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5 of 9 members found this review helpful.Clock Is Ticking, The Message Is Getting Ever More Urgent!
“"Population Explosion" is a follow-up to the Ehrlich's 1968, "Population Bomb" when there were over 3.5 billion humans on the planet- that number was considered by many to be vastly beyond the carrying capacity of our Earth and it's finite resources. By the time this book was published in 1990, the population had increased to 5.3 billion. The current population is well over 6 billion. Because of the now virtually straight-up growth curve, we are breeding ourselves off the planet. Match this curve with the increasing consumption of fossil fuel and resulting carbon dumping, ozone depletion, rain forest destruction, sewage pollution in the land and oceans- all contributing to global warming; toxic chemicals seeping into ground water supplies; accelerated depletion of fish stocks; widespread famine, etc., and we now have a real environmental pan of worms on our hands. What commentary is it on major governments (esp. the supposedly civilized U.S.) and religious groups to resist human population management and education? Is this their idea of love, compassion and wisdom?
An amazon user wrote this on 2005-04-01.
The extreme conditions of poverty, pollution, crime and poor health, all resulting in global human/flora/fauna suffering and misery, one would think, should motivate global efforts to inform on and correct this mess. Or are we humans just not intelligent enough to heed the loud and compelling warnings of the Ehrlich's and others that we need to take seriously our "Population Bomb"? The data and message in this fine book is as timely now as when it was first published- just more urgent!
In 1970 the Ehrlich's published one of the finest textbooks on human ecology: "Population, Resources, Environment". It is still relevant and informative today- just add more people and pollution to the mix and you've brought it up to speed.
As many others have observed, by not taking any constructive action we are letting nature take it's course. Is this our legacy? Will the cockroaches and fleas, who have managed to flourish in our human mess and who will probably be here long after we're gone, write our epitaph: Those stupid humans sure were fun while they were here. And, as cartoonist Walt Kelley`s "Pogo" so aptly said, "We have met the enemy and he is us".
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8 of 8 members found this review helpful.
Timely but oversimplified
“The book is a sequel to an earlier, very successful discussion of population pressures. Key to the Erlichs' approach here is the formula I=PAT, which stands for Impact equals Population times Affluence times Technology. The larger any one of these factors, the higher the product, i.e. the impact - all other factors remaining equal. By "technology" and "affluence", the authors presumably intend the environmentally destructive types of each, though how qualitative differences can be expressed qualitatively is left largely unexplained. Clearly the equation aims at a very generalized and imprecise level of abstraction, more suitable for detecting trends than setting policy. Whether such streamlining conceals more variability than it reveals is not really discussed and clouds the work as a whole.
Central to the book is the impact of one particular factor, namely P or population. Growth increases in this category alone, as I=PAT shows, can undo strides in all other categories combined. At bottom, the book represents an assessment of these far-reaching population impacts plus specific projections based on current figures in all categories. In that topical sense the work is not strictly theoretical and though certain Malthusian themes are sounded, the work is not a gloomy updating of unavoidable doom. Changes in growth patterns can make a lasting difference, the authors are anxious to inform.
Sheer numbers of people, however, do not tell the whole impact story, which is why the Erlich's have included the factor of "affluence" in one of their better sections. In the role of affluent consumers, not all people count the same. Because of their greater consuption level, citizens of richer nations, for example, have much greater impact on world resources than people in poorer countries. Thus, as their equation shows, population reductions among the industrialized have a disproportionately helpful effect on world resources. Promisingly, population growth rates in richer areas such as western Europe and the U.S. have slackened with increasing levels of affluence, which indicates an important correlation between birth-rate and material well-being. Thus economic class emerges as an important factor to gaining a sustainable environment and I wish the authors had spent more time emphasizing this.
The book has many good points, but unfortunately lacks impact and real analytic depth. Probably, as a work aimed at a mass audience, analytic depth was not intended. Moreover, being a sequel to a widely discussed first book creates a tough act to follow. Nevertheless, aside from some useful statistics, more questions are posed than answered.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2000-07-26. -
5 of 8 members found this review helpful.
It might make you think about what we are doing to the Earth
“This book provides an excellent synopsis of the state of our environment. Using more than just apocalyptic rhetoric, Ehrlich presents the subject matter with a keen sense of humanity and provides suggestions as to how we must change our society to avoid the dire consequences of uninhibited growth.
A great introduction for those who are concerned about the pollution next door or the pesticides on the fruit we eat or in the environment in general.
READ...READ...READ..Then pass it on.”
An amazon user wrote this on 1999-02-24. -
6 of 7 members found this review helpful.
A rational explanation of a frightening problem.
“The Population Explosion is the follow-up to The Population Bomb (written by the same author twenty years ago). In this book he examines the results of the issues he raised in the first book as well as some of the new dangers of overpopulation created by contemporary reproductive science and ecological damage.
Early in the book he explains why overpopulation is such a pressing, but invisible problem. Occasionally his frustration with the problems he describes comes through but despite this the book comes across as an even-handed and rational examination of the facts.
In an age when women are giving birth to seven or eight children at a time because they're taking fertility drugs in a mad effort to procreate there is no better time to learn about the consequences.”
An amazon user wrote this on 1999-01-06.
