Letters to the Editor, March 2023

Your President’s Note in the December 2022 Population Connection expressed my sentiments exactly. Exploding human population is the number one driver of most of humankind’s global problems, and in particular environmental ones. As your column and accompanying articles illustrate, this can be addressed and corrected. But will we do so before it is too late? I wish that population management would get more publicity in the mass media. Certainly your organization is doing its part.

Terry McDaniel

Thank you so much for expressing so well what my husband and I view as a world driven mad by greed, where humans fail to understand that the natural world has limits that apply to us as well. Though people have taken much from nature, most have failed to extract an understanding of its laws of limits, its necessity for reciprocity, and its powerful energy of diversity.

We are especially stunned watching the media’s refusal to say anything at all negative about an ever-booming human population—TIME magazine stands out for its pathetic gloss-over of the 8 billion milestone. It’s as if the words “human overpopulation” must never be said—as if the more people there are, the better the world will be. The timing couldn’t be worse for such an attitude.

We have supported your organization for years and will continue to do so—and we will continue to share with others our opinion that our world is in great peril due to constantly growing economies and populations.

Judy Reynolds

I love all the articles and reports in your magazine. As an animal rights activist, I am also advocating for human rights; the two issues cannot be separated. Too many people need more land, food, and housing, which means more forest and wildlife habitat destruction, more animals bred and killed for food. The desire to eat a more “Western-style” diet leads to factory farms that abuse and slaughter billions of animal lives.

If you care to protect the environment, you must also advocate for animal protection, human rights, and education of women in the poorer countries. We must recognize that these problems are all related, that destruction of forests and oceans, air pollution, and extreme climate change lead to suffering of humans and non-human creatures. We all share the same fate and suffer the same hardships. Education, advocacy, and the media must combine and address all these issues. I am happy to see that your publication aims to do just that.

Susan Kalev

The December 2022 Population Connection edition was outstanding. I have frequently contrasted Thailand’s family planning progress with the Philippines’ failure and its impact on economic success and prosperity. Per capita GDP in the Philippines and Thailand was about equal in the 1970s. Today, it is twice as high in Thailand.

People must understand that family planning increases wealth, health, life spans, and peace, along with a more sustainable planet.

Kevin Curtis