Jacobin
Anne Hendrixson
January 1, 2015
The emphasis on family planning as an environmental fix distracts us from more fundamental reforms.
Unfortunately, blaming environmental problems on population pressure is all too common, particularly among environmentalists. This thinking has a long tradition extending as far back as the late 1700s, when Thomas Malthus predicted that the rate of population growth would inevitably outpace food production. Malthus’s forecast was inaccurate, failing to anticipate technological innovation or the demographic transition to lower birth rates. But it did influence generations of environmental thinkers.
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