[Buddha-l] Darwin's 200th centennial

[jkirk]

Yes, this generalization worked when world populations in the
poorest countries were still small enough that resources had not
become utterly limited or exhausted (a situation that lasted up
until about mid-20th c.) as they are now in large parts of India,
southeast Asia, northeast Asia, and even in China, as well as
Africa.  Climatic changes are making it all worse, especially in
sections of India, northeast Asia (e.g., Mongolia) and Africa.  

The point is that today environmental degradation plus declining
water supply has escalated to such an extent that the hordes of
overpopulation can no longer subsist according to their old ways,
so thousands migrate to cities looking for work and food, only to
build gigantic slums that might work for a while, but eventually
will not provide.  Overpopulation beyond the carrying capacity of
economies, exacerbated by climate changes,  has also led to the
explosion of commercial sex and labor trafficking of poor
children all over the world, as parents SELL THEM to make a few
bucks-- another chilling result enhanced by "globalization". 

Despite the exaggerated claims of some feminists and human
righters (the "right" to have unlimited 
kids), today it is time that the world's nations took effective
measures to support fertility control. If they don't, more
environmental degradation and eventually massive die-offs are in
the world's future. HIV/AIDS has already started this ball
rolling in Africa, resulting in entire villages of orphaned and
infected children. Times and conditions change, as noted in the
Buddha's teachings--anicca. 
These are the distressing contemporary realities of the
fertility-poverty equation.

Joanna K.



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The poor have more children and this will produce more labour and
thus more resources for them. Poverty causes large families. 

The rich, with variants according to culture, have to spend more
money bringing up each child. Therefore there is a tendency to
have less children. Children will reduce their income, not
increase it. 

Carol
========================
> 
> > That's one of the causes for the fact that the rich stay rich
and 
> > the poor stay poor and the first are always outnumbered by
the last.
>