I find Malthus' theory of population growth to be extremely useful because it sheds light on the connection between population growth and the food supply on our planet. In better words, Malthus's theory does a great job at explaining how the population is growing exponentially and the food supply can not grow with it. Seeing that I do agree with Malthus's theory on population growth, I also agree with Paul Ehrlich's neo-malthusian beliefs rather than Julian Simon's beliefs. However, I do believe that some of Ehrlich's beleifs can be a bit much, because he is somewhat of a radical with his beliefs. For instance, in the book The Bet, Paul Sabin explains Ehrlich's belief on pushing sterilization through water supplies or vasectomies which I believe is taking it a little bit to far. On the other hand, I do agree with Ehrlich's minimalist beliefs on not using more than is necessary.
Citation: Sabin, P. (2013). The bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and our gamble over Earth's future. Yale University Press.
Citation: Sabin, P. (2013). The bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and our gamble over Earth's future. Yale University Press.
Good comments! I think this class is a great place to help you identify ways to describe your position on environment-society issues. You can speak with others in the field and say you mostly ascribe to the work of Ehrlich, or the bioethicist Travis Reider.
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