Two inescapable facts

It is surprising that there are few cases in environmental circles of population growth and the race for progress in developing countries. However, these are the main challenges for future disaster prevention.

Everyone knows that the world’s population has already far exceeded the limits of global biocapacity (for thirty years!). It would take not only a massive economic decline, and therefore a drastic renunciation of the benefits of progress in all the countries of the world, to restore a semblance of equilibrium, but even more a drastic slowdown in the rate of births if the longer-term impasse is to be avoided.

At the current rate, depredation of humus, deforestation, overfishing, greenhouse effect, chemical pollution will not take long to reach the critical threshold. With the conversion of the Third World to agricultural and industrial “progress”, all land and water is concerned.

It is difficult to see how to convince the inhabitants of poor countries, i.e. the whole world except the great polluters, to settle for a standard of living similar to that of Bangladesh while the richest continue their frakking. There is no better way to convince the citizens of rich countries to return to an exemplary simplicity of life, in order to inspire others!

But what is more serious is that even if all the world’s population were to adopt the most stringent pro-environmental measures, the planet would end up in a few generations by making the soul, simply under the weight of the number. Most green technologies retain a significant ecological footprint. Multiplyed by billions of individuals, it remains polluting.

The only viable outcome remains population decline. Everything must be done to change the situation. In particular, to review the social and sexual behaviour leading to the current explosion, which has so far been largely neglected.

Will the threat of an imminent disaster make people move…