politics for the 99%

Published on GIZMODO.co.uk, by Matt Novak,June 6, 2015.

In the late 1960s a biologist named Paul Ehrlich insisted that the world’s rapid population growth was unsustainable. What could be done? Ehrlich proposed radical population control measures—including sterilisation.  

The always excellent Retro Report has a new 12-minute video that looks back at the predictions in Ehrlich’s 1968 book The Population Bomb, and the consequences of his proposed solutions. And it’s not pretty. Ehrlich’s ideas included taxes on nappies and children, covert sterilisation of the public through drinking water, and even spiking foreign food aid with anti-fertility drugs … //

… So why isn’t overpopulation on everyone’s minds today? Because most people have come to realise that it’s not food production that’s the problem. We can make enough food for the entire world to eat well. The problem is our economic system, which stands in the way of people having enough to eat.

The Population Bomb is filled with predictions of nightmare scenarios—and normally, we get to sit back and have a good laugh at incorrect predictions. But Ehrlich and his Malthusian ilk weren’t random futurists predicting doom and gloom. Their predictions of overpopulation and promotion of eugenics had real consequences on the world.

And as you can see from the video, Ehrlich isn’t apologising. Despite being wrong again and again and again (the Simon–Ehrlich wager/die Simon-Ehrlich Wette/le Pari Ehrlich-Simon).
(full text).

zum Mythos Ueberbevölkerung, Verblüffende Fakten zur Welt von morgen – Doku 2015 (NEU in HD), 44.24 min, von Dokus 2015 in HD, am 21. April 2015 hochgeladen;

Related Links:

• Hawaii: Want to Save the Planet? Have Fewer Kids, on Civil Beat, by Nathan Eagle, June 8, 2015: a straight-talking scientist at the University of Hawaii says we need to stop focusing on the negative effects of climate change and start talking about the solutions;
• Political Population Poppycock, and the Ethics of Misinformation, on Huffington Post, by Marx Ellen Harte, June 3, 2015; (my comment: yes, Africa’s population will still grow for a longer time, but not those of our other Earth races – Heidi);
• Retro Report from the NYT: The Unrealized Horrors of Population Explosion … what became of the overpopulation bomb?
• Population Control or Race to Oblivion – autor Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich today about his book The Population Bomb, 1960, on Telegraph India, June 1, 2015: … Yet according to the UN, the three places with the highest density are Monaco, Macao and Singapore. Not one of them remotely qualifies as a desperate case. In Pearce’s view, the villain is not overpopulation but, rather, overconsumption …
• Tomorrow’s Cities, Solving the Urban Problem, on Real Truth.org, by ANDREW J. HOLCOMBEJUNE, June 1, 2015;
• Why I will never allow my child to become a doctor in India, on QUARTZ, by Roshan Radhakrishnan, May 18, 2015: … With 0.7 doctors per 1,000 Indians, the doctor to patient ratio is far below that of other comparable countries like China (1.9), the UK (2.8) and the US (2.5). Spain’s 4.9 seems like an absolute luxury in comparison …;

Human Overpopulation on en.wikipedia:

• Overpopulation; /Human overpopulation; /See also;
• Main page Human Overpopulation; /Graph Gallery; /See also; /External Links;
• Jean Ziegler born April 19, 1934 (as Hans Ziegler) is a former professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris. He was a Member of Parliament for the Social Democrats in the Federal Assembly of Switzerland from 1981 to 1999. He has also held several positions with the United Nations, especially as Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008,[1] and as a member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council from 2008 to 2012. Jean Ziegler has authored numerous works, is a lecturer, and is well known for this sentence: “A child who dies from hunger is a murdered child …; /External Links;

Other Links:

Les riches détruisent la planète, qui les arrêtera? dans france.ATTAC.org, par Dominique Plihon, Geneviève Azam, Thomas Coutrot, le 9 juin 2015;

Bilderberg gibt Themen und Teilnehmer bekannt, auf Alles Schall und Rauch, von Freeman, 8. Juni 2015;

Currency Concerns: Strong Franc Doesn’t Dismay Swiss Business Leaders, on Spiegel Online International, by Sven Böll and Horand Knaup, June 8, 2015 (Photo Gallery): The strong franc poses a serious threat to the export-driven Swiss economy. But the country’s captains of industry remain bullish. How come they aren’t more worried?

EU Kurz vor dem Crash, Arte Doku 2015, 90.57 min, von Doku Hanz am 25. April 2015 hochgeladen;

Der Euro fällt immer mehr, Deutschlands Inflation 2016, 43.30 min, 43.30 min, von Doku Nation 2015 am 11. März 2015 hochgeladen … Dokumentation 2015 Neu in HD;

3. Stock links – Folge 1, 43.07 min, von Citizenfive am 7. März 2015 hochgeladen … mit Sebastian Pufpaff, Hannes Ringlstätter, Maike Kühl;

More Retro Reports on NYT: essays, docs and videos that re-examines the leading stories of decades past:

• Action and Dysfunction in the U.S. Food-Safety Effort;
• A Flame Retardant That Came With Its Own Threat to Health;
• A Singular Conviction Amid the Debate on Torture and Terrorism;

Animal Overpopulation on en.wikipedia:

• Nathan J. Winograd, is an (animal) American author, film-maker, animal advocate, and director of the /No Kill Advocacy Center … (No Kill Advocacy Center as main page in Oakland, California, a non-profit organization … dedicated to expanding no kill animal sheltering across the United States);
• /No Kill Equation: Winograd coined the term No Kill Equation, which includes 11 programs to be undertaken by a shelter to support the move to no kill sheltering,[10] which he describes as “the only effective roadmap to No Kill … (No Kill Equation as main page consists of eleven essential elements[1] identified by animal advocate Nathan Winograd for creating a No Kill Community: where the animal control agency does not put to death any healthy or treatable companion animals.[2]:4 As a benchmark, at least 90% of the animals entering the shelter are expected to be saved);
• /The myth of (pet) overpopulation.