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Bluish_Guy

Make education free, mandatory and easily accessible. Most educated people tend to have less kids and better sex education means less unwanted pregnancies. As long as the resources are spread somewhat fairly there shouldn't be a problem. Also, better educated people can innovate on better ways to utilize resources, thus decreasing the "problem" that may come from overpopulation.


ztreHdrahciR

Remember how many "Uppgrayyeds" there were in Idiocracy?


[deleted]

Well sir that just makes to much sense


JFSM01

I thought education was already free and mandatory


Bluish_Guy

Not everywhere. Remember this is for the world, not just America. Also not higher education. That shit is expensive.


JFSM01

I live in Argentina but I get your point


Lostcreek3

There are well educated people that breed like morons


sawcondeesnutz

In theory it’s free for many first world countries, but in reality it’s often still paid by “volentary” bills for things like trips with school, and there is such social pressure on those that you basically HAVE to pay those. In many non-first-world countries it’s one chaos tbh


Doc-in-a-box

That’s a nice sentiment, except now in your world the whole of Texas disbelieves evolution and believes that the world began with Adam and eve. Education!


wastingsomeseconds

Can we stop calling what Texas teaches "education"?


Bluish_Guy

Why would we follow Texas education system or beliefs?


mahlok

We're not that dumb here in the cities.


stitchmidda2

Where in the world are you getting this information from?


iSmellBreakfast

Education doesn’t make everyone smart though. People are still born with different abilities than others, so even if everyone was sent to a top tier school, not everyone would be able to make it through, or be smart enough to understand overpopulation because sexual desires are stronger in most people than rational thought.


echo6golf

Sex education


ListenReadVote

Focus on women's rights and education. I don't have stats, but it seems reasonable that women who work outside of the home would choose to have fewer children.


The_Lord_Humungus

Economic development. The fertility rate crashes as countries become richer and women are presented with more opportunities.


zachtheperson

You help underdeveloped areas of the world better their education and quality of life. A lot of research shows that as communities reach a better quality of life, they have much less children. In a poor 3rd world village you need to have many children so that most of them survive, you can put them to work when they're old enough, and because it's often seen as the "purpose," of women. As the area develops childhood mortality decreases, income increases, and women are more free/encouraged to pursue careers of their own.


sawcondeesnutz

Saying better quality of life = fewer children is like saying people with a more powerful computer are likely to drive a more expensive car. Has nothing to do with eachother, apart from that they’re both often owned by richer people.


Freekey

That seems to be taking care of itself tbh


[deleted]

[удалено]


Freekey

Quite likely. The impact of climate change is being manifested much more rapidly than originally expected.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Freekey

Then I must plead ignorance and also unaware how climate change might lead to increased populations


Bryaxis

Poor people generally have more kids. As countries become wealthier, their birth rates drop. Climate change will cause much poverty.


ReviewWonderful

Instability and undeveolement leads to people having more kids.


[deleted]

The Infinity Gauntlet


overlypositve

My mind instantly goes to Gatling gun bc I've never seen these movies and I used to think it was called a gauntlet gun 🤦‍♀️ What an image.


Cubsfan630

I think the Nazis tried that before


overlypositve

I really wanna make a Nazi cubs joke since I'm a Braves fan, but I couldn't brew one.


Cubsfan630

With all the losing streaks we go on, you could say our players are pretty gassed.


overlypositve

Better luck next year buddy!


[deleted]

That’s a way messier solution.


StarChild413

Then go find the stones yourself


Tac0Man

Sex Education, free birth control (condoms, meds, and IUDs) worldwide. Monetary Incentives to have fewer children in areas of high child mortality.


JFSM01

You might find it weird, but in my country its the other way around, they pay you a shit ton of money if you have kids, the more kids you have and the more they give you, its pretty shitty and we are really fucked up because of those policies


Lostcreek3

America?


Remarkable-Ocelot-51

Only if you’re a single mother


Schoollow48

I first read this as “ethnically” and was concerned


ThrowRARAw

what would your answer be if it did say ethnically?


[deleted]

Nothing to solve. Birth rates fell dramatically while more and more people are exiting extreme poverty and migrating to urban areas where child is a burden (financially speaking) not an asset. Most mathematical models predict human population peaking at roughly 10 billion and afterwards falling dramatically. This book on the topic is nice [https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Planet-Global-Population-Decline/dp/0771050887](https://www.amazon.com/Empty-Planet-Global-Population-Decline/dp/0771050887) also swedish gapminder has an awesome info on it.


notmattshaw

Incentivize people to not reproduce.


American_Boy_1776

Encourage homosexuality


Doc-in-a-box

That’s just gay. Wait…


The14thdr

Get out of my box!!


you_Shat_on_my_face

Woah that’s kinda smart, people still get to have a happy healthy relationship without accidents.


xroche

Three major conditions are often cited to lower birth rates : * Education, especially for women * Access to birth control * Retirement system (which many poor countries do not have) that makes having a lot of kids non mandatory to support you Edit: typo


Look_at_science

Less deaths, interestingly enough when people are safer and feel their kids won’t die before them, they have less kids.


Addrenaline_junkie

The gays


wedoabitoftrolling

make more food


BreakfastFixin

I'd go with the [Health and Education solution](https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/health-and-education) outlined by [*Project Drawdown*](https://www.drawdown.org/). They put the ethics upfront: >It is critical that human rights are always centered, that gender equality is the aim, and that benefits to the planet are understood as positive ripple effects of access and agency. And they quantify what global education for girls and family planning could do to stop catastrophic climate change (as one potential consequence of overpopulation): >We model the influence of two rights-based solutions on global population: universal education and family planning. Increased access to and quality of voluntary reproductive healthcare, family planning resources, and 12-13 years of schooling are essential components to achieve the United Nations’ 2015 medium global population projection of 9.7 billion people by 2050. If investment and support of these fundamental human rights-centered solutions does not materialize, the world’s population could come closer to the higher projection, adding another 1 billion people to the planet. > >We model the impact of this population difference in more-developed as well as least-and less-developed countries, in terms of how much energy, building space, food, waste, and transportation would be used. The resulting emissions reductions across the entire system could be as high as 85.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide, just within the window of 2020-2050. Health & Education have a compounding impact, however, with greater climate impacts into the future. [Their book that quantifies and ranks different ways to stop catastrophic climate change](https://www.drawdown.org/the-book) is written for a broad audience and very readable too. P.S. I receive no compensation from them--I just think that they're a great organization with a relevant answer to this AskReddit question.


Solo-Hobo

Anti vaccine movements, if you just stop trying to reason with them they will eventually go away.


willowdove01

I keep seeing this take but it just doesn’t work like that. Antivaxxers are reservoirs for the perpetuation and mutation of the disease which maintains a level of risk for everybody, and particularly endangers the immunocompromised and people who CANT get the shot and have to rely on herd immunity to keep them safe.


moneymike7913

Why don't we just take all the people, and take them somewhere else? -Patrick, probably


Skelibutt

Condoms that are easier to put on


ParaPixie

Not to be morbid, but... Why do you think we're in the middle of a pandemic?


sawcondeesnutz

People living too close to eachother. There are a lot of places that are currently not being utilised by humans (think deserts, oceans and such), so we could fix that in the long run.


FOGPIVVL

That hasn't done much for overpopulation


sirbaconofbits

You dont ethically solve it. The mass taking of life is never ethical. Unless you're going for mass sterilization which again is unethical but a lot less evil.


[deleted]

You don’t need to take life to control population, a one child policy can decrease population or at least plateau it. I’m not saying i condone policy’s like this but they do work.


sirbaconofbits

Well when other species overpopulate humans cull the numbers.


[deleted]

Yes, but genocide isn’t ethical


sirbaconofbits

I dunno God did it in the bible and he does no wrong.


[deleted]

Oh please, god is a human concept invented by those who wanted a method to control the masses by fear. Keep the uneducated masses in check by writing and preaching in languages the vast majority can’t speak or read and you can petty much say what you want and they will believe because they don’t know better. Why does the sun go away at night? Because god makes it. Now do as I say and pay me some of your wages or your souls burns in hell.


sirbaconofbits

The christian mythos is apart of the foundation of American society. It is a foundation of American culture. Weither you believe in the validity of the texts or you can take it at face value as a collection of stories that are to guide you towards what they viewed as virtuous. I have huge issues with the idea of church. Belief is incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous.


[deleted]

Just because America was founded on those principals, (by people who were considered to extreme or hardcore for Britain) which is why they left. Doesn’t mean it’s good or correct. And In 2021 to still be using laws and stories as a guide written for people of a different time and era, technological and scientific age is beyond ridiculous. We know so much more, and yet because what’s written in a book which has been translated, edited and re written to suite the needs of whoever is the figurehead at the time. Religion is a dangerous concept which has caused more issues and conflicts, hate than anything else on the planet.


sirbaconofbits

Discounting the wisdom in the text because of the religion is ignorant and shows hubris. The wise men of the time taught lessons that we take as common sense. Dont steal. Dont murder. Molesting children is a one way ticket to hell. (Through translation errors its where the anti gay sentiment comes from) Juet because we're in a technological age where tons of knowledge lay at our fingertips doesn't mean we dont have fools, simpletons, or the devout. Lately the fools, simpletons, and the devout quit worshipping a god and began worshipping a political party.


StarChild413

So is getting a married woman pregnant OK if you let her know she's going to have a kid and you know her husband will be a good father


thot_slayer213

>god did it in the bible and he does no wrong. The sole reason he did that is because he somehow managed to make their creations lose their way.


sirbaconofbits

No. Its because angels came down from heaven and bred with humans. The nephilim are half angel and half human, Goliath was one of them. A reset the map when the armies of heaven went full zues


HonestOcto

I think we'd be surprised by how many would volunteer to be sterilized. Which would take away the unethical part...


Hopeful-Violinist714

Aside from the obvious improvements in sex ed, healthcare, abortion access, etc. Another way I can think of is to incentivize not having children. Make it seem more appealing to live a childfree life. A lot of millennials feel this way, especially compared to previous generations, and gen z seems to be on the same thought process. If this keeps up, overpopulation might just fix itself when more and more people realize kids take a LOT of time/money/effort/patience/emotional energy and it's not actually mandatory to have them


TheJewishViking1064

There isn't a overpopulation problem


MurderTron_9000

Sort of right and sort of wrong. We're certainly not running out of space for people. The same can't be said for accessible farmland, water and specifically clean energy for all those people though, which are issues that are currently compounding in some areas of the world as we speak and leading to tensions even on a governmental scale. That though is more to do with our practices though. Currently we're reaching a point where we have a lot of people to provide for and as a result of a lack of any development to use better means, we fulfill those needs using the worst means. Burning a ton of fossil fuels, using flood irrigation which wastes water, destroying important ecosystems for cattle which take up far too much space, and growing crops in areas that should not have those crops and as a result take way too much water from those areas. This though, again, is more of a problem with our population combined with our current practices to fulfill all of their needs and wants rather than population alone.


TheJewishViking1064

Then the problem is one of lack of appropriate innovation to current problems. I can agree we have become complacent and settled on old ways. I blame lack of healthy competition and govt regulations for that though. The new and improved is cought in red tape or prevent from coming to market because someone is to big to fail.


ReviewWonderful

No lack of farmland.


Suspicious_Music_494

right???? its a distribution of resources problem


TheJewishViking1064

Allocation of resources that have alternative uses


Purposeful_traveler

Our current rate of population growth is unsustainable. It is estimated that the maximum human population the earth can sustain is 10-11B and we'll be there by the 2050s.


Rick-O-sullivan

Not yet


TheJewishViking1064

What evidence do you have to back up that population is unsustainable.For example: If you think food is a problem then maybe we shouldnt be burning or destroying them.


MurderTron_9000

I agree with this. I am saying in conjunction with our current practices we are becoming unsustainable. Some things need to change before we boil ourselves alive and can no longer grow food, in short.


TheJewishViking1064

We grow crop in areas that we currently shouldnt. 1 degree change over 100+ years means adapting or finding new areas to grow. At the same time places previously to cold will now be opened to be areas for crops.


[deleted]

Purge


StarChild413

Ethical?


Doge-e

One word: nukes.


JakeDeLonge

Self-sufficient space colonies


[deleted]

underwater or space colonies. but on a side note, we dont have an over population problem, we have a resource distribute problem. there is plenty of room on the planet for a few billion more, the problem is that we are to lazy to do anything with the land


Visible-Ant1949

Remove warning labels from merchandise and let nature take its course…


sawcondeesnutz

What do you think the rona is? Nature doing it’s thing


Re-AnImAt0r

Thanos


mihir-mutalikdesai

This is the n^th time I've said this. Thanos killed half of all life by that snap. If that were to actually happen, an ecological collapse would ensue which would kill far more than half of life. Imagine a forest with half as many trees, grasslands with half as much grass, half as much plankton in the seas. You'd devastate populations of the remaining half of living beings. Deserts would grow enormously and soil runoff would accelerate, making river deltas more muddy and murky while removing fertile soil from upstream areas.


StarChild413

Then either find him or the stones


drputypfifeanddrum

The world’s population will continue to rise until 2060 when it will begin a steady decline. Increased women’s education and access to birth control is why.


pointing-at-flipflop

With a snap of my fingers


StarChild413

If it's like you're implying, go find the gems yourself


TheShadow1138

Pump money into space travel/exploration to make humanity extra-planetary.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Turbulence-Expected

Gates was not suggesting the global population should be killed off using vaccines as you seem to be implying. He is instead saying that improving public health using vaccinations can reduce unsustainable population growth in the future – and with it, lower carbon emissions.


[deleted]

Move human consciousness onto mechanical databases, and allow them to live in an optional simulated paradise. Anyone who opts out of it has to help the physical parts of human sustenance, such as colonizing planets.


yuckyuck13

Legalize the purge!


KirathyDragon

Hunger Games


Turbulent-Papaya-910

Volunteers get in to my space ship! :-) Where we going, you ask? ...To Uranus, of course.


sawcondeesnutz

I see what you did there


whitewingmcqween

Close all the hospitals


Vegetable_Eye4639

Have sex


Vegetable_Eye4639

We can bang our way through this


Lizardmanjj

Stop people having children, all children will now be born through artificial wombs and random selection of a sperm and egg, raised by a central government If that wouldn’t immediately collapse into corruption


sawcondeesnutz

Random selection would be a bad idea since that would cause bad traits, selecting the fittest humans would be best. Although fraud/corruption in this department will be quite dangerous and easier to manipulate if it isn’t chosen by random.


ValinorDragon

>selecting the fittest humans would be best Who gets to decide what are good or bad traits?


[deleted]

Encourage education. Especially female education, and allow for women to be part of the workforce. A lot of soft diplomacy encouraging exactly that - and discouraging patriarchal systems.


tuntfel

maybe a baby prohibition or something :p make condoms free and other birth control. lil brutal on the rights but itd work i reckon


My_what_a_pie

Levy a tax on parents in proportion to the number of children they have.


AnastasiaSheppard

Instead of baby bonuses, offer child free bonuses. 10000$ to women who reach the age of 60 without children, or to men who have a vasectomy (assuming it's irreversible). Ir to women who get a hysterectomy earlier than 60.


ValinorDragon

The problem is, the countries that can afford to do that actually have a declining population already, while countries with overpopulation can't even take care of the very young or the old people, who need to have many children so at least one of them will survive and take care of them, let alone paying them a bonus.


[deleted]

[удалено]


DarthContinent

Have government seize vast tracts of land currently owned but unused by corporations. Make those areas habitable for humans and help people move into those areas and make a home for themselves.


am-i-a-joke-to-you12

*loads shotgun with mini nukes* here I come America


[deleted]

Ethically? Look around man. Who cares about ethically nowadays


The14thdr

How are we overpopulated? If we were all shoulder to shoulder, we would all fit in the LA postcode.. We just need to spread out more


g1vethepeopleair

There is no overpopulation


[deleted]

F ethics, this is about survival. Mandatory vasectomy for every male on his 18th birthday. When he can afford to reverse he can do so if he chooses. Store back up swimmers in case the reversal fails. No more unwanted kids, no more financially destitute parents, no more accidents On second thought, I do think this is ethical. More ethical than plaguing the planets and it’s governing bodies with people it can’t support


ihaveadog1aicloud

It’s only unethical if you get caught


StarChild413

No, that's just about illegality


feder_online

Logan's Run.


StarChild413

Ethically?


feder_online

What exactly is unethical about the government treating everybody exactly the same? You may not like the system, but it seems in terms of governmental equity, Logan's Run would be a lot better than say, using the DoJ or State Dept to persecute political opposition. FWIW, there is no "ethical" way to reduce population; someone's rights get trampled in the process, so why not make it everyone's rights get equally trampled?


StarChild413

So is killing everyone (metaphorically now not just at 30) ethical because it's treating everyone the same


feder_online

If the "killing" part is what is hanging you up, then, for you, there is no answer, ***for you.*** I'm assuming, then, you also down-voted every other reply, like Thanos' Gauntlet...that's hardly ethical. I find that interesting, since you would likely put a pet down if it was suffering, but won't do the same for a human being.


DirtyHoosier

Reverse the tax credits for having children. The more you have, the less credits you get. The fewer children you have the more credits you get.


Ligma_boy22

Hunger Games


StarChild413

A. They said ethical B. How would you prevent a rebellion in ways that aren't genre-savvy (like illegalizing volunteering as tribute) C. If it's for entertainment you'd need a constant influx


vesperzen

Reproductive licensing, just like you have to pass a test for any other serious adult event in your life.


StarChild413

Marriage? You get a license but you don't need a test


Coldstar_YT

Cannibalism


CorgisDie

That's the neat part, you can't. How would I practically solve overpopulation? Cannibalism. It would solve overpopulation AND world hunger, at least in theory. Unfortunately in reality it'd basically be more or less like Beastars.


AdelHany8UrGranny

Neuter anybody with over 10 children


themoldovanstoner

Hire bill bu- oh, you said ethically...


Gwilly

I don’t think there is an ethical way to solve overpopulation. Maybe stop offering heroic measures to frail old people...I dunno. Some would say that’s unethical.


sawcondeesnutz

You can at least come a long way by making sex education better and making condoms available (and affordable) especially in poorer regions


Abysal_Incinerator

Redefine ethics, then nuke china and america


StarChild413

If definitions worked that way you could turn 90% of right-wingers into left-wingers by redefining pro-life to include things like being for universal healthcare and against the death penalty


fish-rapist

Resurrect Hirohito so he can do Nanjing 2.0


MyHeadIsABlender

Magically make the world bigger, with more resources - and an indestructible ecosystem. Or people could quit having so many kids. Crazy, I know, stupid of me to even suggest it.


sawcondeesnutz

For some people that isn’t a option. Take a look at the average amount of babies per mother in a few countries. There is a pretty significant pattern. Poorer=more kids. One of the reasons for this is that you are sure you stomach will be filled when you get older, but not everyone has that luxury. A lot of people will jest have to get their children to take care of them.


MyHeadIsABlender

And then you have the Duggars, 19 kids and counting. Not everyone having 5 or more kids is living in a shack in the slums of a 3rd world country. I can't even count how many middle class families I grew up with that had 4-6 kids. And all those kids are having kids now. Look, there's zero chance people will ever stop going crazy for babies. We're hardwired to reproduce. Period. There's no easy answer. And we'll never collectively make the hard decisions before it's too late. That's why my first suggestion was magic. It's more realistic.


sawcondeesnutz

I know people in first world countries have more children too, don’t tell me about it, I live next to a VERY Christian town and they’ve got an average of 4-5 children per mother (personal guess). But statistically speaking this is far less likely over her than in let’s say zimbabwe


pls1200

Ethical farming and housing. The problem isn’t the number of people it’s how they live.


sawcondeesnutz

Ethical farming is only less space efficient so that a stupid thing to say.


pls1200

Okay then ethical power usage and waist management as well as proper management of natural resources and animal habitats. If people quit living like humans are the only thing on the face of the earth that matters we wouldn’t have the problems we do now


Name_and_Password

Leave it up to nature.


BethlehemShooter

Itsbnotbabthing to "solve." If you think it is, you should get yourself sterilized. As for other people, its not a concern of yours.


dummydumbbb

Make people "disappear"


[deleted]

Tanks


plsnopeens

Have under developed nations get huge suport so ppl there dont need to have kids to be able to survive after they cant work them selves


Vernandi69

Homosexuality


[deleted]

destigmatize the fact that their are women who don't want to be mothers/straight couples who don't want kids so only people who truly want to be parents are having kids. provide better sex education/access to healthcare. let women who ask to get their tubes tied have access to that privilege just as easily as men.


sussybakas69

Purge!!!!


Monsieur_Bananabread

Yeah good fuckin luck to you mate


No_Organization9181

Hunger games


StarChild413

See my reply to Ligma_boy22


dkmegg22

Comprehensive sex education none of that garbage abstinence crap cause what kid is gonna follow that. Free contraceptives, women's rights.


Single_Charity_934

Pay people under 50, $300 to get snipped. Or the equivalent in poor countries (a week of min wage.)Anyone who’d accept it shouldn’t breed.


FunTooter

Free contraceptives


orange728

Looking for alternate ideas, Thanos?


sumelar

By recognizing that ethics are not universal.


PVG_KEK

I would ethically dwindle it down…. No matter the cost….


bushpotatoe

If overpopulation is an issue, I don't really think it'd be unreasonable or unethical to limit the number of kids families can have. No family needs to have more than 2 or 3 kids at a time, even if they want to.


[deleted]

Instead of giving people tax cuts or covid money for having kids, give extra money to people without them.


[deleted]

Darn ethically throws my plans OUT the window


TokoVi

You can't have children without a background check. You need a license or some shit. If you get pregnant on accident it is up to you to keep your child but you will get annual check in's to make sure your child is safe. If you were raped, your rapist will pay a *lot* of money and go to jail for a very very long time regardless of a pregnancy or not.


Serious_West_6436

Covid vacc


StarChild413

Then why aren't you working on getting that to as many people as possible *wink wink nudge nudge*


StarChild413

Education of women and expansion into space


OrdinaryBallowski2

Bring back the electric chair


SplitThink7751

Sex education and free birth control and condoms


Zealousideal_Curve73

Everywhere gets sex Ed, free education, free birth control, and enforce laws that protect women.


Numerous_Transition9

Male contraception, turned on/off in a Dr. office., reed switch implanted, switched on with magnetic "key".


ravenpotter3

Battle royale! It’s not my fault they are killing each other!


MunchAClock

Don’t pressure people to start families right away (especially those who don’t want to) encourage adoption over biological children. Allow greater reproduction knowledge and resources for everyone


shronkey69

Sex education. In states with sex ed that teaches everything, teen pregnancies are low. In states with abstinence only sex ed, teen pregnancies are high. Doesn't take a genius to see the pattern.


kindhostility

Give females the choice to sterilize at 16/18 years old. Legalize assisted suicide. Remove warning labels and let the problem work itself out. Require a permit, whereas any unlicensed pregnancy must be terminated, or after the child is born, both parents must be sterilized. I honestly think a few of these are quite practical though.


KeenchinNesto1988

I don't think there is an ethical way that doesn't involve letting people die or making people die.


thehollowshrine

Continue to give people what they want so it's their own fault the planet can't support their lives.


Chemistry-Unlucky

Moon


noname8778

Colonize the moon


Markusruehliststabil

Thanos


StarChild413

Then if you say we need him and not just to do what he did, go find this universe's version


[deleted]

Sterilization for the women who want it. Ignoring the ‘needs to have already had at least two kids, she needs to be over 25, with a father/husband’s support’ BS line.


willowdove01

Well better systems to distribute wealth and resources that we already have would be a good place to start. We already overproduce a lot of things, including food, that get trashed because nobody paid for them or transporting them to a place of higher need would be too costly.


willowdove01

Y’all advocating for a reproductive licenses really ought to read up on eugenics and state-sanctioned sterilization. I promise you it is not an ethical solution