In response to Maria Cheng’s essay, “Fight Global Warming: Wear a Condom,” although I believe her theory makes sense, I also believe that it is not enough to have a profound effect. I believe only a more extreme form of population control will be suitable for our current situation. “The world's population will likely rise from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050, with most of the growth in less developed regions, according to a 2006 report by the United Nations” (Cheng). This can arguably be due to the fact that those in developing countries are not as well off economically thus, spending money on
condoms is not a priority, thus an increase in perhaps unwanted children and accidental pregnancies is a given. Thus making condoms free and more available to everyone could definitely help. However another interesting question one may ask is “If the most population growth is being witnessed in developing countries, why are we giving them such a hard time when the developed countries are responsible for the most CO2 output. If only they made a condom that prevented unwanted CO2 from coming out of the tailpipes of motor vehicles.
My question is although providing a bunch of free condoms to people may decrease population growth, still how much CO2 is pumped into our environment just to produce them. Maybe the real answer is self-control or possibly more extreme forms of population control, that can be witnessed in other countries. For example, “Indira Gandhi, was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, a total of fifteen years. She was India's first and, to date, only female Prime Minister” (Indira). “To abolish slavery, which was her campaign slogan, Indira forced sterilization on males of lower socioeconomic status to limit their population growth and subsequently eliminate the poor.” (Heitzman) Alright maybe this is a bit extreme and prejudice against those unfortunate to be placed in that position by means not in their will nor power however perhaps China is a better example.
China one of the only nations taking measures to decrease the number of their population, and doing so successfully under something called the one-child policy. “It officially restricts the number of children married urban couples can have to one” (One-child). “The Chinese government introduced the policy in 1979 to alleviate social, economic, and environmental problems in China, and authorities claim that the policy has prevented more than 250 million births from its implementation to 2000” (One-child). Although these policies are very controversial, perhaps this is what people need, a kick in the butt by their governments. Cuba’s communist government took the initiative to kind of throw its people into the water, when faced with their energy crisis. In order to make, the people of Cuba needed to learn to swim, they needed to adapt and take drastic measures working together to survive the energy crisis. It worked for them.
Yes, these kinds of ideas may be thought of as very extreme however in an extreme situation as this, perhaps we need to take more extreme measures. People will argue that their freedoms are being taking away, but perhaps what gave us these freedoms in the first place is what also dug us this hole we are now trapped in and are flailing to get out, yet still too stubborn to leave behind things we can’t take with us in order to get out.
Perhaps we need to learn from these extremes, we are greedy, and taking what we have for granted not thinking twice about the implications our lifestyles have on the environment. Society’s norms create a vicious cycle placing money and consuming as a priority and raising kids to think the same way. Did you ever here the phrase our children are the future, if this is truly the case, without teaching kids how to live a better life better for our environment, how do we expect our future to get any better? A quote from Ishmael, “The world is not going to survive for very much longer as humanity’s captive” (Quinn 26).
Resources
Heitzman, James, and Robert L. Worden, eds. "Indira Gandhi." India: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1995. Print.
"Indira Gandhi." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Dec 2009, 05:58 UTC. 3 Dec 2009
"One-child policy." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 Nov 2009, 02:32 UTC. 3 Dec 2009
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