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Local Paramedic Thomas Green starts an NGO dedicated to confronting global overpopulation. “On a global level, we have doubled and redoubled our numbers, and are now confronting a world of too many people and too few resources. Its not just the food and water shortages that are strained by the heavy consumption that is our lifestyle, its the shortage of time, too.”
In April, Green was part of a team that found the body of 93 year-old Maeve Thiery, who had died in her high-rise apartment building and remained undiscovered until now, 5 years after her assumed time of death. Thiery had only been found when her landlord went to enquire about why her automatic rent-withdrawals had stopped coming.
“Too many people here are using too many resources, and I feel that enough people are conscious of the fact that new paths to action are expected. So, that is why I am getting a Vasectomy.” The goal of Green's organization, PopulationCTRL (Population Cuts Targeting Reproduction Levels), is to encourage 1000 men to admit to the choice not to reproduce through obtaining vasectomies. The men are to chronicle the journey through digital video-cameras as they share their experience with families and loved ones, and to tell of why they think the responsibility to curb booming population levels begins at home.
Green says “When we discovered Maeve, my heart broke. And it's not the first time either! With the way people are being shuffled into new cities, chasing jobs and being forced out of their homes because they can't afford the rent, our elders are getting left behind, and with the way we have computers taking care of everything, we don't need to see people who live 10 feet away. People die and are forgotten all the time, and maybe its just better that people begin to choose not to have more children at all.”

PopulationCTRL, which came online last week, already has 37 registered participants, including self-styled 'street-philosophers' like Steve Vassell. “The idea appealed to me because, you know, I don't have kids, my brother has two, and everyday I see on the news 'Food Shortage', or 'Fire in overcrowded slum' and I don't think, 'whoa, those people over there, they breed like rabbits, there are just too many of them' because its not 'them', its us! Us! Its not even the numbers of people, its the way that people like 'us' live here in the industrialized worlds. The way we eat, the way we live – we take so much and leave so little for anyone else. So, I thought 'Hey, my brother's got kids, my genes are safe, you know, in a way, and so, why not just live a good life and help my brother out instead of making more waste and taking more away from somebody else who needs it.”

That sort of thinking is not confined to 'street-philosophers' (whatever that means!), but are being confirmed by professionals at the Institute for Future Economics. Project Director Ellen Ming says more. “At the rate of inflation, and with the increase in government deregulation, the market is now freer than ever before, and those goods and services of any quality will see a rise in price to reflect their stature. For those who are not working in the good jobs, like the financial services or skilled trades, or even those who are not in the higher civil servant or security contractor pay-ranges, affording the best in life good hypothetically cast more than the traditional two-income family could afford. If larger families made the decision to invest in one family line instead of multiple family lines, the quality of life would be far superior.”

PopulationCTRL does is not free of its critics, though. Evan A. D. Jantzi participated in a similar project that took place Atlanta during the 1980's. “I thought that, with all the people in the world, that doing this would be really noble, a really good idea. I was an idiot.” Jantzi regretted his decision immediately, and eventually decided to undergo an uninsured and expensive operation to restore his reproductive capacity. “Only some people can have the procedure 'undone', and I had realized that I wanted kids, I wanted to have a baby with my...with my now-ex, but then current, girlfriend. It was expensive, but, you know, I am glad it could be reversed.” Jantzi was dumped by his girlfriend shortly after the procedure; he still has no children.

Green is not discouraged. “You know, this organization isn't, you know, forcing people to get vasectomies. That would be crazy; there are some people you wish we could, you know, take the snips too, you know what I'm saying? But really, its not a decision we force on people, or ask to take lightly.”

For more information, check out PopulationCTRL's website www.itshiptosnip.ca .