The Population Bust and Other Nonsense
Remember The Population Bomb, written by Paul Ehrlich in 1968? In it, he warned of imminent population collapse due to our over stretching the limits of the earth's carrying capacity. There was supposed to have been a massive die-off of human beings in the 1970s and '80s. Didn't happen, of course.
He postulated a host of other dire consequences, too. The United States would see its life expectancy drop to 42 years by 1980 because of pesticide usage, and the nation's population would drop to 22.6 million by 1999. Also didn't happen.
India was going to see massive starvation. Nope. Didn't happen. Instead, India underwent the famous "green revolution".
Still, the predicted overpopulation and subsequent collapse could happen, but considering the actual population figures then and now (we have nearly doubled since 1968), it's risky to postulate what population might be the tipping point.
That's the trouble with alarmists. They invariably fail to take into consideration any mitigating factors, such as human ingenuity.
Same goes for today's warmists and assorted other goofballs like Elizabeth May. Is it just a coincidence that both Erhlich and May were/are long-time members of the Sierra Club and all the crackpot youthful idealists that have inhabited this organization over the years, whose alarmist hysteria has led to an accusation that they advocate eugenics. Consider what the Greens are advocating now with their strident faith in global warming hysteria: Nothing short of a complete collapse of our economies. It never occurs to them that their comfy middle to upper class lifestyles would be the first to go. I can hardly wait to hear the writhing and moaning after Copenhagen.
He postulated a host of other dire consequences, too. The United States would see its life expectancy drop to 42 years by 1980 because of pesticide usage, and the nation's population would drop to 22.6 million by 1999. Also didn't happen.
India was going to see massive starvation. Nope. Didn't happen. Instead, India underwent the famous "green revolution".
Still, the predicted overpopulation and subsequent collapse could happen, but considering the actual population figures then and now (we have nearly doubled since 1968), it's risky to postulate what population might be the tipping point.
That's the trouble with alarmists. They invariably fail to take into consideration any mitigating factors, such as human ingenuity.
Same goes for today's warmists and assorted other goofballs like Elizabeth May. Is it just a coincidence that both Erhlich and May were/are long-time members of the Sierra Club and all the crackpot youthful idealists that have inhabited this organization over the years, whose alarmist hysteria has led to an accusation that they advocate eugenics. Consider what the Greens are advocating now with their strident faith in global warming hysteria: Nothing short of a complete collapse of our economies. It never occurs to them that their comfy middle to upper class lifestyles would be the first to go. I can hardly wait to hear the writhing and moaning after Copenhagen.
posted by Louise at 10:29 am
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