TED Community » Maarten Hofman

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About Me

Location:
Belize, Punta Gorda
Current organization:
Ya'axch
Current role:
Project Manager
Gender:
Male
Areas of expertise:
ecology and the environment, Ecology and Evolution, Conservation, evolution and intelligent design, science and religion, science, Environmentalism
I am:
Agnostic, Concerned citizen, Environmentalist, Explorer, Job-seeker, Musician, Scientist, World traveler
Languages:
Dutch, English, French
Universities:
Antwerp

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More About Me

I'm passionate about

nature - music (playing) - diversity (biological, cultural, lingual, etnical etc.) - earth - evolution

People don't know that I'm good at

gymnastics - writing

Comments

  • TEDCred score: +14.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

  • +2

    A reply on Conversation: Why do so many think that population growth is an important issue for the environment? Don't they know the facts of demographics?

    Feb 20 2011: Family planning is indeed what I had in mind as a more plausible alternative to Hitler or Tse Tung practices. I really think that, taking into account the rising living standards in currently small-footprint countries, it would be worth the effort of reducing projected population increase by half, with contraception, women empowerment, abortion,family planning and policy measures such as decreased child allowance from the 3rd child onwards...
  • +2

    A comment on Conversation: Why do so many think that population growth is an important issue for the environment? Don't they know the facts of demographics?

    Feb 16 2011: I was aware of the trend of the figures Hans mentions, and I think he may be right in his way of thinking. The only thing that worries me (and I don't have figures to throw out here unfortunately), is that the world population has been able to reach 7 billion only by using a lot of finite fossil resources (e.g. ground water, minerals,oil, gas, coal, etc.). Sustaining the current population would deplete some of these reserves by 2050 or soon after. Any kind of population increase would only speed up the process, unless humanity manages in the same time span to decrease not only its energy use, but also resource consumption by considerable amounts. Given some market mechanisms currently in place, and the time generally needed for public opinion to change, chances are slim that we will be able to live up to that, even with the current population.

  • A reply on Talk: Richard Dawkins: Militant atheism

    Jul 2 2009: I fully agree!! Dawkin is wrong to insist on *militant* atheism to get the point through... although strong voices are needed to boost the process!

  • A reply on Talk: Richard Dawkins: Militant atheism

    Jul 2 2009: Thanks for your book suggestions. I'll pass them on whenever it seems appropriate to me. It is hard to disentangle the reasoning of ardently religiuos people. As a non-believer, I don't know where to start to convince them. I take your book suggestions as my best guess, regarding your experience.
    I do agree that some people cannot live without their illusion, so choice is always theirs, but I really think that providing information and thoughts cannot do any harm, for they will only register these if they are open to it in the first place.

  • A reply on Talk: Richard Dawkins: Militant atheism

    Jun 25 2009: Frank, Kyle, Dave,
    it is a pleasure to hear that you've all 'breached the wall of faith', even though, as Frank said, live is probably harsher (mentally) when you do so. It is good news to hear that the wall CAN be breached, because I always believed this to be impossible. So you guys are most welcome evidence to refute my believe, so to speak :)
    Would it be an idea for you to set up a forum for people who 'breached the wall', to exchange experiences of why and how it happened? As a source of inspiration for doubting believers?

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