11 quotes
Too many rich people in the world is a major threat to the human future, and cultural and genetic diversity are great human resources.
Paul Ehrlich: 'Collapse of civilisation is a near certainty within decades' The Guardian (2018)
Actually, the problem in the world is that there are too many rich people.
If everyone consumed resources at the US level – which is what the world aspires to – you will need another four or five Earths.
As I’ve said many times, ‘perpetual growth is the creed of the cancer cell’.
Paul Ehrlich: 'Collapse of civilisation is a near certainty within decades' The Guardian (2018)
By this standard, the entire planet and virtually every nation is already vastly overpopulated.
The Population Explosion (1990)
Growthmania is the fatal disease of civilisation - it must be replaced by campaigns that make equity and well-being society’s goals - not consuming more junk.
Whatever your cause, it’s a lost cause without population control.
If I were a gambler, I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000
To start, make modern contraception and back-up abortion available to all and give women full equal rights, pay and opportunities with men. I hope that would lead to a low enough total fertility rate that the needed shrinkage of population would follow. [But] it will take a very long time to humanely reduce total population to a size that is sustainable.
Paul Ehrlich: 'Collapse of civilisation is a near certainty within decades' The Guardian (2018)
In fact, giving society cheap, abundant energy at this point would be the moral equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun. With cheap, abundant energy, the attempt clearly would be made to pave, develop, industrialize, and exploit every last bit of the planet—a trend that would inevitably lead to a collapse of the life-support systems upon which civilization depends.
Overdrafts on aquifers are one reason some of our geologist colleagues are convinced that water shortages will bring the human population explosion to a halt. There are substitutes for oil; there is no substitute for fresh water.
The Population Explosion (1990)