Re: “Why “The Population Bomb” bombed,” June 7 Perspective article.
In his 1968 bestseller, “The Population Bomb,” Paul Ehrlich predicted a doubling of the Earth’s population by 2005 and a breakdown of the world’s ability to feed itself. (Wikimedia Commons)
If science were the stronghold of dispassionate rationalism its champions claim, Paul Ehrlich’s ridiculous predictions would have long ago relegated him to a quiet life teaching high school biology.
Instead he’s collected a closetful of awards from environmental and scientific groups, pocketed a $450,000 “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation and become an icon of the environmentalist movement.
Do the political activists who appeal to the authority of researchers like Ehrlich wonder why their doomsday declarations increasingly fall on deaf ears?
Michael Smith, Cynthiana, Ky.
This letter was published in the June 15 edition.Paul Ehrlich probably got his estimate of the Earth’s population doubling much closer than statistics show. If you were to factor in how many more births there would have been by all the generations of people who died in wars, of starvation, diseases like AIDS, etc., and did not have children, grandchildren, etc., his estimate would have been much closer.
Our precious Earth is a finite entity. There is a limit to how many people it will support. Ask the people on Easter Island about overcrowding. The Chinese finally took some drastic steps to alleviate overcrowding.
We absolutely must stop poisoning our precious planet and start being responsible guardians of all the life forms we share our environment with.
Mark Rawlins, Westminster
This letter was published in the June 15 edition.
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