An Inconvenient, Overcrowded Truth Paul Ehrlich, co author of The Population Bomb

Today’s episode features Paul Ehrlich, co-author of The Population Bomb. This book, published in 1968, predicted that the earth’s growing population would soon surpass a sustainable number. Dangers of continued population growth, Ehrlich predicted, would lead to global pollution, famine, economic collapse, and exhaustion of resources such as food and water. Ehrlich argued that a growing population would threaten the existence of humanity as we knew it in 1968. Now that the global population has doubled since the book’s publishing, we revisit Ehrlich’s predictions and compare them to current events. In this episode, Ehrlich discusses what he believes to be the “optimal” amount of people that the earth may sustain, as well as the barriers we face in reaching that population. 

Listen in for a fascinating discussion on history, ethics, and the current trajectory of the human race.