During the 1970’s, Wally Smith’s opinion on the cause of many of the world’s problems was over population of us humans. “Just too many people!”, he would exclaim when issues such as farm land consumption and hungry nations came up.
Wildlife is generally tuned in to the availability of food. Birds will build a nest but if conditions are wrong and food is not plentiful they won’t raise a brood. When food is plentiful, coyotes will produce many pups, such as are the current conditions in Saskatchewan after the coyote cull in 2009/10 when 71000 of the animals were destroyed.
Of course there are exceptions to the rule, I expect the readers of this column to be able to cite many examples.
I know a woman who, after giving birth to nine children, said to her Roman Catholic husband, “no more, I do not want any more babies!” The Church did not allow birth control and she was not one to disobey Church rules but she knew when enough was enough.
During Pope Francis’ visit to the United Nations, he said, “a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity has allowed the powerful to ravage the Earth and exclude the weakest and most disadvantaged.” He goes on to mention how the poor have the right to lodging, labor, and land.
He is right in what he says but there is no mention of population growth leading to the destruction of the environment. Population growth has to go somewhere and it consumes as it spreads.