Perhaps another perspective will help Sen. Mike Lee understand the folly of his recent Senate floor performance, and provide a reason for population conservatives to rethink their ideas about growth.
Notwithstanding the certainty of sooner-than-we-think global and local calamities due to limited Earth resources versus accelerating population, another factor comes into play, namely, the loss of personal liberty.
As more people occupy the same space, your idea of personal liberty becomes increasingly limited by your neighbor’s idea of peaceful living. Will you enjoy outdoor adventures as much when you have to plan around a reservation system? Canyon escapes once freely available to us are now encumbered with fees, traffic congestion and unavailable parking. Did you know you have to pay a parking fee in the Uintah mountains?
How will you feel when (not if, when) these adventures fall under a quota system, just like those for places in Zion National Park? Not to mention when the quotas become a lottery. Only the lucky (or wealthy) can visit.
The ingenuity we need going forward is not how to deal with more population. Rather, it is how can we imagine economic, social and political structures that lead to thriving zero population growth?
Don Wilhelmsen, Draper