Stupid Letter of the Week

As you are becoming aware, there are no stupid letters, just stupid people who write letters. This week's letter comes from Patty Brown, chairwomen of the Missouri Sierra Club.

World Population Day

Friday is World Population Day. It is a time to reflect on how humans have so successfully reproduced that only half of the world’s total of 6.8 billion people is sustainable. People understand deer being endangered by their excessive numbers, but they don’t want to think about this with humans.


Deaths are increasing from pollution, severe weather and natural resource wars. The world’s oil supply has peaked. About 1.1 billion people lack clean water. Almost half of the forest habitat is gone.


We are now losing half of all species. These are all related to population and consumption. The U.S. has the greatest per capita impact. Earth consists of a diversely balanced interdependent web of life, which we must protect.


Solutions include comprehensive sex education, increased funding for family planning worldwide, education and empowerment of females, adoption, having children later in life and decreased consumption. We’ll have 9 billion people by 2050 unless the death rate increases. If 90 percent of all women stop at two, rather that the current 2.6 children per woman, we could stabilize population growth and decrease the negative effect on the planet.

Patty Brown
Population & Consumption Committee
Chair, Missouri Sierra Club
Independence

I made a note to myself to never invite Patty to a dinner party.  She would just bring the mood down.

Patty is a throw-back to the 1960's when Paul Erlich wrote in his book The Population Bomb,that due to the earth's population we would see mass famine and starvation in the 1970's and 80's.  His prediction of world population did come true, however every other prediction was wrong.  Why?  Because Paul and Patty forget one thing.  Knowledge and technology increases at a rate equal to or greater than population.  In other words, we figure it out.
The stupid part is that Patty wants to educate our kids on sex, encourage abortion and return to a life from the past just in case our current lifestyle isn't sustainable.  I support Patty's right to ride a bike, live a minimalist lifestyle, not have children, and to influence her family to do the same.  But I won't believe her self-serving, "sky is falling" hype.