Scarier then Y2K? Anyone who has listened to a radio, turned on the television or read a newspaper within the last three or four years has heard about the dreaded Y2K computer bug. However, as October 12 approaches, you may start seeing ads or announcements in your area to be on the lookout for Y6B. Before anyone rushes off to the grocery store to stock up on canned goods and bottled water, rest assured that Y6B has nothing to do with computers.
According to the folks at Zero Population Growth (ZPG), there is a much scarier problem than Y2K facing us as this century comes to a close: the birth of baby 6 billion. Let me tell you, nothing strikes more fear into the hearts of people everywhere than the birth of a child!
To their credit, ZPG is (to an extent) welcoming the birth of baby six billion. Unfortunately, the only reason they appear to be doing so is to use this child’s arrival as a public launching pad for their own agenda. ZPG plans to use the media attention generated by the birth of baby six billion to promote their new campaign Y6B (year six billion) to raise population growth awareness.
ZPG seems to be utilizing Y6B by using it as a scapegoat to bring to the world’s attention that increased population growth will only continue to add more strain on already overcrowded classrooms, increase the rapid spread of urban sprawl and worsen already horrendous traffic conditions.
To address the issues of overflowing schools, urban sprawl and highways that double as parking lots during peak traffic hours, one doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that population growth is not the immediate cause for these problems, people are. Why arc schools overcrowded? Why is urban sprawl on the rise? Why is it that traffic seems to be in a constant state of gridlock? The answer is simple; people want the conveniences of living in the city without actually having to live there.
Anyone who has ever driven (or flown) across the country, coast to coast, can attest to the fact that you can go for hours on end without seeing a single building, city or strip mall, with the exception of a mandatory gas station here or there. Why is it then when you try to drive to say Washington DC on any given day you are bound to run into traffic? It isn’t because the world is overpopulated; it is because you have a lot of people concentrated in one particular area. This isn’t a problem that is going to get better by making sure people don’t have too many children.
As usual, ZPG has suggested antidotes to help with the Y6B “problem.” Their main objective is to stabilize population growth. They plan to stabilize population growth through the standard outlet of family planning focusing on the issue of women’s empowerment. Sadly enough, they plan to educate women in developing countries (you know, the women with the ‘high’ fertility rates) not for the women’s own benefit but to shave time off their childbearing years. Studies conducted by pop controllers show that educated women are less likely to have large families due to several factors such as delayed marriage, desire for a career, availability of ‘reproductive health supplies’, etc.
For those of you who are reading this and are not in a developing country fear not, ZPG has not forgotten about you and the contributions that you can make to help ward off the evils of Y6B. ZPG suggests that you can help mother earth out with her ‘heavy load’ by shopping thrift stores to conserve on valuable textiles and natural resources. Hopefully your local thrift store isn’t connected to the nearest strip mall — as an existing resident of planet earth you wouldn’t want to encourage any more sprawling. Just remember while driving on your way there to be careful not to create a traffic jam.
Tracy Trunk is PRI’s Development Coordinator
