While I appreciate Emilie Marlinghaus’s excellent letter in defense of Planned Parenthood, unfortunately she is mistaken when she says, “we are rapidly exceeding Earth’s carrying capacity.” Reputable scientists have suggested that earth’s carrying capacity for humans that will allow all the other animals and plants a healthy existence, instead of going extinct, is about 2 billion. We therefore already have over three times as many humans on this planet as this planet can sustain. We can see this in the depletion of our resources such as oil, the emptying of the ocean’s fisheries, the disappearance of our forests, the desertification of our croplands, and of course global warming.
Humans have never faced such a challenge before, although the depletion of resources has preceded the fall of many past “civilizations.” At the rate we are going, we appear to be too stupid to save ourselves.
Bye-bye!
Best regards, – Donangelo
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.
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And let me guess, Donangelo. You consider yourself among the enlightened few who gets to live on to make the critical decision as to which of us “stupid” ones have to die for the benefit of good old mother earth.
As you may recall, about 70 years ago, Germany got itself into a bit of trouble with the same attitude that you population control fanatics espouse.
I just didn’t realize there were so many of you extremely scary people out there.
Dear Mr. Jegglie!
Where were you trained to think the worst of someone you disagree with? Was it in church? Public school? Your parents? Or did you decide all by yourself that this is how you want to treat your brothers and sisters in this world?
You're identifying yourself as one of the stupid ones, as if some of us are not. We are all equal beings. In the letter I consistently said “we.” We fail to do this together. Your reference to Hitler's Germany is absurd. There is no connection. If you do not see the approaching crisis, I'm afraid that makes you one of the Not-sees. It is necessary to read the science and understand what is happening.
In any case, I am not one who expects “to live on.” I'm 76 years old and I have a serious medical condition. I don't expect to live much longer at all. I hope I do, of course, because life is such a glorious adventure. Every day I give thanks that I am alive this day. But then again, the longer people live, the more we overpopulate the earth. I'm ready to go any time. At least I'm at Peace with my Creator, even if I am unable to achieve that with some of my fellow mortals.
No, I can't do much more than speak my wisdom, altho I support organizations like the Population Connection and the Center for Reproductive Rights. I leave the world in the hands of the coming generations, and may they be good ones! May they be sensitive to the imminent peril that we are facing by our excessive and destructive practices. We are a cancer on Mother Earth when we should be her nervous system.
How do we get there? First we have to agree that we want to. Then, I don't know what we might agree to do about overpopulation. I know some is being done, and an enormous amount can be done, distributing birth control information and birth controls, making it possible for people all over the world to limit the number of their children, because all the evidence we have says that people in poor countries would prefer to do that, particularly if they know that with good medical service, the children they do have are most likely to live. It may be we will decide to adopt something like the China one child policy. That's very severe, but I believe the situation is that severe. All the statistics show it. The sooner we act, the better off we will be. Do we have to wait until it is too late and calamity is upon us? Maybe we could advance a smaller population simply by removing the tax credits for child dependents after the first, maybe even charging additional tax for additional kids, excepting of course natural multiple births. But we are certainly not going to be choosing to kill anyone, as you suggest.
As the disastrous Obamacare illustrates, failing even to consider Single Payer seriously, I do not think we have the courage and will to do what must be done, and therefore I say bye-bye to a society that is doomed to fall within the next fifty years. Perhaps what springs from the ashes will do better.
I urge you to take a careful look at the facts instead of attacking others and displaying your ignorance. Otherwise, if you're concerned about the “extremely scary people out there,” I suggest you take a look in a mirror. As Yogi Berra so famously said, “The problem ain't what we don't know: it's what we do know that ain't so.” I love humanity and would like to save it. What do you love?
R.I.S.E members of the world unite, eh Donalgelo?