Population growth “there”, consumption “here”

 
What factors influence resource consumption more – is everything solvable by technological change, do we need lifestyle change, or is population growth the real evil? In this blog post I will concentrate on the two latter factors.
According to Alessandro Galli from the Global Footprint Network, who presented the concept of the Ecological Footprint concept today, both factors matter equally. But do they really?  The graphs which he was showing on order to support this point of view show quite a different scenario I believe.
We discussed this issue in our workshop with Dennis Meadows and there was disagreement in the group.
While some opted for Population Growth being a major issue for decreasing the EF, I have to say that I begged and still beg to differ! Why? Here are a number points I see as important concerning the much discussed topic of population growth:

• Look at the Ecological Footprints of the different countries in the world! Which countries have the highest Footprints? Is it the countries which, for years now have experienced large population growth or even the ones that have the greatest number of people living in them? I leave it up to you to answer this question.
• Speaking in environmental terms: What is the real problem with the population growth of India and China? In fact I believe, it is not the increasing number of people that is so worrying, but that they are copying our lifestyle...and that brings me to point three:
• A small fraction of people in the world is consuming a large part of resources and vice versa. Now, who is discussing this resource question most acutely? Usually “we” (see on the “we” issue also Harriet Jackson’s post "'World' Resources Forum?") in the Western World. And thus I cannot help but feeling that the discussion about the threat of population growth is lead in order to divert from the real problem –from us and our style of life!

One of the workshop participants argued that the question of population growth was also a question about hunger. If the number of people in this planet keeps increasing, then alimentation will be difficult, hunger will spread. Again, I have to disagree!
As Faye Duchin put it so nicely: It very much depends on the diet you are living on: A diet based on plants rather than animal products causes a fraction of the CO2 emissions than a diet based on animal products. Plus you need a lot less resources to grow plants than to “grow” meat for food, let a lone the question of water used for meat consumption (also called ‘virtual water’).
 

So, what are the political consequences on these observations? If we talk about development aid in order to reduce population growth in the developing world in order not to strain resources anymore we should also talk about development aid for ourselves: Change our lifestyles in a way that if others copy it, it won’t put the entire planet into danger!
 

I also approached Alessandro Galli from the GFN about this question and he had some very interesting points which did alter my own point of view a little bit. You may find an interview with him on this issue below. Maybe population growth is one variable among many, but. I believe, certainly not the most crucial one! Or what do you think?
 
 
 

For the graphs Mr Galli is referring to please see the picture above.