Population? or Consumption?
Must We Choose?

by Marilyn Hempel

Paul and Anne Ehrlich put it so clearly, "the problem is simple: too many people consuming too much stuff." But when we delve into human behavior, it's complicated. Is human behavior biologically or socially driven? Unfortunately, "either/or" questions are almost always misleading. Understanding problems and crafting good solutions is seldom simple. There is no single cause of destructive behavior, nor is there one solution that will make us all behave sustainably. But during periods of crisis or political unrest, many people act like either/or thinking is necessary. As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed, "the essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity."

The debate amongst environmental and sustainability advocates still rages. Which is more important—overpopulation or overconsumption? It has divided friends, colleagues and organizations. The rhetoric recently reached new heights (or lows) when environmental author Fred Pearce wrote on World Population Day, "Some Greens think all efforts to save the world are doomed unless we 'do something' about population growth. This is nonsense. It stinks." He goes on to state that because more women are feeling empowered these days, population growth will take care of itself; overconsumption is the only "proper target for environmentalists."

Uncivil hyper-inflated rhetoric appears to be the latest fad in public conversation these days. Fred, and all of us, are entitled to our own opinions—we are not entitled to our own facts. In this Population Press, we present both. But the facts are paramount.

Fact 1: Yes, human population growth is slowing, but the world still adds about 77-80 million more people each year. The growth has not stopped and the slowing has stalled, as the United Nations and Population Reference Bureau 2010 data and reports in this volume show.

Fact 2: Women have become empowered and fertility rates have dropped due in significant part to the extraordinary work of UNFPA staff and all the dedicated health services people who are in the field trying to improve the lives of women and girls. Many of them have risked their own lives to help others.

Fact 3: Yes, overconsumption is a major problem, especially in wealthy countries. Many in the 'voluntary simplicity' and sustainability movements have spent years trying to elucidate and model an alternative sustainable lifestyle.

The 'population or consumption' debate is worse than silly. It pits us against our friends. There are way too few of us working on sustainability as it is. To lose our solidarity is suicidal. We don't have the time or energy to spend fighting amongst ourselves. Earth is in trouble. Civilization is in trouble. As a global community, we need to stop population growth and stop overconsumption. We need to stop using fossil fuels before we further disrupt the global climate that keeps us alive. We need to continue to help women and girls reach their full potential (family planning services are a crucial part of that). We need to conserve precious natural resources. We need to eliminate poverty. We need to restore wild places and make space for other species. We need to work together.

“We must alert and organize the world's people to pressure world leaders to take specific steps to solve the two root causes of our environmental crises—exploding population growth and wasteful consumption of irreplaceable resources. Over-consumption and overpopulation underlie every environmental problem we face today.”  - Jacques-Yves Cousteau