World population growing at dangerous pace

Is this a positive or negative prospect? Some disturbing numbers are easily found online:

*795 to 842 million members of the world’s population suffer from hunger.

*9 million people die of hunger every year, including 3.1 million children.

*Millions of people live in poverty and lack basic necessities in our technologically-advanced world. To give just one example, 622 million people in Africa live without such a basic thing as electricity. Millions of others experience shortages of water and other essentials.

This list, unfortunately, can go on and on. As a result of the above deprivations, the developed countries of the world face an increasing influx of refugees from poor countries, who are looking for a better life and causing well-publicized problems for their destination countries. Presently, 6.6 million people in Africa are waiting for a chance to cross into Europe. The foreign-born population of the EU as of 2014 was 33 million.

At the same time, the global birth rate is out of control, especially in underdeveloped countries. In Africa, for example, the birth rate is 4 to 7.1 children per woman. I remember an appeal for donations on television featuring a woman in Africa who had ten children — ten suffering  kids — who she was not able to support. Countries around the world, led by the United States, and various agencies including the Economic Commission on Africa, UNICEF, Save the Children, and many others are working to provide help. But obviously this help is not sufficient at a time when the world is facing uncontrolled population growth. In addition to human suffering, our population growth also taxes limited natural resources and negatively impacts the environment through increased use of energy, demand for more cars, and so on.

Years ago there was a misguided theory that wars are needed to control the population — a very “humane idea,” this is not. In light of the problems caused by overpopulation, doesn’t it seem necessary for our great country to initiate an educational campaign through the United Nations to encourage two to three children per family, with a primary emphasis on underdeveloped countries?

The campaign would teach that sex is not just an act of pleasure but a big responsibility if it results in the birth of a child. To be clear, the suggestion is for an educational campaign. Nobody should be forced to have fewer children than they want, nor should abortion be a mandatory method to control the birth rate. More emphasis on education might help.

The ones who least deserve to suffer from the imperfections of our world are the children, but they often suffer the most. It is our human responsibility to make sure that any child brought into this world has a decent life. To do that, we must think about what rate of population growth is reasonable not to overpopulate the small house we call earth and ensure a decent life for generations to come.

From the standpoint of our Jewish morality, don’t the above suggestions make up one component of tikkun olam, or saving the world?

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Mamaysky is a freelance writer based in Tarrytown, New York