While I agree with George Wang that overpopulation is a major problem, I think that in dealing with it we have to be sensitive to demographic issues. As he points out, the population of Europe is lagging, and I do not think that a world where Europe fades into insignificance is an optimal objective.
If we could restrict all families everywhere to, say, 2 children, that would be a desirable step. Reducing the population of countries which can easily support many more people than they now have, and reducing the size of families that are well equipped to raise large families (such as academics in the US) is not much of a forward step. The world's worst crises are developing in regions where the population exceeds the carrying capacity, such as Rwanda and Darfur. Fewer children in university towns will not do much to resolve this. Bill Silvert Portugal ----- Original Message ----- From: "George Wang" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 4:02 AM Subject: Re: Ecological Equality? > Of all the people, we ecologists should be the first to realize that over- > population is the ultimate cause for almost all environmental problems. It > may be true that the European population level is dropping, but the whole > world's is definitely increasing. And with the level of globalization > today, over-population is a global, rather than localized, problem. How > can one acknowledge growing unemployment rate and then encourage more > human reproduction in the same paragraph?
