Tina Landis is the author of the book Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism.
We all see how climate change and ecological degradation are unfolding and we all are grieving – consciously or not – for the loss that is occurring and the increasing hardships it brings for all species. To combat demoralization and inaction, it is crucial that we understand the true root causes and solutions and not fall prey to scapegoating or blaming individual lifestyle choices for the problem. The crisis we face goes far beyond our personal choices about how many children we have, what we consume, or how we get around, but is the result of the economic system that we live under and the decisions made by the elite investor class. But the mainstream narrative conveyed through academia, the media, and Hollywood tends to spread disinformation and deflect blame away from the profit-driven system of capitalism, which is the true cause of the crisis. The myth of overpopulation is one such narrative.
The concept of overpopulation has its roots in the writings of Reverend Thomas Malthus, a late-18th/early-19th century cleric and economist, who theorized that overpopulation was the cause of all of society’s ills. In alignment with the anti-poor campaigns of his time, Malthus touted that human populations would increase exponentially and outpace our capacity to feed ourselves, scapegoating the most vulnerable of society as the cause.
Karl Marx and Frederich Engels at the time criticized the Malthusian view as unscientific and lacking in historical context. They viewed Malthus’ theory as devoid of the dialectical nature of societies to develop, progress and overcome challenges, and they stressed that one cannot separate the issue of population from societal structures. While Marx and Engels focused on the economic issues of the era in relation to population, they stressed that context was key, and that the inequalities that existed under capitalism could be overcome through the reorganization of the economy on a socialist basis.
Engels, in his essay “The Condition of the Working Class in England,” argued that Malthus’ ideas were a means for the English bourgeoisie to justify the inequality of the capitalist system by deflecting blame onto the poor and their reproductive choices.
Since then, this bourgeois ideology has continued to be used to scapegoat poor and marginalized communities. The myth of overpopulation has been used as a tool of the colonizers and ruling elites to control women’s bodies through racist policies of forced sterilization, anti-natal programs, eugenics, and other population control measures imposed on the Global South and low-income communities of color in the North.
While Malthus’ theory stemmed from economic issues of his time regarding a surplus of labor and how to restrain poor and working class populations, his overpopulation theory has since been adopted by reactionary forces, as well as many leftists and environmentalists, as a fact related to the crises of today.
One such example is the 1972 Club of Rome’s “Limits of Growth” report, which purported that overpopulation would lead to societal collapse in the near term due to exceedance of the carrying capacity of planetary resources. This theory has continued to be upheld within the present day “degrowth” movement and within left circles that lack a dialectical and class analysis of the true causes of environmental degradation and climate change.
Debunking the myths
Many factors have influenced population growth and decline throughout human history, including class, cultural, gender, and material influences. For the last 50 years, global birth rates have in reality been declining dramatically. Humanity’s total fertility rate – meaning the average number of children born during the average woman’s reproductive years – is around 2.5 births, which is the replacement level. This means the number of live births globally is at a rate only sufficient to replace their parents within current life expectancies.
Fertility rate, total (births per woman) | Data
Another crucial myth to debunk is that the human species as a whole is causing the ecological and climate crisis. We instead need to look at the root causes of these crises and the class within society that is enabling the production of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and environmental destruction to occur.
Let’s first look at rising GHGs, which is the main cause of the rise in global temperatures and extreme weather events.
The vast majority of GHGs stem from energy production, industry, agricultural production, deforestation and land conversion for agriculture and real estate development, transportation, and heating and cooking fuels used in homes and buildings.
So think about who makes the majority of decisions about what methods are used in all these sectors. Yes, there are many small-scale projects happening in communities around the globe – some sustainable and some not – but the control of the majority of production of the majority of things that we need to live are controlled and determined by the owners of industry – the billionaire class.
It’s the ruling elite who determine whether or not to continue producing energy and fueling transportation with fossil fuels. It’s the investor class who decides how many acres of forest to clear to open up new economic opportunities for themselves. It’s big agribusiness owners who created the chemical-dependent industrial system that enables commodification of a for-profit food system.
One can argue that government regulations determine these things, but those regulations where they do exist – which we have been whittled away over decades – don’t change the economic model of prioritizing profits above all else and the class character of who makes the decisions. We, the working class majority, have no control over the mechanisms of the economy that drive the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions.
Now, let’s look at ecological degradation. Biodiversity is a key climate stabilizer with each species contributing to the function of the system that provides oxygen, soil nutrients and stability, fresh water, pollination, food and medicine, and carbon storage. More diversity means more redundancy within an ecosystem, which ensures that the ecosystem is more resilient to disturbances like fires, drought, and other stressors.
The rapid loss of biodiversity that is currently underway is directly tied to the decisions of the profit-seeking billionaire class. Their industrial agriculture system is the main culprit as well as other land clearing projects. Just 13 companies are responsible for the majority of deforestation globally. Industrial agriculture seeks to produce food at lower costs in order to maximize profits by increasing inputs of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, land, water, and energy in the form of mechanization – all of which harm biodiversity in one form or another.
The Green Revolution was sold to the people as a means to overcome scarcity, but it was really a means to maximize profits for big agribusiness elites by shifting away from small production at the community level to industrialization and commodification of our food system. Hunger exists not because humans don’t understand how to grow enough food or because there are too many of us on the planet but as a result of capitalist and imperialist policies that impact accessibility and distribution of food.
And that leads us to the other major source of GHGs and environmental destruction – the U.S. military industrial complex – which is the largest single institutional emitter of greenhouse gases globally. Immense amounts of fossil fuels go into the logistical support for the over 800 U.S. bases spanning the globe, in addition to fueling training exercises, and the transport of military personnel, weapons and equipment. The exact emissions levels and environmental impacts from weapons testing and their use against the targets of U.S. imperialism are incalculable. Despite being exempt from UN emissions reporting, it is estimated that emissions from the U.S. military sector equal the emissions of over 140 countries combined. Once again, the majority of humanity does not make decisions regarding whether or not to scale back U.S. military operations. It’s the ruling elite who call the shots within the Pentagon.
A 2022, Oxfam report entitled “Carbon Billionaires: The Investment Emissions of the World’s Richest People” found that the average billionaire is responsible for carbon emissions over one million times higher than the average person in the bottom 90% of humanity. While their lavish lifestyles also contribute to climate change, their investments account for 50% to 70% of their carbon footprint.
Humans as a species are not the cause of the crises we face. A handful of the ruling elite and the capitalist system that they prop up are.
Socialism is the future
Under a socialist system – where what is produced, how much is produced, what materials are used, and how much waste is created – is a decision made by the majority, by the workers who create all the wealth of society. As workers, we collectively understand the challenges we face best because we are the class that makes society run. And in turn, we can collectively find the best solutions, not by scapegoating anyone, but by looking at the real causes and implementing real solutions that not only allow humanity to survive, but to thrive. Under socialism, workers who are experts in their fields are elected to government positions because they are most knowledgeable on the issues facing society, unlike under capitalism where an elite class of career politicians who lack any real world experiences call the shots.
Humanity has the tools and knowledge to immediately shift to wind and solar energy production, to build a zero-emission nationwide mass transit system, to shift to regenerative agricultural and agroforestry practices that work with nature instead of degrading it, to base production on what is sustainable instead of what is profitable, and to create eco-cities that support biodiversity and cool air temperatures, but the economic system we live under is a barrier to implementing these transformations in any meaningful way.
Humanity can collectively feed, house, educate and care for everyone, through a planned socialist economy. China’s rapid shift to renewable energy and massive ecological restoration projects are a glimpse of what is possible under socialist planning where the resources of society are used to meet the needs of people and the planet.
The ruling elite want to distract us by scapegoating certain sectors of the population and propping up myths like overpopulation as the cause of the crisis. They want us to believe that climate catastrophe is inevitable and we should just accept our fate as something predetermined – a fatal flaw of our species – while they rake in profits from our suffering. But when you look at the facts and the source of the crises, you see that the future is not predetermined and that we have the power to change it when we organize ourselves, take control of the system, and steer it away from the rule of capital.
A socialist world – where the workers collectively have control of the resources and plan the economy to solve the crises we face – is a world worth fighting for.
For the people and planet to thrive, capitalism must end. Fight for socialism!
