CNN Quick Votes

[misle]

Right now, CNN has a quick vote:
Is the United States overpopulated?
56% Yes
44% No

Anyone who thinks the US is overpopulated obviously has never left the city they were born in. They definitely haven't had the lovely experience of driving across Kansas!

 

[FoBoT]

you are correct, there is much much much empty space in the USA
one billion won't even make us break a sweat


USA land: 9,158,960 sq km
India land: 2,973,190 sq km
China land: 9,326,410 sq km

 

[dullard]

We don't have to have a dense population everywhere to be overpopulated. The more people there are, the smaller our share of America's natural resources.

 

[lokiju]

Yet more confirmation that polls do not represent the country as a whole.

 

[mugs]

Maybe they're aware of our vast amounts of open space and still think there's too many people here.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

We're so damn far from being overpopulated. Look at India, we're fine. We've got tons of room to expand and still be able to support ourselves.

 

[Juno]

feeling overpopulated? move to the northwest (idaho, montana, wyoming and etc.)

 

[PrinceofWands]

It doesn't matter how many people it CAN hold, it matters how many we WANT it to hold. I also feel it's overpopulated, though not by much. But then, I hate cities/towns with more than 20k-30k people.

 

[j00fek]

hah

 

[compnovice]

Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey
We're so damn far from being overpopulated. Look at India, we're fine. We've got tons of room to expand and still be able to support ourselves.

Japan has a higher population density than India... 10 times as much as US :Q and their living standards are pretty high...

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey
We're so damn far from being overpopulated. Look at India, we're fine. We've got tons of room to expand and still be able to support ourselves.

I don't want this country to be as densely poulated as India.

I'm just glad I'll be dead before this country is REALLY overpopulated and we start grinding up dead people and making little green crackers out of them.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: compnovice

Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey
We're so damn far from being overpopulated. Look at India, we're fine. We've got tons of room to expand and still be able to support ourselves.

Japan has a higher population density than India... 10 times as much as US :Q and their living standards are pretty high...

And they grow enough food to support their entire population! and have plenty of natural fresh unpolutated water that needs minimal treatment

 

[FoBoT]

we have plenty of water and more food than we can use, we are one of the largest exporters of food

 

[WolverineGator]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation

Overpopulation is subjective and in the USA all I see is sprawl, sprawl, sprawl. Yes, we are overpopulated.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
we have plenty of water and more food than we can use, we are one of the largest exporters of food

The Earth's surface is 3/4's water; when the conspiracy theorists start talking about "Peak Water", then we definately know the $hit has hit the fan!!

 

[misle]

Originally posted by: WolverineGator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation

Overpopulation is subjective and in the USA all I see is sprawl, sprawl, sprawl. Yes, we are overpopulated.

I don't understand, how is overpopulation subjective?

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: WolverineGator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation

Overpopulation is subjective and in the USA all I see is sprawl, sprawl, sprawl. Yes, we are overpopulated.

sprawl doesn't mean we're overpopulated. it means we're not living on top of each other like rats, such as people in most other countries do. in fact, it would be a counter-indicator to overpopulation.

 

[FoBoT]

the term "sprawl" was invented by anti-technology people that want everyone to live in caves and eat dirt

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
It doesn't matter how many people it CAN hold, it matters how many we WANT it to hold. I also feel it's overpopulated, though not by much.

Exactly. My Honda Civic CAN hold probaby 10 people as I drive from place to place (more if you are like those sardine clown routines). But I don't WANT more than 4 people in my Civic. Anytime there are more than 4 people, my Civic is overpopulated.

Misle doesn't seem to understand the difference between what something can hold and what you want it to hold.

 

[BlancoNino]

Originally posted by: Juno
feeling overpopulated? move to the northwest (idaho, montana, wyoming and etc.)

NO!!!!! THat's where I'm going!!!! I'm getting out of my nice little town in Washington because alll the yuppies from California and Seattle are buying 2-3 houses here so they can be next to freaking Chelan (Chelan isn't that great you morons). I'm going to Montana where I can relax and be away from it.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
we have plenty of water and more food than we can use, we are one of the largest exporters of food

I disagree with the water statement. Excluding desalinization, the West is quickly running out of water.

 

[misle]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
It doesn't matter how many people it CAN hold, it matters how many we WANT it to hold. I also feel it's overpopulated, though not by much.

Exactly. My Honda Civic CAN hold probaby 10 people as I drive from place to place (more if you are like those sardine clown routines). But I don't WANT more than 4 people in my Civic. Anytime there are more than 4 people, my Civic is overpopulated.

Misle doesn't seem to understand the difference between what something can hold and what you want it to hold.

No, it's not that. It is people who look only where they live and use that for all of the US.

Kansas has a population density of 32.9 persons per square mile
New York state has a population density of 401.9 persons per square mile
New York City has a population density of 26,402.9 persons per square mile
US average is 79.6 persons per square mile

Do you notice a difference?

edit: Link

 

[newmachineoverlord]

There are several possible meanings of "overpopulated." If you mean that some people would be happier if there weren't so many people, than yes the us is overpopulated. If you mean that we have exceeded the k value then the answer is no: if we had exceeded the carrying capacity than we would be showing negative population growth. It does appear, however, that we have indeed exceeded the sustainable carrying capacity, as we are relying upon resources which are dwindling. Freshwater supplies are being used up, and energy sources are from nonrenewables. This may be viewed as lowering the k value, and eventually it may lower below the population size and then there will be massive deaths due to shortages of water/food. In order to accurately judge a sustainable carrying capacity for the population we would need to switch over to renewable resources, such as wind power and ethanol fuel. This changeover must occur for any population size to be sustainable over time. In the absence of this change, massive famine is inevitable, it's just a question of when.

As for the presence of "space" in this country, why don't you try eating and drinking nothing but space for a year, see how you like it. The limiting factor in carrying capacity with todays technology is ultimately fresh water, and it's becoming more scarce already, therefore we are near the k value for current methods. Improved methods, using wind/solar for desalinization to increase freshwater supply, etc. could increase the k value further, but having to desalinize water instead of getting enough rain dramatically raises the cost of food production. Even with current populations this may be inevitable with droughts becoming more common in some regions. Of course, most food grown in the US is used for animal feed, so an end to the beef and pork industries would increase the k value substantially, by a factor of two or more. You can take my cheese when you pry it from my cold dead hands (though milk and cheese are actually far more efficient in terms of water and energy usage than beef or pork.) Mmmmm... cheese...

Yes, the USA exports food and makes plenty, but it is not done using sustainable methods, and future droughts could already be a problem even with current population sizes.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_vegetarianism
http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/filead...ater/virtual_water_final_synthesis.pdf
http://marine.geol.sc.edu/BIOL/Courses/BIOL301/Wethey/Outline09.html

 

[FoBoT]

:laugh:

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: misle
No, it's not that. It is people who look only where they live and use that for all of the US.

Kansas has a population density of 32.9 persons per square mile
New York state has a population density of 401.9 persons per square mile
New York City has a population density of 26,402.9 persons per square mile
US average is 79.6 persons per square mile

Do you notice a difference?

edit: Link

I've lived in Nebraska for 24 years (since I was 5 years old). Nebraska's population density from that link is 22.3 people/sq mile. And guess what, I think we are overpopulated. We have more people than I want. Thus to me, we are overpopulated. Of course our land CAN hold more - but I don't WANT it to hold more. So what is your disagreement with my statement?