One of my favorite movies to watch as a child was the 1989
version of Saturday’s Warriors. I used to watch that recording almost every
Sunday. Even then I was a sucker for movies with fun music in it. One of the
more upbeat, catchy songs was called “Zero Population.” The main character,
Jimmy, has a group of friends who don’t believe in the same values he has been
taught his entire life. The importance of family being one of them. That
particular song, sung by his group of friends, is about how people should limit
the number of children they have because there are only so many resources to go
around. Their contempt for those who do have many children was quite clear.
At the time I was not able to understand the full
implications of what they meant other than to laugh out the screen and say. “You
are part of the population, stupid. If there was zero you would not be around
to talk about it.” Yeah, debate skills of a regular genius, I know. But even at
that young age I was disturbed by the message. Family has always been a prominent
part in my life. I was raised where I was surrounded by the support and care of
aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends. Though my immediate family was not
the largest I knew, not even close, we were a fairly good size with five
children. The thought that we were unintentionally causing harm simply by the
desire for a full, and complete family, was unsettling to me. I could not nor
can I imagine a life without one of my siblings. If my parents had decided only
to have a couple of us, there would be three precious members missing. More
than that my mother was the youngest daughter of a family of twelve. Would our
family even exist if my grandparents had decided to stop at four, or seven, or
even ten?
However, I can also understand the concern people have on
overpopulation. I too have had social studies classes where I have seen the
enormous amounts of resources consumed by the world on a daily basis. I have
seen the graphs that show the sharp upward curve of the world’s population in
the last few decades alone and I felt the dread of wondering if we were rapidly
heading to world that could not sustain its growing population.
This was the topic that we discussed in my Family Relations
class this week but this time, it showed a new side that I have never seen
before. We watched a show called The Demographic Winter. You can find both
parts on YouTube if you are so inclined. It starts out by pointing out the
increase in population. It started mostly after World War II. The seemingly
endless war was over. Life was hopeful and many were starting anew. One of the
many results is what is known as the Baby Boom. In fact, studies show that the
amount of children born was really that large at all. The fundamental
difference was that people are not dying like they used to. World War II gave
birth to a multitude of modern medicines. Which has extended the life of
thousands. Children were no longer replacing and adding to the population, they
are adding onto the population that is already there.
The research also pointed out a fact that I had never heard
before. That, unless some change is made, the population will decline in the
next few decades if not sooner. The reasons for this? The amount of births per
woman, known as the fertility rate, has dropped. More and more woman are have
fewer children, usually later in their lives, or not have children at all.
Some might view this as a good thing that the population
will slow and start to decline but is it. The rising generations will become
smaller and smaller while the retiring generation stays large. If there are not
enough of the rising population with the elderly be able to receive the proper
care they need in their later years. Also, the US in particular, has shown a
decline in education, will they be trained enough to take on the jobs their predecessors
will leave behind.
The show words it far better than I can. It is hard to
predict what will happen in the future but every path leads somewhere. It is
just a matter of what will be on the end of it.
I strongly encourage you to watch the shows. They explain it
far better than I can.
Until next time,
Sapphire
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