Population Explosion

"Population Explosion" is a follow-up to the Ehrlich's 1968, "Population Bomb" when there were over 3.5 billion humans on the planet- that number was considered by many to be vastly beyond the carrying capacity of our Earth and it's finite resources. By the time this book was published in 1990, the population had increased to 5.3 billion. The current population is well over 6 billion. Because of the now virtually straight-up growth curve, we are breeding ourselves off the planet. Match this curve with the increasing consumption of fossil fuel and resulting carbon dumping, ozone depletion, rain forest destruction, sewage pollution in the land and oceans- all contributing to global warming; toxic chemicals seeping into ground water supplies; accelerated depletion of fish stocks; widespread famine, etc., and we now have a real environmental pan of worms on our hands. What commentary is it on major governments (esp. the supposedly civilized U.S.) and religious groups to resist human population management and education? Is this their idea of love, compassion and wisdom? The extreme conditions of poverty, pollution, crime and poor health, all resulting in global human/flora/fauna suffering and misery, one would think, should motivate global efforts to inform on and correct this mess. Or are we humans just not intelligent enough to heed the loud and compelling warnings of the Ehrlich's and others that we need to take seriously our "Population Bomb"? The data and message in this fine book is as timely now as when it was first published- just more urgent! In 1970 the Ehrlich's published one of the finest textbooks on human ecology: "Population, Resources, Environment". It is still relevant and informative today- just add more people and pollution to the mix and you've brought it up to speed. As many others have observed, by not taking any constructive action we are letting nature take it's course. Is this our legacy? Will the cockroaches and fleas, who have managed to flourish in our human mess and who will probably be here long after we're gone, write our epitaph: Those stupid humans sure were fun while they were here. And, as cartoonist Walt Kelley`s "Pogo" so aptly said, "We have met the enemy and he is us".

This book provides an excellent synopsis of the state of our environment. Using more than just apocalyptic rhetoric, Ehrlich presents the subject matter with a keen sense of humanity and provides suggestions as to how we must change our society to avoid the dire consequences of uninhibited growth.A great introduction for those who are concerned about the pollution next door or the pesticides on the fruit we eat or in the environment in general.READ...READ...READ..Then pass it on.

The Population Explosion is the follow-up to The Population Bomb (written by the same author twenty years ago). In this book he examines the results of the issues he raised in the first book as well as some of the new dangers of overpopulation created by contemporary reproductive science and ecological damage. Early in the book he explains why overpopulation is such a pressing, but invisible problem. Occasionally his frustration with the problems he describes comes through but despite this the book comes across as an even-handed and rational examination of the facts. In an age when women are giving birth to seven or eight children at a time because they're taking fertility drugs in a mad effort to procreate there is no better time to learn about the consequences.