Thanks for your preliminary comments on the need to
address population growth in the West (HCN, 12/22/03: Being Green
in the Land of the Saints). However, the issue needs to be
addressed in the West, nationwide, and worldwide by people who
seriously think about environmental quality and humanity’s
future.
It’s clear that our species has grown to
the point where any action seriously affects our surroundings.
We’ve skimmed the cream off the top of our world’s
resources — now we are eating into flesh and bone.
Can we honestly look at predictions of additional billions of
people on the planet in the next century and think that the overall
condition of our environment and the average standard of living for
the world’s people will improve? When will policy-makers and
statesmen stand up and at least say that population growth is a
problem that needs to be discussed, much less acted on? When will
mainstream environmental organizations seriously raise these
questions and present options for discussion and consideration? Who
will lead?
David W. Connally
Brea, California
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Population growth is the problem.
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