Conquering the Myth of Overpopulation with Math

I began hearing about overpopulation when I was in elementary school. I was assured by every authority I encountered within academia that the world was overpopulated. We were going to starve because there wouldn't be enough food to feed all the people.

Birth Control and Abortion: The Only Cure for This Invented Disease

This myth of overpopulation could, I was assured, only be solved with the judicious application of birth control and abortion. Abstinence couldn't be expected. The only way to ensure we didn't create "too many" people was to prevent the babies from being made and kill those that slip past the barriers.

Doing the Math

Then came the day I decided to test the assumption with a little bit of math. 

Let's start with the number of arable acres of land there are in the United States of America alone: 389 million. Arable acres are the acres that can be farmed, and does not include deserts or mountain ranges.

There are 43,560 square feet in an acre, so if we give each individual just 1,000 square feet of land, we can fit 43 individuals per acre. For the record, most apartments average 850 square feet, so that leaves 150 square feet of green space to garden. plus gives those 43 people a 560 square foot community space to use as they see fit.

Back to our calculations. Multiplying 43 by 389 million gives us 16.7 billion. The entire planet's human population is half that amount. That means we only need to allocate half of our arable acres to human habitation: 194.5 million acres.

Texas, by itself, contains 127 million arable acres of land. Oklahoma gives us another 30 million, and Kansas a final 45. That means we can fit the entire Earth's population in just three - THREE! - states of the United States. That leaves six CONTINENTS empty, along with the vast majority of North America. 

And this is only if we build horizontally, rather than vertically. If we were to build buildings that are 3 stories high, we can easily reduce the number of arable acres required to serve our base population.

Spread the Word

With so many people being persuaded that overpopulation is a real danger, and laughing at those who deny there's a problem, it's important that we who are educated spread the word. This is a dangerous myth that fuels eugenics and euthanasia, instilling fear of starting a family or having children, in the hearts of our youth.

Never Forget: God's In Charge

God knows exactly how large our planet is. He's in charge of the guest list. He knows how many people this planet can hold. The same God who created an entire universe in six days can create a few extra square feet of land if needed.

The planet's 75% water so there's plenty of surface area to do it. Volcanic activity can generate new land in a matter of days, and bird droppings can reseed and make that land habitable in a few years. God's world and the way He runs it is truly a marvel. All we need to do is trust in Him.