Affluent countries have lower than replacement fertility rates. Most of their population growth (including the US) is from immigration. And the growth they are experiencing
from births is increasingly driven by immigration. This isn't xenophobia (I'm perfectly happy to replace white people with hispanic folks in the US), it's math.
U guys can get all the vasectomies u want, but until we slow immigration the US population will continue to grow.
As far as global population, you guys have it backwards. The poorest countries have the highest fertility. Inflicting poverty and misery on people (in the form of taxation, increased energy prices, or degrowth) wont make them have fewer kids, but the opposite. Work is needed to increase the quality of life, education, and affluence of the global south. Then watch their TFR decline (this is predicted to happen anyway).
I do agree about consumption being out of control. Maybe there should be more regulation on use of non-medical plastic, packaging, and consumer shipping in general. The benefits of widely availability cheap ("cheap" as in of little use AND inexpensive) consumer goods seems to benefit fewer and fewer people (tons of small businesses when i was a kid benefiting our small community, replaced by people shipping single item amazon and walmart goods back and forth). When I was a child my grandmother had a handful of old hand-me-down toys and games we used for decades. She spent very little on junk. Every Christmas my kids get loads of cheap junk from family members that might get used for a few weeks. Yes I've tried to stop this. Nobody wants to buy jammies for my kids
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Of course, we should also largely stop using fossil fuels for energy and transportation. Need to replace it with a nuclear/hydrogen energy infrastructure. Near zero carbon, abundant, cheap at scale (once we realize the LNT model is wrong and change regulations). Or we can replace every 1000 acre energy plant with 30000 acres of solar panels. Ur call. We can share our energy rich technology with the global south as well allowing them more wealth, quality of life, education, and the low TFR you anti-natalists so crave
, and lower our carbon footprint at the same time!
As some have pointed out, all life WILL eventually disappear whether tomorrow or billions of years from now. But I don't think it was all an accident or whatever. It's funny to see materialists get all bent out of shape about the idea that mule deer will go extinct in 200 years instead of a billion years. "Oh we're all just atoms and when u die you're just worm food. No god. It's all pointless. But I vasectomied myself so I can die a lonely old (maybe) person with no loved ones, forgoing all the enjoyment and satisfaction of children and grandchildren, so that mule deer might be around another 1000 years for the children of the assholes to enjoy". Yeah, I know...my wife points out circumstances are such that some people can't have children, but I'm not talking about them and it isn't the case for most people. Ymmv
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