In a recent The New York Times op-ed picked up by The Salt Lake Tribune, Lyman Stone predicts that “The U.S. population bust is coming sooner than anyone is prepared for.” Stone contends that depopulation is a serious economic, social and political issue that will cause great damage to the U.S. and the world. He notes that population growth is slowing because individuals all over the world are choosing to have fewer children; however, Stone disagrees with most projections that it will be about 2080 before population “might” start to decline. He thinks that it might start by the 2050s.
Stone spent most of the article writing about why population growth is not likely to rebound and the well known challenges caused by a stable or shrinking population. He, like some economists and business people, sees only growth in the future for a successful country or world. They see “bigger as better.”
Stone does not mention the many problems that our present population, or even a larger population, will cause: conflicts over water and land use (like water, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments here in Utah), ecosystems’ collapse and habitat loss (fisheries, the Amazon basin, etc.), climate change, increasing energy demands, as well as shortages of key elements and minerals.
Many researchers agree that humans are already in an “overreach” situation where we are consuming some resources faster than the Earth can provide. Our consumption is rapidly destroying the Earth’s ability to sustain a healthy environment.
We have a choice! Are we going to work on the largely known social, economic and political problems that a stable or shrinking population presents or continue population growth that damages the foundations for all life on Earth: Our home?
David Hart, Torrey