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Content Copyright © 2007 by New England Coalition for Sustainable Population. All rights reserved.
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| New England Coalition for Sustainable Population |
Sustainability
Jul 3, 08 10:16 AM
Early in June, our local newspaper here in New Hampshire said “UN says 1 billion face hunger,
warns of unrest.” An advertisement in The Nation magazine recently noted: “300 million today—
600 people tomorrow—Think about it.” “Population is rising but water supplies are not,” says
Alex Kirby, author of “Dawn of a Thirsty Century.” With 75 million of us added annually to our
planet under stress, humans are quickly approaching the seven billion mark, predicted to be
within three to four years.
In the face of this, our challenge is to determine how we can achieve an acceptable living
standard for all people on earth. For instance, the United States’s decision to grow more corn
to produce ethanol as a gasoline additive is immoral, as many whose diets, based on grains,
starve the world around.
Nature challenges us elsewhere—a cyclone in Myanmar, Southeast Asia, an earthquake in
southwest China, destruction of New Orleans by hurricane, tornadoes rip through American
farmland, floods swamp cities anywhere near the Mississippi River and its tributaries. When
nature bats last, how best will man survive? The problems are global in scope—we are part of it,
and much is of our own making. Climate change is attributed in large part to human activity.
Carbon dioxide-consuming rainforests are being depleted, water supplies over-consumed.
If you are exhausted in reading these woes of environmental degradation caused by
unsustainable increase in human numbers, you should be stirred to action. If the American
society, indifferent to population and dedicated to economic growth as it goes from the present
300 million-plus people to an unstable 400 million (83 percent of the growth is due to
immigration) by 2050, its very existence will be threatened.
No longer are large families needed to assist cultivation, nor extra breadwinners to supplement
meager earnings, nor more babies born to equal infant mortality rates. Our bonds with nature
have been shaken as man’s technological prowess has eased the pain, delaying recognition of
the problems. It is not enough to present more tragedies induced by seemingly unstoppable
human numbers. Uninformed, misinformed people, especially the young, make poor decisions,
including those of procreation. The urge to grow is found in religious and economic leaders—
“Go forth and multiply” admonished the Bible. That was then, this is now.
We must work to remove the barriers to a sustainable existence for all mankind. Women must
be educated and have access to all safe forms of family planning. The family must be
stabilized with an increase in all aspects of the nurturing of children around the world.
Contraception, long denied people in the developing world, must be made available—free when
possible.
The United Nations has declared July 11 “World Population Day.” Join in and do the right thing
in supporting family planning and population stabilization. We propose creation of a World
Population Council to bring population into balance with natural resources. There is good news
from the Population Reference Bureau: They say that high numbers of young people worldwide
desire contraception. Why should they be denied what many Americans take for granted?
The quest for worldwide peace and prosperity is a lost cause without reducing human
numbers.
These are the thoughts and experiences of a woman of the Great Depression and her
daughter, born in the generation of Baby Boomers.
LINN DUVALL HARWELL -- Vice Chair
MAREEN DUVALL HARWELL -- Director
New England Coalition for Sustainable Population
Linn Duvall Harwell is a former resident of Southampton and served at one time as the
president of the local chapter of the League of Women Voters—Ed.
Jul 3, 08 10:16 AM
Early in June, our local newspaper here in New Hampshire said “UN says 1 billion face hunger,
warns of unrest.” An advertisement in The Nation magazine recently noted: “300 million today—
600 people tomorrow—Think about it.” “Population is rising but water supplies are not,” says
Alex Kirby, author of “Dawn of a Thirsty Century.” With 75 million of us added annually to our
planet under stress, humans are quickly approaching the seven billion mark, predicted to be
within three to four years.
In the face of this, our challenge is to determine how we can achieve an acceptable living
standard for all people on earth. For instance, the United States’s decision to grow more corn
to produce ethanol as a gasoline additive is immoral, as many whose diets, based on grains,
starve the world around.
Nature challenges us elsewhere—a cyclone in Myanmar, Southeast Asia, an earthquake in
southwest China, destruction of New Orleans by hurricane, tornadoes rip through American
farmland, floods swamp cities anywhere near the Mississippi River and its tributaries. When
nature bats last, how best will man survive? The problems are global in scope—we are part of it,
and much is of our own making. Climate change is attributed in large part to human activity.
Carbon dioxide-consuming rainforests are being depleted, water supplies over-consumed.
If you are exhausted in reading these woes of environmental degradation caused by
unsustainable increase in human numbers, you should be stirred to action. If the American
society, indifferent to population and dedicated to economic growth as it goes from the present
300 million-plus people to an unstable 400 million (83 percent of the growth is due to
immigration) by 2050, its very existence will be threatened.
No longer are large families needed to assist cultivation, nor extra breadwinners to supplement
meager earnings, nor more babies born to equal infant mortality rates. Our bonds with nature
have been shaken as man’s technological prowess has eased the pain, delaying recognition of
the problems. It is not enough to present more tragedies induced by seemingly unstoppable
human numbers. Uninformed, misinformed people, especially the young, make poor decisions,
including those of procreation. The urge to grow is found in religious and economic leaders—
“Go forth and multiply” admonished the Bible. That was then, this is now.
We must work to remove the barriers to a sustainable existence for all mankind. Women must
be educated and have access to all safe forms of family planning. The family must be
stabilized with an increase in all aspects of the nurturing of children around the world.
Contraception, long denied people in the developing world, must be made available—free when
possible.
The United Nations has declared July 11 “World Population Day.” Join in and do the right thing
in supporting family planning and population stabilization. We propose creation of a World
Population Council to bring population into balance with natural resources. There is good news
from the Population Reference Bureau: They say that high numbers of young people worldwide
desire contraception. Why should they be denied what many Americans take for granted?
The quest for worldwide peace and prosperity is a lost cause without reducing human
numbers.
These are the thoughts and experiences of a woman of the Great Depression and her
daughter, born in the generation of Baby Boomers.
LINN DUVALL HARWELL -- Vice Chair
MAREEN DUVALL HARWELL -- Director
New England Coalition for Sustainable Population
Linn Duvall Harwell is a former resident of Southampton and served at one time as the
president of the local chapter of the League of Women Voters—Ed.
