Time for the DDT?

If we were travelling around this corner of the galaxy with the local Galactic Quadrant Public Health Inspectors, we would possibly spot a badly infested planet. One of those cases where things are so out of hand, that the exterminators have to be called in. As with any good exterminator, their methods would probably be quite well targeted and specific for the species that is causing the damage. Some special agent, or disease organism that only kills the problem species.

The control tool of choice would probably be an extremely virulent disease that kills only the species in question, leaving all the other species intact and giving them a chance to recover. On the other hand, it may be deemed expedient to simply sterilise the place altogether as the risk of allowing the infestation to spread throughout the galaxy may be just too horrific to consider.

The infestation we may have spotted is on a pretty blue planet called Earth, and the organism that has reproduced out of control, is a particularly nasty one: 'Homo Sapiens'. Let it get off the planet, and there's no telling how much damage it could do to the rest of the galaxy.

When I was a teenager, there was plenty of international debate and calls for action on 'Population Control'. The increasing population was already being seen as unsustainable. Now we worry about 'Climate Change' and 'Deforestation'. The sad fact is that both these phenomena are driven by population pressure. There are too many people on this planet. That is an inescapable fact, and a fact that is at the root of all our other global problems.

Any debate about other global matters that does not address population growth is an exercise in verbal masturbation.

Nature has a way of dealing with imbalances. Perhaps the Galactic Pest Controller will not have to act. Perhaps Mother Nature will come up with a solution of her own. Whatever - the correction will not be a pleasant experience.

One thing is as sure as eggs: Mankind is utterly incapable of coming up with an answer before something cataclysmic kicks off.