Earlier this month, Anne Ehrlich, senior research scientist at Stanford University, and her husband Paul Ehrlich, the Bing Professor of Population Studies at the university, published an article in Proceedings of the Royal Society B that warned of a collapse of modern civilization. The Ehrlichs believe that overpopulation of the plant coupled with overconsumption by developed nations is putting tremendous stain on Earth’s natural systems.
In a post on his website, Britain’s Prince Charles, a known environmentalist, commented, “Paul and Anne Ehrlich’s report is a timely and urgent reminder of how the collapse of civilizations has, in the past, been caused by the degradation of Nature’s services, and how that process is now being repeated on a global scale. The services provided by Nature underpin all global economic development. … We do, in fact, have all the tools, assets and knowledge to avoid the collapse of which this report warns, but only if we act decisively now. … The alternative hardly bears thinking about.”
The Ehrlichs recommend a global effort to moderate birth rates to slow the rate of population increase. But they also say a major way to improve the outlook for the planet is to grant totally equality to women worldwide. Professor Paul Ehrlich states, “This will allow us to include more of their brainpower to help solve these problems. And studies have shown that when women are given full rights, they have fewer children, which will help slow birth rates.”
The article, “Can a Collapse of Global Civilization Be Avoided?,” will be published in the March 7 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B but is available online here.