Comments by "Mat Broomfield" (@matbroomfield) on "Where have all our insects gone? Report finds 50% fewer than 15 years ago" video.

Capitalism? What the need to feed 60 million people? From where I'm standing, that looks like a problem of population not capitalism.
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Gillian Fitton This is NOT an immigration issue. Indeed, most countries in the western world will very soon be desperate for immigrants to sustain their economies and aging populations.
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Gillian Fitton No, not at all. Populations on the planet in the western world are FALLING not rising, and the better educated people become, the faster they fall. Even in the rest of the world, the growth rate is decellerating and will likely start to reverse. If it was not for religion - particularly Islam, they'd be falling faster. It's incorrect to suggest that importing more people or increasing population by birth is comparable to a population rising by simply living longer. Population growth by birth or young immigrants is HEALTHY for the country. They are the producers. Of course, population growth on a finite planet is not infinitely sustainable, but the problem with this planet is not capacity, it's will. The only famines on this planet over the past 25 years have been caused by politics not lack of capacity. Britain has PLENTY of land and capacity, but farmers were urged to cease farming by Europe, and their land was sold at exorbitant prices to land developers. Councils across the country are now forcing developers to build to a higher density, and if the problem becomes severe enough, I suspect land will be repurposed as farmland once again, rather than standing idle whilst farmers screw us all. I don't know where you pulled that number about Britain being over-populated by 50 million but it's complete nonsense. If the wealthy were not permitted to profiteer off the land, there would a LOT more of it.
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Gillian Fitton That forecast is wrong. The birth rate in Britain is 1.8 per woman. In China it is 1.62. In India - soon to becme the globe's most populous nation is only 2.33. The global rate is plumetting from 5 in 1960 to 2.5 in 2019. The replenishment rate is 2.1. The trend is reversing across the planet. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN "immigration contributes nothing to the economy" are you kidding? More immigrants means more consumers, means more manufacturers, means more taxes, means a stronger economy. How can you even possibly disagree with that? As I already said, refugees have a negative impact because they are poor. Hard working skilled migrants raise the economy. And yes, I already acknowledged the limitations of assuming infinite immigration or birth. But in the short term, desirable immigrants ADD value to the country.
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As long as 60 million people need feeding on limited land, this will remain a problem. Our exit from Europe may even exacerbate it now that it will be harder to import food from more land rich nations. Finding ways to maximise our non-farmable land seems like an excellent idea. Let's leave the motorway and highway verges wild and even plant flowers along them. Let's get away from our desire to turn every piece of land into a bland bowling green. Let's decentralise and move urban areas into lands that cannot be farmed.
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