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Life on the Brink: Environmentalists Confront Overpopulation
Life on the Brink aspires to reignite a robust discussion of population issues among environmentalists, environmental studies scholars, policymakers, and the general public. Some of the leading voices in the American environmental movement restate the case that population growth is a major force behind many of our most serious ecological problems, including global climate change, habitat loss and species extinctions, air and water pollution, and food and water scarcity. As we surpass seven billion world inhabitants, contributors argue that ending population growth worldwide and in the United States is a moral imperative that deserves renewed commitment.
Hailing from a range of disciplines and offering varied perspectives, these essays hold in common a commitment to sharing resources with other species and a willingness to consider what will be necessary to do so. In defense of nature and of a vibrant human future, contributors confront hard issues regarding contraception, abortion, immigration, and limits to growth that many environmentalists have become too timid or politically correct to address in recent years.
Ending population growth will not happen easily. Creating genuinely sustainable societies requires major change to economic systems and ethical values coupled with clear thinking and hard work. Life on the Brink is an invitation to join the discussion about the great work of building a better future.
Albert Bartlett, Joseph Bish, Lester Brown, Tom Butler, Philip Cafaro, Martha Campbell, William R. Catton Jr., Eileen Crist, Anne Ehrlich, Paul Ehrlich, Robert Engelman, Dave Foreman, Amy Gulick, Ronnie Hawkins, Leon Kolankiewicz, Richard Lamm, Jeffrey McKee, Stephanie Mills, Roderick Nash, Tim Palmer, Charmayne Palomba, William Ryerson, Winthrop Staples III, Captain Paul Watson, Don Weeden, George Wuerthner.
Hailing from a range of disciplines and offering varied perspectives, these essays hold in common a commitment to sharing resources with other species and a willingness to consider what will be necessary to do so. In defense of nature and of a vibrant human future, contributors confront hard issues regarding contraception, abortion, immigration, and limits to growth that many environmentalists have become too timid or politically correct to address in recent years.
Ending population growth will not happen easily. Creating genuinely sustainable societies requires major change to economic systems and ethical values coupled with clear thinking and hard work. Life on the Brink is an invitation to join the discussion about the great work of building a better future.
Albert Bartlett, Joseph Bish, Lester Brown, Tom Butler, Philip Cafaro, Martha Campbell, William R. Catton Jr., Eileen Crist, Anne Ehrlich, Paul Ehrlich, Robert Engelman, Dave Foreman, Amy Gulick, Ronnie Hawkins, Leon Kolankiewicz, Richard Lamm, Jeffrey McKee, Stephanie Mills, Roderick Nash, Tim Palmer, Charmayne Palomba, William Ryerson, Winthrop Staples III, Captain Paul Watson, Don Weeden, George Wuerthner.
352 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2012
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180 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 31, 2015
Applause for the thinking behind this collection of academics, activists, and other expert voices. As an anthology, unevenness in the contributions and varying degrees of effectiveness are inevitable, but taken holistically, there is much to admire. There are bothersome blind spots, there are essays that are less convincing than others, and there are essays that make only a passing mention of environmental protection thus feel like they were included solely to diversify the book. To be fair, confronting overpopulation needs an interdisciplinary approach that addresses social, ethical, cultural, political, religious, scientific, and economic factors.
What is grimly clear is that those of us who see human overpopulation as the single biggest threat to the planet have lost too much ground since the 80s and 90s. The public enjoys a false sense of security thanks to pseudoscience about declining fertility rates and rising contraceptive prevalence, red-herring arguments that overconsumption or population distribution is the real problem, and outright denial by people addicted to breeding. With some climate scientists now predicting this big blue marble will likely be unlivable by 2050, I don’t see any happy endings in store for the new people we keep making, and there are never happy endings for nonhuman animals, as 60 billion land animals alone killed each year just for food. The solutions, even those from these accomplished essay writers, feel feeble.
At least a passing interest in overpopulation and/or environmentalism would be necessary for appreciating this book. I adhere to a philosophy of voluntary human extinction, so I’m already in the choir. For more see vhemt.org.
What is grimly clear is that those of us who see human overpopulation as the single biggest threat to the planet have lost too much ground since the 80s and 90s. The public enjoys a false sense of security thanks to pseudoscience about declining fertility rates and rising contraceptive prevalence, red-herring arguments that overconsumption or population distribution is the real problem, and outright denial by people addicted to breeding. With some climate scientists now predicting this big blue marble will likely be unlivable by 2050, I don’t see any happy endings in store for the new people we keep making, and there are never happy endings for nonhuman animals, as 60 billion land animals alone killed each year just for food. The solutions, even those from these accomplished essay writers, feel feeble.
At least a passing interest in overpopulation and/or environmentalism would be necessary for appreciating this book. I adhere to a philosophy of voluntary human extinction, so I’m already in the choir. For more see vhemt.org.
February 6, 2013
This anthology's authors include some I've known about for years--Paul Ehrlich, Dave Foreman, George Wuerthner, Stephanie Mills, Paul Watson, Richard Lamm--and others I was reading for the first time. Overpopulation, as a critical factor leading us down the road to planetary catastrophe, is so little talked about that one can easily think one's own concern about it is exaggerated. Thus I felt supported to read that leading activists agree: it is essential that overpopulation be racheted up substantially in public discourse. From these essays, I learned six reasons why it is not more talked about, what the role of immigration in U.S. population has been, more about the terrible impacts on wildlife, and what are the most effective techniques in getting people to reduce family size (contraceptive availability alone won't do it; however, surprising results have been achieved by incorporating in popular television shows characters who convey approval for having fewer children). A variety of ideas for greater awareness are put forward, e.g. Stephanie Mills' comment: "It would be marvelous if eco-centric men would organize 'snip-ins'--mass vasectomy festivals. . ."
With so many stellar contributors, this anthology is a feast of inspiration and information to ponder. We can all be grateful for the many people who are choosing not to reproduce; as Dave Foreman phrases it, "Have you thanked a non-breeder today?"
With so many stellar contributors, this anthology is a feast of inspiration and information to ponder. We can all be grateful for the many people who are choosing not to reproduce; as Dave Foreman phrases it, "Have you thanked a non-breeder today?"
August 25, 2016
"Life on the Brink" is a rich, timely, and comprehensive resource for understanding and acting on the immense and pressing threat of human overpopulation. Essays from leading conservationists, environmental philosophers, anthropologists, and others highlight the reasons for population growth, why little is currently being done to address the growth, and the current and future consequences of human numbers continuing to rise unchecked.
While some of the major facts and arguments presented in the anthology are repetitive (probably due to essays being submitted independently), the repetition underscores the seriousness of the challenges and lays the foundation for action.
Here are two passages to illustrate the general tone:
"Making parenthood a limited right could be the only humane solution in a world with ever-expanding human populations and rapidly diminishing resources. A finite resource base cannot sustain unrestricted growth- that is a basic law of ecology and cannot be changed to suit human desires" (Watson, 136).
"The dominant culture (pardon the repetition: including the Left) is so myopically centered on human affairs that Earth has become merely a stage for humanity's dramas. Human supremacy has ensconced widespread indifference toward the plight of nonhumans and their homes; it ignores, and keeps itself ignorant of, their reproductive rights, as individual and as species...Our conceit has made us so imagination-poor that we cannot fathom that future people, disabused perhaps of our own species-small-mindedness, will desire to live in a world rich in kinds of beings and kinds of places" (Crist, 150).
Like any good anthology, the essays function together to build a dense web of information, each looking at the issue of human overpopulation from a slightly different viewpoint, while reinforcing the core message.
The message is urgent: overpopulation and overconsumption, the effects of which are already being felt and will continue to grow, are very likely to result in immense and unprecedented levels of suffering, vast losses of species and lands (the sixth extinction), and an increasingly bleak and empty world in which humans are left to face only ourselves and our endless desires, having suffocated everything else. It's not a pleasant picture.
And yet, as many of the essays highlight, the issue of overpopulation seems to be one few people are acutely aware of, and one that has been given very little recent attention, both in terms of media coverage and within major environmental organizations and public policies.
Example of this are the mostly cursory, or non-existent, coverage of the issue in popular media (a recent New York Time piece "Room for Debate: Is Overpopulation a Legitimate Threat to Humanity and the Planet?" (June 2015), received fewer than 100 comments, in comparison to the thousands of comments that frequently pour in on topics such as the latest presidential election news), and the fact that tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year on a variety of "counter-terrorism" measures while US expenditures on global family planning continue to be just of fraction of the total budget (about $608 million in 2016).
This is why anthologies such as "Life on the Brink" are crucial, despite the seeming low level of readership. We must increase awareness and act. Eventually, when cities are overflowing, water is running out, species are disappearing at ever-faster rates, and global conflicts, mass migrations, and disease are more prevalent than ever before, we will all have to heed the message that is so clearly and persuasively being put forward in these essay, and by then it will probably be too late. I only hope we can all wake-up sooner, rather than later, for the sake of all beings alive today, and for all those to come.
While some of the major facts and arguments presented in the anthology are repetitive (probably due to essays being submitted independently), the repetition underscores the seriousness of the challenges and lays the foundation for action.
Here are two passages to illustrate the general tone:
"Making parenthood a limited right could be the only humane solution in a world with ever-expanding human populations and rapidly diminishing resources. A finite resource base cannot sustain unrestricted growth- that is a basic law of ecology and cannot be changed to suit human desires" (Watson, 136).
"The dominant culture (pardon the repetition: including the Left) is so myopically centered on human affairs that Earth has become merely a stage for humanity's dramas. Human supremacy has ensconced widespread indifference toward the plight of nonhumans and their homes; it ignores, and keeps itself ignorant of, their reproductive rights, as individual and as species...Our conceit has made us so imagination-poor that we cannot fathom that future people, disabused perhaps of our own species-small-mindedness, will desire to live in a world rich in kinds of beings and kinds of places" (Crist, 150).
Like any good anthology, the essays function together to build a dense web of information, each looking at the issue of human overpopulation from a slightly different viewpoint, while reinforcing the core message.
The message is urgent: overpopulation and overconsumption, the effects of which are already being felt and will continue to grow, are very likely to result in immense and unprecedented levels of suffering, vast losses of species and lands (the sixth extinction), and an increasingly bleak and empty world in which humans are left to face only ourselves and our endless desires, having suffocated everything else. It's not a pleasant picture.
And yet, as many of the essays highlight, the issue of overpopulation seems to be one few people are acutely aware of, and one that has been given very little recent attention, both in terms of media coverage and within major environmental organizations and public policies.
Example of this are the mostly cursory, or non-existent, coverage of the issue in popular media (a recent New York Time piece "Room for Debate: Is Overpopulation a Legitimate Threat to Humanity and the Planet?" (June 2015), received fewer than 100 comments, in comparison to the thousands of comments that frequently pour in on topics such as the latest presidential election news), and the fact that tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year on a variety of "counter-terrorism" measures while US expenditures on global family planning continue to be just of fraction of the total budget (about $608 million in 2016).
This is why anthologies such as "Life on the Brink" are crucial, despite the seeming low level of readership. We must increase awareness and act. Eventually, when cities are overflowing, water is running out, species are disappearing at ever-faster rates, and global conflicts, mass migrations, and disease are more prevalent than ever before, we will all have to heed the message that is so clearly and persuasively being put forward in these essay, and by then it will probably be too late. I only hope we can all wake-up sooner, rather than later, for the sake of all beings alive today, and for all those to come.
August 13, 2021
3.897 estrellas porque mamador.
Bastante bien, por momentos algo repetitivo porque la mayoría de los colaboradores abordan los mismos temas. Y ese último capítulo "Island Civilization", ugh.
Bastante bien, por momentos algo repetitivo porque la mayoría de los colaboradores abordan los mismos temas. Y ese último capítulo "Island Civilization", ugh.
June 14, 2013
Everyone should read this and be educated on these extremely important issues that aren't readily discussed in our society today. This book was highly aligned with my worldview.
August 16, 2019
Three stars! Yes: it was a mistake to stop talking about population control. Yes: we must start taking about it again.
The approach being advocated to immigration is deeply flawed both morally and practicably. It is morally flawed in that it seems to be based on the assumption that an immigrant in America will consume significantly more than if they had not emigrated from a poorer country. This assumption buys into current unjustifiable levels of global inequity with the rationale that it is simply too hard (how convenient!) to get Americans to consume much less.
It is impracticable in that the developing world shows no sign of being willing to remain in a state of immiseration so that Americans can consume while "protecting" the environment. It bears emphasizing that such "noble efforts" as restricting the destruction of rain forests amount to efforts to keep the undeveloped world undeveloped--and poor--as we continue to enjoy are developed lifestyles.
The goal must be to stabilize and reduce global population levels, while working towards greater equity. I have a hard time defending the practicability of this approach, but at least it is just and hence somewhat more practicable in that there is some motivation for the developing world to cooperate.
There is a great role here for organizations such as Planned Parenthood, whose daily efforts (particularly promulgation of LARC) achieve better outcomes for children and adults. If only organizations such as Planned Parenthood would base more (any?) of their advertising on how much they do for society, rather than solely harping on abortion rights.
The argument for a species right to exist, rests in part on a supposed species right to exist purportedly created by the Endangered Species Act. This is particularly poignant since during the time I was reading this book:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Breaking News Alert
August 12, 2019
NYTimes.com »
BREAKING NEWS
The Trump administration announced plans to significantly weaken the Endangered Species Act, the nation’s bedrock conservation law.
Monday, August 12, 2019 11:09 AM EST
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#lab...
The Trump administration said that it would change the way the Endangered Species Act is applied, significantly weakening the nation’s bedrock conservation law.
The changes could clear the way for new mining, oil and gas drilling and development in areas where protected species live.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The suggestion that granting a species right to exist will impose only a bearable burden on people rings hollow in a book whose immigration argument rests on an implicit assumption that the wealthy developed world is not going to accept meaningful restrictions on its consumption. Rather we will attempt to keep the developing world from destroying its (rain) forests as we have destroyed our (temperate) forests.
p. 92. Are African mammals not domesticatable because hunting--over time--developed there?
"Suppose such policies aimed at allowing all women and girls to prevent all unwanted pregnancies and conceive only when they themselves want to bear a child" (226). LARC! Planned Parenthood! "Trusting Women to End Growth," by Robert Engelman is a terrific advertisement for Planned Parenthood. Lamentably our purblind, selfish, ineffectual leadership can not find their way to this message.
"The insider's view is that a politically astute feminist and social justice lobby successfully undermined the old-guard populationists by rendering 'population control's politically incorrect" (256).
"It was a successful lifestyle that weathered just as severe climate changes as the one that scares us now" (310).
Regarding the last essay, yes humanity is a cancer on the planet.
The approach being advocated to immigration is deeply flawed both morally and practicably. It is morally flawed in that it seems to be based on the assumption that an immigrant in America will consume significantly more than if they had not emigrated from a poorer country. This assumption buys into current unjustifiable levels of global inequity with the rationale that it is simply too hard (how convenient!) to get Americans to consume much less.
It is impracticable in that the developing world shows no sign of being willing to remain in a state of immiseration so that Americans can consume while "protecting" the environment. It bears emphasizing that such "noble efforts" as restricting the destruction of rain forests amount to efforts to keep the undeveloped world undeveloped--and poor--as we continue to enjoy are developed lifestyles.
The goal must be to stabilize and reduce global population levels, while working towards greater equity. I have a hard time defending the practicability of this approach, but at least it is just and hence somewhat more practicable in that there is some motivation for the developing world to cooperate.
There is a great role here for organizations such as Planned Parenthood, whose daily efforts (particularly promulgation of LARC) achieve better outcomes for children and adults. If only organizations such as Planned Parenthood would base more (any?) of their advertising on how much they do for society, rather than solely harping on abortion rights.
The argument for a species right to exist, rests in part on a supposed species right to exist purportedly created by the Endangered Species Act. This is particularly poignant since during the time I was reading this book:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Breaking News Alert
August 12, 2019
NYTimes.com »
BREAKING NEWS
The Trump administration announced plans to significantly weaken the Endangered Species Act, the nation’s bedrock conservation law.
Monday, August 12, 2019 11:09 AM EST
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#lab...
The Trump administration said that it would change the way the Endangered Species Act is applied, significantly weakening the nation’s bedrock conservation law.
The changes could clear the way for new mining, oil and gas drilling and development in areas where protected species live.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The suggestion that granting a species right to exist will impose only a bearable burden on people rings hollow in a book whose immigration argument rests on an implicit assumption that the wealthy developed world is not going to accept meaningful restrictions on its consumption. Rather we will attempt to keep the developing world from destroying its (rain) forests as we have destroyed our (temperate) forests.
p. 92. Are African mammals not domesticatable because hunting--over time--developed there?
"Suppose such policies aimed at allowing all women and girls to prevent all unwanted pregnancies and conceive only when they themselves want to bear a child" (226). LARC! Planned Parenthood! "Trusting Women to End Growth," by Robert Engelman is a terrific advertisement for Planned Parenthood. Lamentably our purblind, selfish, ineffectual leadership can not find their way to this message.
"The insider's view is that a politically astute feminist and social justice lobby successfully undermined the old-guard populationists by rendering 'population control's politically incorrect" (256).
"It was a successful lifestyle that weathered just as severe climate changes as the one that scares us now" (310).
Regarding the last essay, yes humanity is a cancer on the planet.
Read
October 26, 2019This book is a comprehensive set of essays on the anthropocentrism of humans and how the environmental movement has moved away from discussions on overpopulation. The central question addressed in these essays is what type of world we want to live in. If we want a world with other life forms other than humans, it is imperative that we stabilize population and economic growth. This is a book that everyone who values nature should read.
October 23, 2018
very good book.
October 2, 2020
Love it awesome book
October 5, 2020
One of the most important books ever written. Highest possible recommendation.
February 17, 2025
Excellent just pleasant and satisfactory
February 14, 2017
A highly resourceful book. Using several author's advised literature and bibliography to adquire the best material so I can write my master's dissertation on Overpopulation.
THank you for you work.
THank you for you work.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews