There's Your Immediate Problem And Then There's Your Underlying Problem.

Although there will clearly some day be far fewer humans than there are at present, there are many ways [that] this reduction in population may occur (or be achieved, depending on the passivity or activity with which we choose to approach this transformation). Some [such ways would involve] extreme violence and privation: nuclear Armageddon, for example, would reduce both population and consumption, yet do so horrifically; the same would be true for a continuation of over-shoot, followed by a crash. Other ways could be characterized by less violence. . . . Personally and collectively we may be able to both reduce the amount and soften the character of violence that occurs during this ongoing and perhaps long-term shift. Or we may not. But this much is certain: if we do not approach it actively -- if we do not talk about our predicament, and what we are going to do about it -- the violence will almost undoubtedly be far more severe, the privation more extreme.

~Derrick Jensen, Endgame, Volume I: The Problem of Civilization


Jensen argues that: [P]opulation is by no means [the] primary [problem that we face today]. It's not even secondary or tertiary. First, there's the question of resource consumption. . . . Second is the failure to accept limits, of which overpopulation and overconsumption are merely two linked symptoms. Beneath that [are] our belief[s] [that] we're not animals, that we're separate from the rest of the world, that we're exempt from the negative consequences of our actions, and that we're exempt from death. Beneath these beliefs is a fear and loathing of the body, of the wild and uncontrollable nature of existence itself, and ultimately of death. These fears cause us to convince ourselves not only of the possibility but the desirability of not being animals, of separating ourselves from the world. These fears drive us crazy and lead us to create and implement insane and destructive economic and social systems.

Id.

I'd agree with Jensen that the beliefs that he describes are what have led to overpopulation. But I disagree with him that overpopulation isn't our primary problem at the moment. When a teenager is driving a speeding car straight into a ditch, stopping the car before the teenager drives it into the ditch IS your number one problem. Once you get the car stopped, you can work on the underlying beliefs that made the teenager think it would be ok to drink and drive and speed and joyride. And you do need to address those underlying beliefs. But, first, you need to stop the car. A dead teenager can't change her beliefs, can't adopt new ways of existing in the world.

I also agree with Jenses that the current level of population is completely unsustainable and will, one way or another, be reduced dramatically, I'd say over the course of the next century. We can do this the painful way or the really painful way. Change is often painful. I'd, however, prefer the merely painful to the really painful. I'd prefer a huge campaign to convince people to limit reproduction voluntarily, along with a huge emphasis on making birth control free, accessible, safe, and effective, along with a huge emphasis -- worldwide -- on education and equal rights for women (all of which have been shown to be able to reduce population), followed by increasingly severe taxes on those who still choose to burden the world with their unrealistic reproductive choices -- an internalization of the costs, if you will. I'd prefer even more restrictive measures to nuclear war or environmental Armageddon, which is where we're headed if we continue to ignore the population elephant in the living room. As Jensen says: [T]his much is certain: if we do not approach it actively -- if we do not talk about our predicament, and what we are going to do about it -- the violence will almost undoubtedly be far more severe, the privation more extreme.

Finally, I'll note that it was witchcraft's rejection of so many of the underlying beliefs that Jensen abhors -- that we're separate from nature, that women's bodies and the wild Earth are to be abhorred and controlled, that death isn't every much a part of this whole WHOLE as is life -- that led me to realize that I was a witch. Those beliefs spring from, sustain, and reinforce patriarchy. I'd call them the underlying problem and perhaps Jensen would agree.