Think the planet's overheating is from overpopulation? Think again. Journalist Louisa Schneider (@louisaschneider.info) took to TikTok to debunk this popular — and dangerous — myth.
@louisaschneider.info follow for more🌍 We've been told the myth that we're just too many. Too many people. Not enough food. Not enough homes. Not enough resources. But the truth? 💥 We produce enough food for 10 billion. 💥 There are more empty homes than unhoused people. 💥 Our wardrobes could clothe 7 generations. 💥 The richest 20% consume 80% of global resources. So no — the problem isn't how many we are. It's who has access to what. This isn't a population crisis. It's a distribution crisis. the imbalance of access to resources is the consequence of colonisation of land and its people - by extracting water, food and other goods, denying the access to those resources and forbidding the people to return to their lands - and hoarding the majority in the Global North. And the myth of overpopulation? It's not just wrong — it's dangerous. 🛑 Because it asks: Who gets to live? 🛑 It blames the Global South, the poor, the racialized — while protecting the hoarding of the wealthy. 🛑 It has already led to forced sterilizations of Indigenous women. 🛑 It justifies borders, violence, and exclusion in the name of "ecology". This is not environmentalism. This is ecofascism.
♬ Originalton - Louisa
"They want us to believe that the climate crisis is caused by 'overpopulation,'" the video's text reads. "But the truth is..we have enough resources for everyone!"
It's true that the world's population has been steadily increasing, per the Harvard International Review. Decreased mortality rates from increasingly higher standards of living led to a demographic shift, starting around the 19th century.
However, the global population is not growing exponentially. Data scientist Hannah Ritchie explained in a video for Big Think that the population growth rate peaked in 1963 and has failed to reach such highs since. The planet's warming has less to do with the number of people on it than it does with the amount of pollution those people create.
Schneider went on to explain that there are enough houses, clothes, and food for everyone on Earth. She cited a 2023 Oxfam report, which found that the richest 1% produced as much carbon pollution as two-thirds of the world's population in 2019.
Frequent flying of private jets, usage of superyachts, and general overconsumption are all part of this problem. In fact, the level of pollution generated by billionaires that year could have caused over one million deaths due to excess heat.
"This isn't a population crisis. It's a distribution crisis," the caption read. "And the myth of overpopulation? It's not just wrong — it's dangerous."
That's because the proposed solutions to this argument usually involve reducing the population, which can have dangerous implications for the world's most vulnerable while allowing the world's richest to get off scot-free.
Many commenters supported Schneider's view.
"It is indeed the overpopulation… of billionaires," one said.
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"Very important message!!" another exclaimed.
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