Description

Hank Green’s rapid fire wit and humor is a great introduction to some of the issues of overpopulation.  The clock in the bottom corner, counting the 2.5 net new people on our planet every second, for instance, is a great visual for just how quickly the world’s population is growing.  The discussion starts off with some of the history on the issue with Thomas Malthus and the Industrial Revolution, and then ends discussing the current situation with population statistics, wealth inequality, and our effects on our environment.

Discussion Questions

• Do you think individuals or governments have a responsibility to not have too many kids?  How many is too many?
• Or do you think something like increases in food production, as in the Industrial Revolution, will be the solution?
• Do you think that moving to new planets might avoid the problems Malthus predicted?

Keywords: overpopulation, environmentalism, the 1%, government, inequality, Malthus, populations, society