Rick Springfield, most famous for his hit 1980s pop song Jessie’s Girl, said the world needs less people despite welcoming a granddaughter just a few weeks ago.
Australian-born Springfield shared his Malthusian views during an interview with Bill Maher on his Club Random podcast.
“I am really falling behind in this reproductive competition,” Maher said in reference to him never being married or having children.
“We don’t need more!” Springfield said.
“I think that,” Maher responded. “And yet there’s a big movement out there—Elon Musk—many other people talk about, ‘We have to have more babies.’ This is like a thing.”
“Eh, everyone else is taking care of that,” Springfield said.
Both seemed to agree that the earth has too many people.
“But I think they’re wrong. I think we already have too many,” said Maher.
“I think we have way too many,” Springfield agreed. “The Earth cannot support what it has now.”
“Exactly, exactly. Right. Their argument is stupid,” Maher said. “Their argument is, ‘There’s plenty of room.’ There’s plenty of room. There’s not plenty of resources. We could fit them here, we just can’t feed them and take care of all their shit.”
“Exactly, where will all that shit go? Where does all the food come from and where does all the shit go?” Springfield asked. “It’s insane, there’s way too many of us.”
Despite claims about their being too many humans on the planet, current studies show that the entire population of earth could fit into the state of Texas if they lived at the density of New York City, albeit with severe discomfort.
“In fact, if the entire population of the world actually lived within the Lone Star borders, each person would have just 0.02 acres of land on which to live, work, grow food, shop, go to school, and dispose of waste,” wrote Population Connection.
“To put that into perspective, Asia, the major world region with the smallest amount of cropland per person, has 0.13 hectares per capita, which translates to 0.32 acres. The truth is, people need much more than just the land they are standing on. In order to be healthy and safe, they need space that far exceeds the 0.02 acres that Texas would offer,” it added.
While it would be far from ideal to fit the entirety of humanity in a state like Texas, the statistic still goes to illustrate just how much of the earth remains untouched by people, with high population density often occurring in urban landscapes for economic purposes.
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
