“Imagine how much pollution would be in the air and the oceans if there were only 2 billion people putting it in? So yeah, we’re already overpopulated.” -Morgan Freeman
Now, if you were a God—or a wizard—what would be the first actions you’d take? What do you feel really needs fixing in this crazy world?
Oh, man! One of them is the tyranny of agriculture. We’re turning everything on the planet into food for humans so we’re cutting down the rainforests, displacing all of the animals, and we’re doing all this to feed humans. That all started with the advent of agriculture. When we were hunters and gatherers, the population could only go as far as the food could go. Scientists did an experiment once and they came up with a very clear answer to this: you put five mice in a cage and you give them enough food for five mice, guess what? You’ll only have five mice. If you put enough food for ten mice, you’ll have overpopulation. And we’re already there. We have 7 billion people on this planet. It’s not that there’s not enough room on this planet for 7 billion people, it’s that the energy needs for 7 billion people are 7 billion people’s worth of energy needs, as opposed to, say, 2 billion. Imagine how much pollution would be in the air and the oceans if there were only 2 billion people putting it in? So yeah, we’re already overpopulated.
So what do we do?
My theory, personally, is that the intelligence in the universe is not human intelligence. We’re just here like everything else, and eventually, it will level itself out. The planet has more to say about it than we do. Nature will survive.
That’s a bit daunting.
Well, it is. I agree. But I feel we’ve become a parasite on this planet. That’s like saying you don’t believe in God, but yes, if this population keeps growing, we’ll just keep devouring the planet, and I don’t think it’s going to stand for that very long.
Oh, no, no God, and hopefully, no such thing but human imagination.
Could God have laid a goose, if He were a turkey?
:). The imbalance that you see is also the act of God. Not even an ant moves without the will of God. You notice all these humans act foolish? That too, is God’s act. To maintain balance, He will do a Tsunami, or an earthquake, or a Volcano or Tornado. The so called Natural calamities too is his act that falls within his cyclic theory of creation and destruction.
Yes, I am concerned about it. But when these humans who are in this ugly rat race, What can We do. Just sit, relax and witness just like HIM. He creates and destroys. I would rather join HIM than to be his VICTIM. Sit, Relax and Witness!
I do agree with Morgan. The chinese understood it when they ran out of space and and introduce a birth control program but some other countries do not understand this and encourage more children per family by handing them extra allowances for each child.
Hey Morgan, take your eugenic crap and shove it .If you think there is an ideal amount of people that this planet should hold,then by all means start elimination starting with yourself.The rain forests are disappearing because Governments put great restriction on people growing replaceable wood,hence loggers turn to the rainforest. Currently Farmers produce enough food to feed 21 billion people adequately,but because Governments force price controls and have import restrictions,a hell of a lot of the food is actually burned or dumped into the oceans.There is no problem of ‘overpopulation’ at all;the problem is entirely the fault of governments mismanaging resources.As an act of Hollywood movie God,why don’t your wave your hand and make these evil Governments disappear.
If we were becoming more civilized then I might agree with him. But we spend billions or trillions of dollars killing people, and develop more ways to kill more and destroy the earth while doing it. If that money were spent on ways to grow food, farm the oceans,and cultivate parts of the desert then we would have fewer problems. In 100 years from now people will look back at the 20th and 21st centuries as backward barbaric periods when pride, greed, graft, and cruelty were in vogue. But maybe in 100 years we will have destroyed our corner of the universe.
How right you are, Ironic, the simplistic N. American misconception that so-called overpopulation is the great problem is utterly inaccurate, but it is so beloved in the USA because it allows them to go on overusing on a massive scale and suppressing the rest of the world! Notice how nearly all those fooled by this nonsense always think overpopulation is basicly in the rest of the world, noticeably the third world, so they do not have to think about it for themselves.
In fact world problems and poverty, destruction of the environment etc. are nearly always caused by the politics of inequality – not by overpopulation (a convenient propaganda word and scapegoat). One group takes all and takes everything from most of the others, both within Countries and internationally.
Mr. Freeman, that superb, charismatic actor, should have the ability to look further into the real situations instead of just the N. American myth self-delusion of “overpopulation”!
Homo Sapiens is not nearly sapiens enough to stop destroying the world. I agree entirely that population is the number one concern. But this has come about because man has 2 fatal design flaws: a gross imbalance between the brain and the sex drive in the male and incredible inefficiency in the human body – we eject as noxious waste 99% of what we ingest. Peter’s comment is right on – I calculate that in my lifetime (1943-) my country (the USA) has spent 20 trillion dollars on its military machine, and killed at least 10 million civilians in 20 countries, mostly in Asia. A monster was created in WW II – the US military. That money and effort was needed to develop a feasible alternative to fossil fuels, in addition to making friends around the globe, of course. I am not optimistic.
The main reason the earth is overpopulating is due to the massive amount of morons who believe that the great oz (god) is going to come down and deliver our parasitic species from it’s own stupidity. It would take a large event like the plague of the dark ages to kill off enough humans to have any effect on humans breeding like roaches and sucking all the life out of this planet.
Planetary resource management is a pretty sticky question isn’t it ? National and international/planetary population management and poverty alleviation and IGNORANCE alleviation is THE challenge of the human race. We are probably too insane and too selfish to deal with these issues, … but we must do our best nevertheless. We MUST strive to make the world and the planet more beautiful and liveable and do so WITH EQUITY.
Thank you for calling him out on this.
Ahh, not all voices of reason have been silenced. YET!
Your ‘evil’ military also kept Europe free for 40 years,saved S Korea from that abomination in the north,and stopped a genocide in Croatia.
Freeman is right, however some greedy parasites are disturbed by his comments. WE ARE TEMPORARY RESIDENTS OF THIS EARTH. Science will NEVER make you live for ever. so give some space for the rest….
Whatever humans do is natural, even over population and extinction as a result or some other scenario.
The Human Race Will End Like All Species, It is just a matter of time, and nobody living today has much time left anyways.
Morgan is right,overpopulation will surelly bring us to the cliff.
Java has 130 million people in just under 50,000 square miles – the size of New Yor State (pop. 20 million). Bangladesh, about the same size, has a population of 165 million, almost 3,000/sq mile. India has over 900 persons per sq mile, while the US has about 83. Overpopulation must be seen in terms of regional/national carrying capacity. If you don’t think Java, Bangladesh and India are overpopulated, I wonder whatb your perspective. In Java, where i live, it is almost impossible to find a site for solid waste disposal, and only a smal % of wastewater is treated.
Let’s talk about SE Asia. Agent Orange was a crime against humanity. The chaos fueled to a large degree by the USA resulted in death and suffering for millions in Cambodia, Viet Nam and Laos. On my recent assignment in Viet Nam the local English-language newspaper had a front-page story on a new-born with birth defects because of Agent Orange – it is still happening! Isn’t America wonderful!
The best solution would be to get rid of all men, starting with smokers. Women would do a much better job of running the world. Just store enough sperm to keep things going, and eliminate all the mysogonists (males).
It is foolish to put the burden on Morgan – he is just a pretty face prostituted to give credence to this discussion. I have litle repect for people who dedicate their lives to pretending to be what they are not – acting. That’s abot as useful who dedicate their lives to htting a little white ball – golfers. Mogan’s association with this issue is irrelevant; I certainly don’t need an actor to tell me about world issues. Don’t focus on him – focus on the issue!
Actors are doing their job just like you and I push files or hunt deer. The difference is people tend to listen to them but will brush you and I aside. I completely agree that a product endorsed by them does not acquire the qualities they are supposed to have but the ploy to get people listen to important issues by using actors cannot be found fault with. Like you said, forget the actors, pay attention to the issue. However, I do not agree you have to give a cold shoulder to actors.
I can understand your anguish at men ruining the earth and will be good riddence but I wonder what you would do with the boys who will be born via sperm banks
Actors are only doing their job just like you and I push files or eradicate malaria. The difference is people tend to listen to them but will look askance at us if we were to espouse some cause. I completely agree that no product acquires greatness by their endorsements. But if you can get people give an ear to burning issues by the ploy of “using” the actors, I am alright with it. (I love Morgan’s acting but will never go for Visa just because he has lent his voice to the ad)