Billionaires*

Seriously. I don’t really enjoy people that decide the world is so fucked that the only option is to end specific populations.

The entire population of the planet could fit in a space similar in size to Rhode Island and be fed by a chunk of land as large as New York but math can be used to make all kinds of statements that are only useful in theory.

We have who we have and logistics need to be figured out for including them not shoveling them off to the pasture. However we can still educate people that quickly raising the population further is a dangerous game but population growth is happening in nations that aren’t taking the resources.

We need to start distributing resources more effectively, not culling people.

This is exactly what I argue and the removed study supports it as well.

Let me ask you this: if you believe the earth has exceeded its carrying capacity, wouldn’t your conclusion be to start getting rid of people or halting their reproduction? That’s textbook eugenics…

No. First you look at where the strains are. When you see that people with exceptional privilege in developed countries create disproportionate strain, and that the capitalists support the increased reproduction of that group - even without their consent. You would then seek to divert resources from the over-privileged group to reduce their disproportionate strain, and a proven way to reduce resource demands among them is to prioritize family planning measures and bodily autonomy in the hegemonic states. This reproductive care is, of course, only one piece of the puzzle that is deconstructing colonialism and emissions inequity.

The removed study gives a nod to this by acknowledging that otherwise viable solutions are not politically viable. The consequences of the politically viable (Business-As-Usual) solutions is at least as much of a humanitarian nightmare. And yet, the limits exist. What does this propose in between the lines? That politically nonviable solutions (such as degrowth in developed nations) need to be re-examined. That we’re between a rock and a hard place, and that the default trajectory does lead to ecofascist solutions.

Requesting a reduction of resource demands even if it means the lowered reproduction of the most privileged socioeconomic classes is no more eugenics than creating an inhospitable planet and accepting the consequential deaths of the billions of people who are not able to support themselves under such conditions. Plenty of studies demonstrate that humans are able to naturally adapt their reproductive rates based on their environments, and other studies show that this is happening right now in over-developed states where people manage to retain reproductive agency. What is disastrous for us as a collective whole is how capital circumvents our natural tendencies in order to augment industrial productivity and the retention of the control of power structures within a select ethnonationalist ingroup.

A different but related issue at present is that reproductive rates are driven through the roof by capitalists looking to exploit weakly organized labor, which is why birthrates are unnaturally high in developing nations exploited by foreign corporations. However, the reality is that the inflated populations in developing countries are still less destructive than the declining (not including immigration) populations of the developed nations. Which then brings us back to more equitable distribution of resources and the natural balance of reproductive adaptations that would follow.

This entire discussion is an essential facet of the conversation on historical materialism.