Bateson concludes that we must rethink our fundamental responses to these problems. If we continue to rely on our old ways, the global environmental crisis will only get worse, which will force us to do even more of the same things that are causing the global environmental crisis. By understanding that our general assumptions and traditional approaches to reducing economic and environmental problems is causing and exacerbating the global environmental crisis, we can begin to change our understanding and approach to solving problems, and in doing so help solve this growing global environmental crisis. In order to solve the environmental crisis, the UCS argues, we must solve these problems. But instead of reducing their population growth, families in underdeveloped nations increase the number of children they have.
Children are their insurance policy.
The more children they have, the harder they can work their declining land and resources to eke out a living. But the harder they to feed their increased populations, the more they destroy their environment. Faced with the decreasing ability of the land and resources to feed their families, many parents force their children to migrate to the cities to find jobs, so that they can back money to support their parents and their family. As a result, we see exploding urban populations in the underdeveloped world. Crowding, shortage of jobs, lack of housing, water, and sewer for this growing urban population causes tremendous economic and environmental problems in these growing Third World cities.