide to have kids <strong>and</strong> contribute to the toll on
our planet? It was their choice (or inattention) that placed them in
parental roles, <strong>and</strong> the entire planet—not just humans—pays a price
for their decision, making it seem a bit selfish. 31 In the end, almost
any decision we make can be called selfish, since we usually have
our own interests at least partly in mind. So it is pointless to try
assigning more or less selfishness to the decision to have kids or not
to have them. But consider this: if the rest of the Earth—all its plants
<strong>and</strong> creatures—had a say, do you think they would vote for adding
another human to the planet? <strong>Human</strong>s have the capacity, at least, to
consider a greater picture than their own self interest, <strong>and</strong> provide
representation to those sectors that otherwise have no rights or voice
in our highly human-centric system.
31: Reasons for having children are numerous:
genetic drive; family name/tradition;
labor source; care in old age; companionship
<strong>and</strong> love (projected onto not-yetexisting
person). Note that adoption can
also satisfy many of these aims without
contributing additional population.
3.4.2 Population Policy
What could governments <strong>and</strong> other organizations do to manage population?
Again, this is touchy territory, inviting collision between deeply
personal or religious views <strong>and</strong> the state. China initiated a one-child policy
in 1979 that persisted until 2015 (exceptions were granted depending
on location <strong>and</strong> gender). The population in China never stopped climbing
during this period, as children born during prior periods of higher
birth rates matured <strong>and</strong> began having children of their own—even if
restricted in number. The population curve in China is not expected to
flatten out until sometime in the 2030–2040 period. 32 Such top-down
policies can only be enacted in strong authoritarian regimes, <strong>and</strong> would
be seen as a severe infringement on personal liberties in many countries.
Religious belief systems can also run counter to deliberate efforts to limit
population growth. In addition, shrinking countries are at a competitive
disadvantage in global markets, often leading to policies that incentivize
having children.
One striking example of rarely-achieved sustainable population control
comes from the South Pacific isl<strong>and</strong> of Tikopia [21]. Maintaining a stable
population for a few thous<strong>and</strong> years on this small isl<strong>and</strong> involved not only
adopting food practices as close to the isl<strong>and</strong>’s natural plants as possible,
but also invoking strict population controls. The chiefs in this egalitarian
society routinely preached zero population growth, <strong>and</strong> also prevented
overfishing. Strict limits were placed on family size, <strong>and</strong> cultural taboos
kept this small isl<strong>and</strong> at a population around 1,200. 33 Population control
methods included circumventing insemination, abortion, infanticide,
suicide, or “virtual suicide,” via embarking on dangerous sea voyages
unlikely to succeed. In this way, the harshness of nature was replaced by
harsh societal norms that may seem egregious to us. When Christian
missionaries converted inhabitants in the twentieth century, the practices
of abortion, infanticide <strong>and</strong> suicide were quenched <strong>and</strong> the population
The net effect of the various exceptions
meant that for most of this period half of
Chinese parents could have a second child.
32: This is another case of delay in negative
feedback resulting in overshoot.
[21]: Diamond (2005), Collapse: How Societies
Choose to Fail or Succeed
33: A group size of 1,200 is small enough to
prevent hiding irresponsible actions behind
anonymity.
© 2021 T. W. Murphy, Jr.; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Lic.;
Freely available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions.