The Ten Million Club

The Ten Million Club (Dutch: ‘’De Club van Tien Miljoen’’) wants to match the population size of the Netherlands with the carrying capacity of the area.

The Club was set up as a private foundation by the Dutch historian Paul Gerbrands in 1994. At first the foundation was calling for a shrinking population in order to create a better living environment for the Dutch; later on the emphasis was put on a reduction of the ecological footprint of the inhabitants of the Netherlands.

10 million inhabitants

As the Ten Million Club was founded, the Netherlands counted over 15 million inhabitants. The Club argued for a target number of 10 million people instead, as was the situation in 1950. However, measurements of the ecological footprint of the Dutch revealed that this number was still far too high, given the population’s consumption and pollution level. According to recent calculations of the Global Footprint Network only 4.5 million people could live in the Netherlands in a sustainable way, given their present ecological footprint. A main part of it is the carbon footprint. A rapid transition to renewable energy as well as a substantial reduction of consumption could make a higher number of inhabitants possible, without the necessity to rely on or even exploit other countries.

Overpopulation as a global problem

Calculations of the ecological footprint of all countries in the world show exactly where the biocapacity and the available global hectares of a country are exceeded. The Ten Million Club considers population pressure an essential cause of this overshoot. Given the global impact of overpopulation, the Club does not only address the Dutch; it publishes in Spanish, French, German, English, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Russian.

Overpopulation awareness

The Ten Million Club tries to raise public awareness of overpopulation as a national and international problem by providing information on the drawbacks of population pressure. The Club maintains an international website with several articles on overpopulation. It publishes a newsletter three times a year, distributes an information package, gives lectures and supports students writing a thesis on the subject.

The Ten Million Club also maintains a Facebook page.

Documentary

In a 10 minutes documentary titled ‘’Overpopulation in Europe: Can we survive?’’ the Ten Million Club highlights different aspects of overpopulation as well as its detrimental consequences.

References

• Jos Klaassen, ‘Een boodschap met een lastig thema’ ('An Inconvenient Message'), de Volkskrant, 16 March 2002.
• RTL 4, Chairman Paul Gerbrands in a national talk show, 7 March 2003.
• Martin Sommer, 'De man van tien miljoen’ ('The Ten Million Man'), de Volkskrant, 18 September 2003.
• Jan H. van den Beek, Kennis, Macht en Moraal – De productie van wetenschappelijke kennis over de economische effecten van migratie naar Nederland 1960 – 2005 ('Knowledge, Power and Morality: The Production of Scientific Knowledge on Migration into the Netherlands 1960 – 2005'), Dissertation University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2010.
• Rutger Bregman, ‘Hoeveel mensheid kan een aarde aan?’ ('How Many Humans Can an Earth Accommodate?'), De Correspondent, 28 January 2014.
• RTL Nieuws, Editie NL: Gefeliciteerd, jij bent de 17 miljoenste Nederlander ('Congrats, You're the 17 Million^th Dutchman'), Commercial TV Channel, 4 March 2016.
• René van Zwieten, 'Uitslag stelling: “Nederland raakt erg vol”' ('Poll Results: The Netherlands are Becoming Overcrowded'), De Telegraaf, 7 March 2016.
• Paul Gerbrands, ‘Politici, spreek je uit over dreigende overbevolking’ ('Politicians, Speak Out about Imminent Overpopulation'), Trouw, 9 March 2016.
• Nieuwstrend: Nederland telt nu 17 miljoen inwoners ('The Netherlands Count 17 Million Inhabitants Right Now') Dutch Public Broadcast, 21 March 2016.
• Sophie van Os, ‘Nederland is al met 17 miljoen, Japan “nog maar” met 127 miljoen. Vergrijzing is de boosdoener.’ ('The Netherlands have Already 17 Million Inhabitants, Japan “Only” 127 Million. Ageing is the Evil.'), HP/De Tijd, 22 March 2016.
• Radio 1: De bevolking in Nederland groeit te hard ('The Dutch Population is Growing too Fast'), Dutch Public Broadcast, 2 August 2016.