Being a Biochemistry major and having an immense interest in the sciences, I have approached the issue of climate change and global warming from an objective point of view, seeing both sides of the matter. While some of the issues may seem clear cut, there are a variety of issues that are not black and white. An example of one of these issues is presented in “The Siphoners” by David Mitchell, with the idea of a potential threat of overpopulation in the future.

In many of my Biology classes, especially those pertaining to evolution, the term carrying capacity has been used consistently. The Third Edition of Biological Science by Scott Freeman, the textbook used in my latest evolution based Biology class, discusses carrying capacity at length. This textbook defines carrying capacity as “the maximum population size of a certain species that a given habitat can support”. Below is an example of a carrying capacity graph taken from pixshark.com. The population of rabbits, which is the species used in this example, exponentially increases to a point. When the population hits the max that it can achieve with the given resources in their habitat, the population levels off and stays at a constant rate that the habitat can support. The idea of a carrying capacity is that every species has a population limit that a habitat can sustain, even humans.

With the population of the world already over 7 billion and with no signs of slowing down, the fear of overpopulation is an issue that is on the minds of many and should be addressed. Below is a graph from the United Nations website from 2010 which indicates that the population could more than double in the next 100 years. While the threat of overpopulation does not seem to be directly related to climate change, it is still impactful as it takes a toll on the environment and more people will undoubtedly contribute to the problem.

“The Siphoners” craftly utilizes a framing narrative, a story within a story, to address this issue. The solution to this overpopulation conundrum in these stories is to force the elderly to end their lives prematurely. While this is not essentially how it is done in nature, it is very similar as those who aren’t as fit are not able to access the resources available as competitively and thus die off. While the idea of forcing the elderly into ending their lives is certainly barbaric, it raises many questions.

Avril Bredon and her husband Bruno are a former professor and a dementia patient respectively, which I believe is a very important distinction. I believe Mitchell does this to symbolize the two opposite ends of the spectrum, the elderly that still have a lot of wisdom to offer society, and the elderly who seemingly have nothing to offer and who may be seen as using up resources for those more fit to survive. This causes readers to put more thought into the issue as opposed to rushing to an immediate conclusion. One feels sorry for Bruno, but is it fair for him to continue living and possibly taking the resources from another when he himself is unable to even remember his wife’s name?

When first presented the two mercy pills by the group of siphoners, Avril Bredon immediately dismisses them saying, “Take you gift back. I don’t need suicide pills” (137) but after the siphoners “grim prognosis” (138) of what may happen to them, she begins to reconsider. Has she reached the point where she is no longer fit to survive? Do others deserve the same chance at life she does? As she questions “What will I do?” (139) she returns to her story and the fate of Avril and Bruno is left for the reader to decide.

While I don’t believe culling out the elderly is the correct solution, overpopulation is a problem that needs to be addressed. Much like climate change, it is something that is very hard to stomach and many people choose to avoid the issue. Is it fair for the elderly to sap resources from those who have yet to have a chance to live their lives on this Earth? Like climate change, the difficult questions need to be addressed and changes must be made, or a society like this one could easily be feasible before we know it.