No pun intended, but Speaker of the House Pelosi may be dead wrong on her thinking that “family planning” will be a boon to the economy. In fact, the long-term global trend is not overpopulation – it is depopulation and a shrinking global economy as population drops and ages. Ms. Pelosi’s approach may provide short-term convenience to some, but in the long term her ideas exacerbate the devastating economic effects of depopulation that seems to be coming as surely as death and taxes.
Phillip Longman is a demographer who makes a pretty airtight research case on long term demographic trends. Here’s his book “The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity”.
Longman spoke to the LongNow Foundation seminar on Long Term Thinking, a think tank on the West Coast (not Christian, but thoughtful). Here’s a link to the talk he gave five years ago, which is still thought-provoking:
MP3
Ogg Vorbis
And to the accompanying PDF file on the talk and the slides.
Though I am unaware of Longman’s religious views, the obvious resonances between his research and Christian regard for the sanctity of life made him a natural pick for a Christianity Today interview here.
As stated Longman makes a compelling case. All the more reason for Christians to take the admonition to be fruitful and multiply seriously.
