We Are on a Major Course of Clarification: Overpopulation as a Global Problem for Mankind

By Ona Radtke

Over the last twelve years the world's population has grown by one billion and has now reached seven billion people. Ona Radtke describes and analyses the causes and consequences of this unbridled growth, which has long accompanied human history as a central theme, but has rarely been thoroughly questioned. This author believes that overpopulation has always been the main source of discord, poverty and war, affecting all facets of life. Now, after many years of extensive travel and observation, he is calling for an increase in consciousness and for redirection. The book includes an interview with the author, a biographical outline with accompanying photos, and a postscript by Professor Wolfgang Lucht of Potsdam Research Institute for Climate
Impacts and the Geographic Institute of Humboldt University, Berlin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: Feb 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9783738673647

Ona Radtke

Ona Radtke has developed a theory of population growth based not only on academic research, but also on travel through over 65 countries, observing the many different lifestyles they feature. He spent his final twenty years in his adopted home, Guatemala. Having passed away shortly before manuscript completion in October of 2009, his work appears posthumously.

Book preview

It may be that, through clearer understanding, we shall one day succeed in making accessible to more conscious control these processes which today take place in and around us not very differently from natural events, and which we confront as medieval man confronted the forces of nature.

Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process ¹

---

¹ Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process, vol. I (The History of Manners), Pantheon Books, New York, 1982, p. xvii

Dedicated to Mankind

May a Deeper Understanding of the Way Things Are Bring About Our Peace

CONTENTS

Editors’ Preface

Author’s Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Oldest Taboo

Chapter 2: Fear of Death – Caused by One’s Own Fellowmen

A. Power

State and Classes

State, Population and Environment

Patriarchy

War

B. Work

C. Civilization

Fear and Density

Civilization as an Expression of Density in a Psychological Context

Religion

What to Do?

The Expansion of Our Awareness to Global Awareness!

Text Fragments and Author’s Notes

Bibliography

Afterword by Wolfgang Lucht

Biography of Ona Radtke

Interview with Ona Radtke

Picture Journey

Editors' Preface

Ona Radtke passed away on October 30,2009 in Guatemala, his home of choice, shortly before the completion and publication of his works.

We believe that his book must be made available to a broad audience, for we suspect that no other author has perceived and described the causes and effects of population growth in such a personal and touching manner. Above all, in the context of media coverage on mass starvation and the devastation of nature and environment, overpopulation is seldom examined. May Ona's arguments provoke discussions and motivate independent thinking. We see this as precisely the purpose of this publication. In the author’s own words: Among the adolescent generation, I feel that there is a huge need for clarification, a desire for knowledge, but also great despair. And I feel that I want to help in this respect, just as I received help as a young man from books and thus from their authors.

Ona’s text has been slightly revised. The specific amendments and comments we added have been highlighted. Some of his original work notes have been left unchanged, just as his custom of writing in the first person.

Hold our heads up a high, that’s what we must do – just like he did.

We have taken on this very elaborate and difficult task with a deep feeling of love for our son and brother. We would like to thank our friend Arno Nickel, who kindly assisted us with technical and content-related matters.

Moreover, we would like to acknowledge Wolfgang Lucht for his encouragement, Julie Linn, Iris Bazing and Ursula Meissner for their proofreading and Thorben Kruse for designing Ona’s website.

We wish you all an inspiring discussion!

Theodore and Christine Radtke

Author's Preface

For a long time, I have been and still am held captive by the question of how little my contemporaries are aware of the extent that the sheer numbers of humans has determined and continues to influence the nature and quality of our co-existence; how closely our population quantities and, consequently our density, are related to the nature and quality of sharing this blue planet as our home.

The issue of population growth makes headlines only then when the United Nations are announcing the annual rate of population increase. The absence of the issue of population growth from media headlines is even more astonishing if we take into account that the world population is growing by approximately 200,000 people each day. This equals the population of a large city. Such a tremendous figure should be making headlines every single day. However, instead of reporting on issues related to population growth, media moguls prefer to report incidents in which any number of humans die unusually dramatic deaths, be these numbers individual or in the hundreds or even thousands. These figures are pale in comparison to the daily population growth-rate, although they may at times be larger or even seem gigantic, such as the lamentable 231,000 tsunami victims of December 2004 in South-East Asia. On the contrary, the total population figures and their consequences for human co-existence seem only of secondary interest to the media and are rarely mentioned, if at all, in articles or other information sources. Yet increasingly, comments by individuals on population figures can be ascertained now and then. There is also an increase in analytical and content-related cross-references with ecological, political and economic everyday news events as compared to previous centuries. Apparently, our minds have already set out to shed some light in this respect.

Likewise, history schoolbooks throughout the entire world literally dedicate no room to the historical progression of our growth, resulting in the fact that specifications and statements on population growth have appeared only recently – if at all. The reason is clear: this issue is not alive and present in our consciousness. Further below we will learn why.

Moreover, correlations between the numbers of people and the conditions of our co-existence are only mentioned on rare occasions, even though they should be an integral standard within the disciplines of Political Science, Economical Science ‚‚ Ecological Science, Psychology and Medical Science. However, they are not yet recognized and acknowledged as such.²

Furthermore, I also marvel at how little my contemporaries are aware – if at all – that we have been precluded from a less-stilted, less-artificial life, a life free of stress and concerns – plainly and simply a more natural life – owing purely to the fact that we live together in very high density. This high-density co-existence compels us to pursue and carry out a plethora of activities and actions, only to eke out a wretched existence and to barely survive. This is precisely why we find ourselves exactly in the midst of this miserable situation we are currently experiencing.

How little they perceive and recognize the extent of emotional chaos as being an integral part of modern life! To what extent has the growth of our species, driven by ourselves in an alleged conscious process, led to an ongoing deterioration of the quality of life? To what extent and how often do my fellow men wish to bury their heads in the sand because they do not want to see? Because, if they did have a closer look, everything they would see would cause so much pain that they would rather look the other way (cf. Bob Dylan: "Pretending he just doesn‘t see ..."³).

I am well aware of the reasons for this kind of attitude among most of my contemporaries. I will attempt to explain them in the following, in particular, as I have noticed that same inclination in myself, time and time again. However, I feel a unique difference between others and myself, which prevents me from hanging onto this incline for too long, let alone on a constant basis; something inside myself which does not allow it. An overwhelming sense of fear and discomfort of living in a state of ignorance repeatedly inspires me to seek enlightenment.

It is however painful to witness how our world is perishing as a result of this attitude. Because whoever chooses not to see cannot see - and cannot be forced to. The older I become the more I am estranged from coercion and force, since I too, by way of suffering, have become increasingly savvy and sage⁴ (whatever these terms may imply).

Consequently, I will attempt to record my feelings and thoughts (as you know the latter do not exist without the former!) in the hope that there are those in this world who do not merely bury their heads in the sand, but rather raise their heads up high from time to time and try to see. I wish and trust that they will awake and recognize, even if only out of curiosity, that there are some things in this world still worth understanding, or at least worth closer examination. And from time to time there are some who will be intrigued and become eager to know more. And it is precisely you I am calling on.

---

² Sciences not yet part of it, being in dire need of revolution or, respectively, reformation.

³ Bob Dylan: Blowin‘ In The Wind, The Freewheelin‘ Bob Dylan, 1962

Acknowledgements

I would like to expressly thank the following individuals for their intellectual and technical support. I will however refrain from specifying in detail how and in what way they all supported me. I am sure that every single one of you will hopefully recognize it him/herself.

Christine Radtke, Theodore Radtke, Sonera Jhaveri, Ursula Maier, Velislava Stantschev, Maria Ferreira Murteiro Faustino Perreira, Rainer Kind, Thomas Räse, Ute Sprenger, Katrin Eberlein, Anny Förster, Thorben Kruse, Stefan Hecht, JoJo Otte, Thomas Haferberger, Anke Hemmerling, July Menschik, Matthias Spielkamp, Matthias Saul, Barbara Büscher, Jochen van der Linde, Charlotte Schneider and many others whose names I do not even know, but whom I met on my way – on hikes, on busses, trains, while hitchhiking, in libraries, etc.

Thank you for all your energy, for the efforts you have made while listening to me, for reviewing my scripts and for your discussions of a multitude of aspects presented in this book, or by simply supporting and helping me in many other ways. Even then, when you may have been unaware – and at times I may not even have been aware myself – what you shared and gave has made some sort of impact and found its way into this book.

---

⁴ The way to wisdom is through suffering. Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe

Introduction

We – humankind – are on a major course of clarification. Our numbers are constantly increasing and we are hardly aware of the consequences of our growth. Seen from an ecological point of view it is becoming a tight squeeze. Human societies on various continents in Central Europe, Japan, Singapore, parts of China and India are no longer able to continue without external supplies from other countries and continents. The survival of many animal and plant species is threatened almost everywhere on this planet due to our population. Every day many species cease to exist due to high population density, as the place they once inhabited is now occupied by humans and is no longer sufficient for their survival. Furthermore, harmful and indiscriminate fertilization and overexploitation have led to the over-salting of fertile, arable land, or have rendered it useless through other types of chemical contamination. As a result of our growth, the network of cities is increasingly expanding, covering land with its communication systems, further resulting in the decrease of surface available for agriculture and forestry. The development of mono-cultural agriculture and forestry is additionally impairing the the land’s recovery potential. Many regions, areas, rivers and lakes are contaminated and nowadays all the planet’s inhabitants suffer the effects of environmental pollution, though not always and not everywhere to the same extent. The seas are being overfished and are showing a great degree of ocean acidity, which is also responsible for the decay of coral reefs. Over the course of the last decades, nuclear contamination has increased dramatically, encumbering and harming the lives of us all. ⁵ But even despite cultivation methods requiring large amounts of energy, the world grain reserve, having once been sufficient for 100 days, has been on a constant decrease, now having reached a critical 37 days. The recent growth in food prices is mainly due to this long-term decrease and only a second-tier result of the production of bio-fuels, as the first trend has been constantly going on for decades, while the second is only a rather recent feature. Most researchers are mistaken in understanding the transformation of seeds into fuel as the main cause for the shortage of crops – a point of view which is at the same time also quite typical. This transformation has of course accelerated the shortage of grain reserves, but is by far not the only cause, since the decreasing availability of those reserves measured in days has been a constant feature for more than 30 years and has only accelerated due to the combustion process. It is however worth noting that apparently only a handful of researchers and analysts are concerned with this long-term worldwide decrease in grain reserves.

From an economic point of view, the squeeze is becoming equally tight: modern life in our ever-expanding industrial society is putting itself under increasing existential pressure and psychological stress. Hence, competition and rivalry among humans, as well as uncertainties ofeveryday life are growing rapidly or occasionally, slowly but steadily.

In addition, we are waging wars over petroleum and other raw materials and are trying to strategically expand our spheres of influence and cultural traditions (i.e. the religious wars between Christianity and Islam). In this process, not only are we annihilating our own species, but we are also destroying the habitat of future generations through the ever-sophisticated use of a multiplicity of armaments and weapons of mass destruction (even weapons containing depleted uranium to name a few). This results in further living-space restrictions for mankind.

Our Weltschmerz is caused, to a great extent, by other people; by their sheer existence in such large numbers and their corresponding behavior.

I could easily fill many pages, if not entire books, following up on this short outline, but will refrain from it, since the situation of our planet is widely known and has been comprehensively explained by many other authors.⁶

Our response is, at this point, late – in many cases even too late. As a result, we are indeed only re-acting, and are thus quite disjointed from actually being what we believe we are: the spiritually – exalted quintessence of creation.

Whether it be only a means to an end, or, only a means of preventing the worst, for the time being we should be willing to attest to our alarmingly low level of knowledge. So far we have only caught a glimpse of heaven and have mistaken it for the whole universe – quite similar to that famous frog inside a well, who only sees a part of the sky, but nevertheless, believes he has seen the world. No doubt that we have identified and partially solved smaller problems. However, having almost entirely dodged the issues of demographic growth and overpopulation together in their historical and global relevance, all that we have achieved at present amounts to nothing more than bungled attempts at tinkering with these issues, for we have not dared to ask ourselves the crucial questions.

---

⁵ The necessary importance with all its straightforward implications is not yet attached to this contamination. Cf. Wilhelm Reich and Oranur. Editors’ note: Wilhelm Reich, The Oranur Experiment, First Report (1947-1951).

⁶ Cf. also the publications of the Earth Watch Institute et al.

CHAPTER 1

The Oldest Taboo

Human kind has not yet dared to ask itself important questions, for these questions remain, connected, by and large with an unconscious taboo.