Questions and Answers about Ben's Bike Ride
Questions and Answers about Ben's Bike Ride for Population Balance, May-June, 2002.
(Photo by Kelly Crutchlow of Algona Publishing Co.
Questions and Answers
What do you have to say about population?
Just a few basic points. The world's population is too large (over 6.2 billion in 2002) to be sustained in the long term, which is why many natural resources are in decline worldwide. The population is still growing rapidly (more than 144 every minute, net growth). We can reverse these trends ethically and humanely and secure a healthier world for future generations, but only if we work together now.
What does a bicycle tour have to do with population stabilization?
Three things. First, population pressure here in the U.S. is due as much to resource consumption as reproduction. Americans use more resources than anyone else in the world by far, and the two most wasteful goods we consume are shelter and transportation. So I want my lifstyle during the trip to make a point about conserving resources and hence about reducing U.S. population pressure.
Second, the fact that it's possible to bike comfortably from town to town says something about population density. Even in the vastness of the Great Plains, towns are only a few miles apart. Yet many of these towns are bypassed by most traveling speakers because they aren't on the main highways.
Finally, the only reason I'm available to do something as crazy as biking around for three weeks is that I don't yet have children. Postponing parenthood is an important part of slowing population growth in every country of the world, and I hope I can show the next generation one of the millions of fun things they can do before having kids of their own.
What are your credentials?
I've been speaking in public for over a decade, and I've taught a variety of community education classes. I'm also a lifelong environmentalist with a deep concern for the future of humanity. World Population Balance speakers personally reach about 15,000 people each year in the Upper Midwest. Many of our members are strongly pro-life while others are pro-choice, and they respectfully agree to disagree about abortion in order to promote fair and humane population stabilization.
Why should people who live in such wide-open places believe that the world is too crowded?
The only way a Hong Kong or a Minneapolis can support millions of people is because there are thousands of acres of land and other resources somewhere else in the world that are supporting these people. Also, since farmers' livelihood depends on the health of the land, water, and climate, many farmers are more in touch with environmental conditions than a lot of city dwellers.
What can we do about this? What's the solution?
The humane solution is to lower the birth rate so that it balances with the declining death rate. (Abortion is not an acceptable way to accomplish this.) There are plenty of methods of family planning, and none of them is right for everybody. So the first step is to educate people about the problem of increasing numbers and decreasing resources. Then they can choose a solution for themselves.
This seems discouraging. Are you pessimistic?
Not at all! The fact that we're having such an impact on the planet demonstrates that people can change things when we work together! All we have to do now is work together to reduce our impact. All we need is a change of public opinion. And that's what I'm working for.
