It’s appalling that in recent years the only discussion of population is in countries worried that their birthrate won’t support the older people.  Meanwhile, the exponential growth rate, worldwide, is well on it’s way to the self-regulation as predicted by Malthus, i.e. famine, plague, and war. Are not humans intelligent enough to head off such natural controls?

I get why many people can’t accept abortion as an acceptable way to limit growth, but why not birth control? Should every woman give birth continually during her fertile years or will we magically learn to suppress one of human’s strongest urges? Over 90 percent of U.S. women, including Catholic, use birth control, as well they should.

Whether or not you believe in global warming, it is indisputable that more and more people will mean more and more housing in marginal places. From river deltas in Bangladesh to filled-in swamps in Florida, from the Pacific Palisades to the forests of the West, every natural disaster takes a larger toll in human life. Add that to the environmental degradation that naturally follows an increased use of resources, and it will only get worse.

Every business, every economy, seems to think growth is inevitable and good. Is this a broken paradigm? With all the other problems in the world, limiting population has taken a back seat.  I contend that it may be the biggest problem of all.

Wheat is a resident of Polson