In his article "Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor,"" Garrett Hardin, who was Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of California-Santa Barbara, argues that helping the poor countries is the major cause of overpopulation. He also states that the issue of overpopulation leads to unfair balance of the use of the world's natural resources. Hardin uses the metaphor of the lifeboat, which can only hold a certain number of people, as an example to claim that a developed nation with too many people will suffer difficult situations because of the limited resources of its land. If the number is over the carrying capacity, the lifeboat will sink and the people aboard will die. .
Hardin also provides statistics that the rate of increased population in undeveloped nations is more than two times the rate of the developed nations to indicate the effect of this huge proportion will be a greater difference in living condition between the rich and the poor. Hardin points out that the undeveloped nations cannot improve their ability to prevent emergencies and overcome difficulties after disasters if they know they always can get help from other parties, especially when the population grows faster than it used to be. Managing the reproduction number is a way to enforce a fair share of resources of people. Although the article may be taken as offensive, Hardin is simply trying to provide a solution to our global problem of overpopulation. Hardin ends up saying if we want save our world we should let weak countries fend for themselves and either fail or succeed. Hardin keeps giving simple examples and argues through his words throughout the article to convince the rich nations that helping the poor is not a good idea. .
First, Hardin illustrates that being on the lifeboat is a chance of being alive, and he emphasizes that helping out the poor who are swimming in the water may cause everyone's death.
