The July 9 Columbian story reported, “Gates Foundation renews its focus on birth control.” Kudos to the Gates Foundation for rethinking the financing of birth control education. Human population has spiraled uncontrollably from 3.5 billion (1950s) to 7 billion (current). Populations within the natural world are kept in check but as intelligent and creative as humans are, we have managed to circumvent naturally occurring population “checks.” If we don’t voluntarily limit our own species, the day will come when Earth will be populated with trillions of humans. Certainly, we are headed in that direction.
What kind of Earth do we want to live on? One with wildlands and zoo-free wildlife or one with more and more humans consuming resources?
When I was a young woman, two children were considered the “right thing to do” if one cared about the planet. I am puzzled as to why there are women who consider a large family the key to happiness.
I don’t begrudge happy families; they are the foundations of our society. But truly, do they have to be large?
