From George Wiman
An optimistic Jesse Ausubel tells us we are so clever that we will always figure out a way to beat Malthusian predictions of population catastrophe (26 September, p 38).
It has indeed worked so far, as exponential population growth smacks up against merely linear resource growth. In the end, though, he’s counting on us finding increasingly clever ways to balance on the branch that we’re sawing off. He may be right, of course. If so, perhaps we could all meet and discuss it one day over a nice plate of jellyfish with genetically engineered yeast sauce on the side. Delicious.
From Simon Dicker
Bob Holmes’s article on the effects of global warming paints a bleak picture of the Earth’s future, one in which, as researcher David Jablonski asserts, the weeds and the cockroaches will do well, and humans won’t (3 October, p 32). Holmes describes these species as able to exploit disturbed environments – but this is exactly what humans do too.
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As a species we are massively overusing our planet and I agree that mass starvation will occur, but evolution is about survival of the fittest. After we have wrecked the planet through global warming and overconsumption I think that the most war-loving humans will still be around in huge numbers, sharing Earth with the mosquitoes, cockroaches and Japanese knotweed.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
From Geoff Kirby
Paul and Anne Ehrlich begin their attack on population growth by drawing attention to the “increasing shortages of food, water and other resources and growing numbers of hungry people” (26 September, p 36).
However, the charts that close part one of your “Blueprint for a better world” series show that hunger, malnutrition, extreme poverty and child mortality have reduced since the early 1990s, and that food supply and access to clean water for drinking and sanitation have improved (12 September, p 30). GDP per capita is steadily rising even in sub-Saharan Africa, which is the benchmark for deprivation. Additionally, Bjørn Lomborg wrote in his book The Skeptical Environmentalist that the calories consumed per capita per day in the developing world have risen steadily since 1960.
What a shame that an otherwise interesting article should be based on such unfounded premises.
Weymouth, Dorset, UK
Normal, Illinois, US
