One of the more extreme measures taken in an attempt to control population has been China’s one-child policy. Population advocate Garet Hardin suggests the rest of the world adopt similar policies. This paper is to show a country’s government acting on theories that Hardin is popular for and the ethical and environmental effects that it had on people and the land. Hardin fails to see the ethical problems laid out by governments that suppress peoples thoughts and beliefs. Hardin states that throughout most of history there’s been no need for concern about population control. Nature would come along with epidemic diseases and take care of the matter for us. Disease has been the primary population controller in the past. Because widespread disease and famine no longer exist, we have to find other means to stop population increases (Spencer 1992, pp.61-2)."Mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon" is a misnomer as Hardin routinely supports the actions of authoritarian governments who rarely seek consent for their actions. When asked about the one child policy Hardin said that the Chinese government didn’t go far enough. He gave the Chinese credit for officially recognizing that they have a problem and for having the nerve to propose the single-child program .. he thought the failure was by not making the directive universal throughout the country. The one-child policy is only enforced in congested urban areas. People in rural regions continue to have too many children -- so the Chinese haven’t solved their problems at all. (Spencer 1992, p.60).Before 1950, there was an old Stalinist custom in China of rewarding “heroic mothers” giving birth to the largest number of children. This was more then a custom it was a way of life in China till Ma Yin Chu began to publish some articles on population. Ma Yin Chu was the president of Beijing University and was one of the first people to voice his concern ove...
