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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 R. Ehrlich Paul Ehrlich: 'Collapse of civilisation is a near certainty within decades' The Guardian (2018)

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More quotes by Paul R. Ehrlich

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)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Paul R. Ehrlich (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.