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Back in the 1970s, Hayden's argument wouldn't have been surprising. That era, which saw the birth of the modern environmental movement (the first Earth Day was observed in 1970), was obsessed with the idea of global limits, that without drastic intervention, we were doomed to overpopulation. Books like Paul Erhlich's The Population Bomb warned that the Earth was reaching the end of its carrying capacity, and that within decades, hundreds of millions of people would starve to death. The only way to avoid this Malthusian fate was rigid population control, which many environmentalists were in favor...
Fast-forward 30 years, however, and the situation has changed. The mass famines that Erhlich and others prophesized never happened, and while population growth has continued - an estimated 6.8 billion people now live on Earth - and on the whole, the world is better off today than it has ever been. A Green Revolution helped a growing planet feed itself, while the forces of globalization helped lift hundreds of millions in the developing world out of poverty, even as population continued to rise. As the years passed, overpopulation has dropped from the vocabulary of most environmentalists, partially due to the controversies...
...developing world who want to use contraception, can't get it. "The funding for contraception aid has been stagnant for decades," says Engleman. "Americans need to influence their government to get behind this." If we don't, we may find out very soon just what the limits of the Earth are. It's not just feminism to support population control - it's environmentalism...
...group of visiting American experts. More than 75% of Tangshan's 916 multistory buildings, which were not built to withstand quakes, were flattened or severely damaged by the temblor; only four remained intact. In addition, 300 miles of railroad track were ruined; 231 highway bridges and 40 earth dams were damaged. So many underground pipes were twisted and broken that Tangshan's water supply system was disrupted for several months. Some of the mines were flooded, and thousands of workers were trapped in the shafts. Caltech's George W, Housner, a specialist in quakeproof engineering who headed...
...boat, the teacher asks where I come from. I tell him. He asks me whether in my country people can "say government bad." I say, yes, we can. He looks at me and shakes his head. Then the teacher makes another gesture. He points at the waterlogged earth and slashes a finger across his neck...