The Real Solution for Earth’s Population

DID you notice that the “solutions” offered by “experts” attack only symptoms of the problem while overlooking the real disease altogether? Is the underlying problem really overpopulation?

Or, is it not, rather, this world’s selfishly divided economic, political and religious system of things? That is what some are beginning to recognize. They see the need for other arrangements than the present ones for administering earth’s affairs. The book Environmental Ethics notes that the first step toward ensuring man’s survival on earth must be ‘some form of world government so that mankind can manage itself as a whole.’

But will men ever give up their selfish national rivalries for the common good? There is little reason to think so. For example, the United Nations recently approved a proposal for the major powers to cut their military budgets by 10 percent and then to use that amount for aid to the poor countries. But what did the major powers do? They simply ignored the proposal. Then, too, within the nations themselves selfishness rules. Inequalities exist. In the United States, for instance, one fifth of the population has 76 percent of the wealth, while the bottom fifth has just one percent! If nations cannot balance out such inequalities inside their own borders, what reason is there to believe they can do so on a world scale?

The real solution lies in a new kind of world government. But such a government cannot be administered by imperfect, selfish men. There is a crying need for a worldwide government under an unselfish, impartial ruler. Did you know that the Bible reveals that God has purposed such a world government for mankind? We read: “I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.”​—Dan. 7:13, 14.

Before you dismiss such an idea as unrealistic or religious nonsense, think what a world government and ruler whose purpose is unity in heaven and earth means. Since Christ is perfect, bringing all things into harmony with him would mean earth-wide unity. That would signify an end to all the divisive forces that have made it impossible for millions of humans to have needed food, clothing and shelter.

There can be no question that our planet was designed to provide its human population with a happy, comfortable home. The intricate beauties and abundant variety in creation are obviously designed for the benefit of intelligent creatures who can appreciate them. Man himself gives evidence of being designed to enjoy earth’s natural state and live in harmony with its natural cycles. Who of the most hardened city dwellers does not feel the tug of the country and woodlands at times, be they only in the local park?

The Bible shows that the bad conditions now laid to overpopulation are a sign that very soon this selfish system of things will be replaced by a government of the world under its one Head, Jesus Christ. (Ps. 72:7, 8; Matt. 24:3, 7, 8, 14; Luke 21:11, 25-28; Rev. 6:1-8) The time is ripe for restoring the proper state of things under that government. Under that rule the Creator’s expression on how men are properly to fit into earth’s natural environment will finally be accomplished, as stated to mankind’s first human parents: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:28) Has mankind ‘filled’ and ‘subdued’ the earth in the way purposed by that commission?

‘Filling the Earth’

Instead of subduing the earth purposefully, men have made unwise use of its resources. They have done a work of tearing down. Centralized big industry and its production methods have interfered with earth’s natural cycles and continue to do so. Besides industrial pollution, poor agricultural conservation has been and is now “ruining the earth,” endangering its capacity to support growing populations.​—Rev. 11:18.

Instead of filling the earth, millions have piled themselves up in giant, dirty cities. Also, the unequal distribution of mankind among the nations points up its failure to “fill the earth.” For example, Canada has about six people, on the average, for every square mile of her vast territory, while Bangladesh has 1,300, over 200 times as many! Yet the Creator’s purpose for ‘filling the earth’ logically called for some measure of uniformity. His view on such matters is indicated by his command to those who took possession of the land of Judah in the fifteenth century B.C.E.: “And you must apportion the land to yourselves . . . To the populous one you should increase his inheritance, and to the sparse one you should reduce his inheritance.”​—Num. 33:54; 26:53-56.

Obviously, some land areas, such as mountainous ones and those with extremes of weather, are not as capable of sustaining so large a population as others. However, it remains true that the divisive national barriers set up by men must answer most for men’s failure to “fill the earth” in fairness to the whole population. That is why the government that the “God of heaven will set up . . . will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these” selfishly divided governments of the world. In ‘giving rulership and dignity and kingdom’ to his Son Jesus Christ, God purposed “that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him” unitedly. When that purpose is realized, gone will be all divisive national barriers! God’s kingdom by Christ “will not be brought to ruin” by greedy, rapacious polluters of the earth.​—Dan. 2:44; 7:13, 14.

Never again will the earth be blamed for failure to support its population. When men conduct their affairs in harmony with natural cycles and laws, the earth will be able to care for far more population than it does today. Now, little more than a tenth of the earth’s land area is cultivated for food. Another fifth is in meadows and pastures. “The remainder,” over two thirds of earth’s land surface, “is either in forests or is not being used for productive purposes,” says The Encyclopædia Britannica.

Think of the potential for making much of this land productive! And mankind will work to this end under the guidance of Jesus Christ, the one whom God used as a “master worker” back at earth’s creation. As “master worker,” he was especially “glad at the productive land of [God’s] earth” and “was fond” of mankind. (Prov. 8:22-31; compare Colossians 1:16, 17.) We can be sure that mankind will feel this fondness in full measure when he lovingly regulates the ‘filling’ of our earth to its reasonable capacity.

Even now Christians who choose to have children are Scripturally bound to have families no larger than they can properly “provide for.” (1 Tim. 5:8, Catholic New American Bible) So at that time earth’s population will be allowed to grow only to the measure of both community and/​or rural living that will not bring ruin to the environment or starvation to the offspring.

Then humans will see the land’s full ability to produce for its population. Reflect on what has been done in certain desolate areas by using modern methods of irrigation and cultivation. Then think of what the earth could produce when, with its Creator’s blessing, it flourishes, as illustrated by Isaiah’s words: “The wilderness and the waterless region will exult, and the desert plain will be joyful and blossom as the saffron. . . . For in the wilderness waters will have burst out, and torrents in the desert plain.”​—Isa. 35:1-6.

Then, as during the peaceful reign of King Solomon, “there will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.” (Ps. 72:16; compare Isaiah 65:17, 20-24; 25:6.) This is the one real solution.

There are about two million Christians in all nations on earth today who are learning now to live in harmony with this soon-to-be-realized solution. A Columbia University professor of biological sciences, David W. Ehrenfeld, noted this in his recent book Conserving Life on Earth: “Among contemporary Judeo-Christian religious groups, few besides the Jehovah’s Witnesses would appear to have formulated a [belief that living nature is an irreducible whole] and balanced philosophy of man in relation to his environment (see Awake!, April 22, 1971).” They did not originate it. It is found in the Bible. They will be pleased to assist you to learn it as well.​—Isa. 2:2-4.