So the world is unquestionably overpopulated, right? I mean, we could sustain things the way they are right now for a while, especially with greener types of energy production. But I don’t think anybody argues that an increasing population is a good idea.

But here’s a really crucial point: a certain amount of industrialization and wealth creation has proven to help keep populations at sustainable levels. It turns out that when people are empowered with economic opportunity coupled with reproductive choice, they decide of their own accord to have fewer children.

Just ask the Chinese government! They aren’t particularly thrilled that Chinese families are having fewer children, because they want to continue strong economic growth fueled by strong population growth.

The Chinese government is doing everything in their power to encourage families to have more children, but families aren’t buying it.

I remember in my youth that population growth in South Asia was a crisis. Surging populations were driving hunger problems, even famine. But when population growth started to drop and then level off, it wasn’t because people were starving or dying of disease. It was because they were starting to live better. They didn’t need huge families anymore to support subsistence agriculture. So of their own accord and contrary to any kind of centralized planning, South Asian women decided to have fewer children.

Whatever the eco fascists try to say, we don’t need disease and famine to reduce populations. We need people to be economically empowered to make their own choices. If they’re living well, they’re going to make good choices all on their own.