Letters to the Editor
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Too much of a good thing
I remember seeing a "pyramid" with respect to the food chain: In nature, the top predators numbered the fewest, while the bottom of the food chain (i.e. one celled organisms) numbered the most. Therefore, you'll have fewer lions than gazelles. Soooo, along comes humans, clearly the top of the food chain, and we keep increasing our numbers (10,000 more humans every hour of every day, after you calculate births/deaths.) So, is it any wonder that we are throwing things off kilter? We're at almost 7 billion, and growing, and growing, and growing. And, no end in sight.
I decided at 10 years of age that there were too many people (that's when there were less than 4 billion humans on the planet), so I made the decision to never have kids, and have lived by it. But, why should I care? Why should I care that YOUR grandkids have a great world to live in? As long as people keep having more kids than replacement level fertility (2), too many other creatures that call Earth home are doomed. THIS IS A GROSS INJUSTICE. That's why I care, for all the non-humans who are screwed because of us.
Before I get blasted, consider this: I am on the losing end of every environmental argument. My wish that everyone will only have one child will NEVER happen. Species will go extinct long before their natural extinction would have occurred; land will continue to be paved over with strip malls and McDonalds. Elephants will still be poached for their ivory, and sharks will be killed for their fins. ANWR will eventually be drilled, and be trashed. The list is endless, and this poor planet is poorer because of my species. Richer in some respects, poorer in most.
The saddest part of this all is that we KNOW better. For all the good that humans can do, we as a whole choose to crap in our own nest. There can be too many of us, and we have passed that point.