The Overpopulation Crisis

Why it’s ultimately a female empowerment issue

By Madeleine Ware

In 2018, Marvel Studios addressed one of the most controversial topics of the 21st century: overpopulation. With a snap of his fingers, Thanos killed half of the Earth’s population, leaving the rest of the population reeling from the devastation. Thanos was portrayed as an evil overlord, whose motives, though objectively reasonable, were corrupted by a lack of empathy and understanding. But do current population regulation ideas share the same sinister undertones? Or do the tricky conversations overpopulation entails have real value in figuring out the best way to deal with the climate crisis? 

At face value, overpopulation is an issue involving too many people consuming too many natural resources. Therefore, it makes sense to decrease populations in the most populous countries, right? Although this way of thinking makes sense at first, it ignores the disproportionate amount of resources consumed by wealthy countries and is tied to racially charged ways of thinking.

The United States is near the top of the list when it comes to natural resource consumption. According to the Scientific American, the U.S., with less than 5 percent of the world’s population, uses “one third of the world’s paper, a quarter of the world’s oil, 23 percent of the coal, 27 percent of the aluminum, and 19 percent of the copper.” Although the rapidly growing populations of countries like India and Nigeria threaten the quality of life for people in those countries, it is hypocritical to blame “third-world countries” for endangering natural resources. 

Unfortunately, the blame for the U.S.’s ecological footprint has been pinned on the already disparaged American immigrant. Just twenty years ago, the Sierra Club was campaigning for stricter American immigration laws in response to the rising world population. The implications of this “green anti-immigrant” movement are disturbingly racist. The intention behind the movement was supposedly to stop the creation of more consumers by not allowing immigrants into the U.S. This flawed logic, combined with existing stereotypes of large immigrant families, reflects a broader trend. Xenophobia has been growing in the U.S. over the past few decades.

But since racist laws aren’t the answer, what is? The clearest solution is female empowerment. Women worldwide have asked for better access to family planning. By giving women easier access to birth control, the birth rate will not only go down, but women will have greater freedom over their bodies and lives. And female empowerment avoids more problematic overpopulation solutions like regimented government control. Uplifting women and combating the climate crisis at the same time is a two-birds one stone situation of the best kind. 

Overpopulation is a problem and there is no denying it. By 2050, the world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion, and resources will be spread thin. But hopefully, through a combination of family planning, sex education, and other focused environmental efforts, we will not only be able to combat climate change, but make the Earth a better place for everyone to live in.