Do You Agree With David Attenborough Or Not?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/sep/18/david-attenborough-famine-population

Is it a waste of time sending food aid to third world countries when population growth is the problem?

[sandyRoe]

Somebody mentioned Prince Philip. With four kids he's one to talk.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// In Africa and Asia the Catholic population is proportionally growing double the rate when compared to the general population growth. It's not the same in Europe and Latin America though. There, the Catholic rate has not grown. Rather, it's proportional to the population. ///

/// The problem with the Catholic faith is that it does not allow birth
control. ///

/// Which is what I was referring to. ///

Providing a passage from a link explaining the doubling of the birth rate amongst Catholics in Africa and Asia while at the same time remaining proportional to the population in Europe and Latin America , doesn't call for you criticising the Catholics view on birth control, do non Catholics practice it in Africa and Asia?

But that isn't the only point, you asked me why I had introduced Islam into the debate and I have explained the reason to you, which strangely you have failed to address just as you have failed to address my other defensive points.

/// I have no agenda. ///

Then why do you mostly attack the Christian faith, while at the same time obviously showing that you are a staunch defender of Islam.

[ummmm]

Does Islam ban contraception?

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// A town has a field that grows enough food to feed all 370 inhabitants. But one man eats all the food himself. He can offord to. Everyone else dies. Can you spit who is the problem? ///

Yes the inability for the 370 to take action against just one man.

Do not wish to criticise but why have you corrected your spelling of 'SPOT', but failed to also correct your spelling of 'AFFORD'?

[ummmm]

Petty!!!

[Hypognosis]

Gromit's post, of 09:45 Thu 19th Sep 2013, is the one I wish I could have written.

I would like to use that 1:370 statistic myself, elsewhere, but need to know where it came from. Any chance of posting the page link?

Thanks in advance.

[anotheoldgit]

http://public.wsu.edu/~mreed/380American%20Consumption.htm

[Gromit]

Thanks AOG for posting the link.

[LazyGun]

Of course it is not, and that is not what he is actually saying. He is not saying that we should refuse to aid those in genuine need, through the sending of food and aid supplies in times of draught and famine.

What he is saying is that such aid programmes can only ever be a sticking plaster. The long term problem remains, and what to do about it?

He advocates global population control, and again I would not disagree with him that this is an important issue.

But promoting the widespread use of birth control in areas with high infant mortality, heavy reliance on generational family labour, poor or non-existent education systems and poor, under-developed agrarian societies, which just so happen to be in those areas of the globe most at risk of natural disasters and most at the mercy of climate phenomenon is always going to be difficult.

First you need a better developed, industrialised economies, with more sophisticated infra-structure, including systems to allow for greater protection against natural phenomena, like draughts or famines or floods.Then you need to dramatically improve clean water and sanitation systems to dramatically lower the child mortality rate. Then you need much better education systems and better standards of living. And then, finally, you can promote, with some effectiveness, effective birth control measures.

All these changes do not happen overnight,so it is beholden upon all of humanity to aid each other in times of crisis.

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// Thanks AOG for posting the link. ///

Thanks also, always willing to help if I can.

Wouldn't take too much notice of that link though Gromit, it is because the US has to take care of all those foreigners they have imported to their shores.

[Gromit]

// the US has to take care of all those foreigners they have imported to their shores. //

I can't work out whether you are being ironic there or not?

[Zeuhl]

///Can you spit who is the problem? ///

//Yes the inability for the 370 to take action against just one man. //

aog

what action do you suggest the Ethiopians take against the Americans?

would you recommend they blow up some Embassies or hijack some planes and fly them into American office blocks?

or do you have alternative actions they can use to stop them 'eating the whole field'?

[Hypognosis]

Thanks for posting the link, AOG.

@Gromit,

in fact, the website is talking about the ratio of energy consumption in one country versus another, not the amount of food eaten, so the example you gave of the town with the field to feed 370 needs a bit of a re-think.

It's a good job there are no Americans on AB (something which -really- puzzles me, because online discussions seldom lack them) because they are always incensed by anyone telling them how they should live their lives, particularly how many children they should have.

In fact, in developed country, any attempt to live a parsimonious existence just looks, to casual observers, like you're not as well off as they are and might affect your social life adversely. The 'peer pressure' element. I like to think that everyone is painfully aware that 'something needs to be done' about the excessive consumption in the consumer society but nobody wants to be the one to make the first move and be the one who gets giggled at.