The population bomb

228 Pages·2010·17.52 MB·English

by  Ehrlich, Paul R

^*
:[E) ASierraClub-BallantineBook
POPULATION CONTROL OR
RACE TO OBLIVION?
THE
POPULATION
WHILE YOU ARE READING THESE WORDS
POUR PEOPLE WILL HAVE DIED PROM
STARVATION. MOST OP THEM CHILDREN.
> DR. PAUL R. EHRLICH
•4n
THE
KPEOEPPUSLATTIICOKNINBGOMB Foreword byDavidBrower—
ExecutiveDirector, SierraCfub
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive
in 2010
http://www.arcliive.org/details/populationbomOOelirl
POPULATION CONTROL-
EACE TO OBLIVION?
or
Overpopulation is now the domi-
nant problem in all our personal,
national,andinternationalplanning.
No one can do rational personal plan-
ning, nor can public policy be resolved
in any area unless one first takes into
account the population bomb.
Schools,politicians,andmassmediaonly
touch the edge of the majorproblem.
Paul R. Ehrlich, a qualified scientist,
clearly describes the dimensions of the
crisis in all its aspects—air, food, water,
birth control, death control, our total
environment—and provides a realistic
evaluation of the remaining options.
From TheSierra Club Bulletin
DanielB. Luten
"...an organization cannothave aconservation policy
without having a population policy.
...the sanity test—in which the candidate, confronted
with an overflowing sink, is classified according to
whether he reaches for the mop or the faucet."
PresidentEisenhower
"As a result of lowered infant mortality, longer hves,
andtheacceleratingconquestoffaminethereisunder-
way a population explosion so incredibly greatthat in
little more than another generation the population of
the world is expected to double."
SirJulianHuxley
"Over-population is, in my opinion, the most serious
threattothewholefutureofourspecies."
LowellSumner
"As a biologist the human population explosion, and
its declining spiral of natural resources, is to me the
greatestthreatofall.Thetimeisripe,evendangerously
over-ripe, as far as the population control problem is
concerned. We shall have to face up or ultimately
perish, andwhatadreary,stupid, unlovelywaytoper-
ish, onaruinedglobestrippedofitsprimevalbeauty."
WilliamH. White
"Fimny how Americans assume that growth per se
means a rising standard of living. We should know
."
better...
From ThisIstheAmerican Earth
". to breed recklessly, until every day hundreds of
..
thousands, millions more
crowdin among our already crowded billions
until more and more, on old and newly awakened
continents, two thirds
of the population of the world find want and
hunger multiplying like themselves
imtil the needs of all these multitudes drive nations
intomadness—
to raise crop yields on fewer acres by killing
chemicals—
to push back deserts, icecaps, jungles for more
room-
to mine, bore, blast; blare hate, distortthe truth,
delude and warp their people—"
From ThePlaceNo OneKnew: Glen Canyon
"The menace is more likely the notion that growth
andprogress are the same, andthatthe gross national
product is the measure of the good life.
Perhaps we can evolve a subservient technology—one
that follows man instead of leading him."
The words "The Population Bomb," selected as
the title for this book, were first used in 1954 on
the cover of a pamphletissuedbythe HughMoore
Fund. Annual editions of the pamphlet have been
issued and widely distributed totaling over two
million copies. The terms "population bomb" and
"population explosion" which are now in general
circulation were first used in this pamphlet.
THE
POPULATION
BOMB
Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich
BALLANTINE BOOKS • NEW YORK
©
Copyright 1968 by Paul R. Ehrlich
First Printing: May, 1968
Second Printing: August, 1968
Third Printing: August, 1968
Fourth Printing: January, 1969
Fifth Printing: March, 1969
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BALLANTINE BOOKS, INC.
101 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10003
To Lisa