Our Crowded Planet

This is an important book but unfortunately the people who need most to read it are the least likely to do so. It consists of a series of short essays by an unusual group of scholars ranging from biologists, historians and economists to lawyers, statesmen and clergymen. The population problem is approached from the various and varied points of view represented by these contributors, all of whom are distinguished representatives of their professions. The writers are largely agreed upon the major proposition that, at the present rate of population growth, there will be too many people on the earth within the lifetime of millions who are now living. For the most part, they agree that something should be done about it. As to what that something is or should be, there is not full agreement. Barring catastrophic war or pestilence, the prospects are for a world population of around six billion by the year 2,000; in 500 years there will be standing room only; in 5,000 years the mass of humanity will exceed the mass of the earth. Several essays are devoted to the depletion of natural resources and shortage of food supply. Already from one-third to one-half of the world's population are undernourished. They are also underhoused and have inadequate , if any, medical care. It is true that this is caused partially by the maldistribution of arable land and technical knowledge. It is also true, however, that if the present food supply were distributed equitably among the nations, there would still be a vast shortage with the result that practically everybody on the earth would be hungry. Some writers look optimistically at this aspect of the problem, some otherwise. As pointed out by one writer, with the population doubling every forty years, there will be 12 billion people to be fed in eighty years. He estimates that an adequate diet would require from eight to nine times the present world food supply. But food is only one aspect of the problem. What kind of a world will our grandchildren inherit, and what kind of lives will they lead a hundred years from now-a short period as history measures time? What kind of political systems will overcrowded nations adopt under the stresses of too many people? As nonproducers increase at both ends of the life span, how great will the burden be upon the producers in the middle? These …