Japan’s birth rate hits historic low - International Monitor
Japan’s birth rate hits historic low - International Monitor
The number of births in Japan in 2023 was a record low of 758,631, a year-on-year decrease of 5.1%, according to a preliminary report.
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I do agree that these companies are at fault. But wouldn't even the emissions of the most evil companies in the world go down with a smaller humanity? If you look at the top 5 in the ranking, it's all fossil fuel companies. Do you think if we had 25% less humans, the remaining 75% would still burn 100% of fossils?
And I am not not fingerpointing at anyone. I neither condemn parents nor children. Just saying that less people have less impact than more people.
Why should we use fossil fuels at all? That's not a population issue.
I think the majority of people would prefer to use green energy but - as said in my previous - I do not think that the same majority is willing to accept significant cut backs on their lifestyle. As long as they can continue to live as they're used to they're all in on the green deal. But when they are asked to use less individual transportation in favor of public transport, lower their heating by a few degrees and wear a sweater instead or buy regional food over stuff that is imported from overseas, then unfortunately a lot of people react in a rejective or even aggressive way. Green politicians in Germany for instance are confronted with a lot of hate for all attempts to initiate some change.
So to me it seems like phasing out fossils in a democratic manner is only possible over a longer period of time, unfortunately probably several decades.
What if it wasn't up to them because fossil fuels were no longer allowed to be used and those companies were no longer allowed to exploit resources that are destroying the planet?
Also, what if we didn't wait decades for the population to drop so much that it would make a real difference, long after it wouldn't matter?
If we simply just stopped using fossil fuels today without a smooth transition to green energies, all supply chains will shatter immediately, people will freeze to death, you'll have a world-wide famine and neighbors fighting for the last remaining ressources.
Furthermore, the only way to force such an immediate exit from fossils would be to establish a violent dictatorship as there's no democratic majority for it.
As much as I'd like the transition to happen as soon as possible, it's pretty obvious that the solution can't be as simple as 'just forbid using fossils'.
You'd like the transition to happen as soon as possible, but your 'as soon as possible' is apparently generations away since you think the population needs to drop but fossil fuels should still be used even after that.
I never said that I want to just wait. We should leverage all possibilities in parallel to reduce the carbon footprint:
- Increase green energy: solar power, wind turbines, tidal power etc.
- Reduce energy consumption
- Find ways to increase prices of products and services that are bad for the environment (not only CO2, but also methane, PTFE etc.)
- Fine companies which violate environmental laws or thresholds with significantly higher amounts than today
- Increase tolls in imported products and ban imports of products that do not meet sustainability criteria [...]
All these measures are important steps to take to reduce the average footprint. But still on top of all these things the total number of humans is a signicifant multipler for the total footprint.
A human can only use less ressources only no human will take no ressources.
Once again: I do not promote state-forced birth control, I do not condemn parents, children etc. I'm simply saying that if people voluntarily decide to reproduce at a lower scale, that that has a positive impact on the planet and in the end helps the future generations.