Population Bomb: The Overpopulation Theory That Fell Flat

In the late 1960s, “The Population Bomb” by Paul Ehrlich spread fear that the earth would soon be unable to support an exploding global population.

Ehrlich, a professor of population studies at Stanford, pushed that dire message home in his book, on television, and in lecture halls across the country.

It quickly became a talking point for television news anchors, late night-talk show hosts and magazine writers. His supporters pushed for families to have fewer children, and touted the benefits of Z.P.G. – zero population growth.

Ehrlich himself was increasingly alarmed that untamed global population growth might destroy the planet within 15 years. He even talked about the need for compulsory methods of population control, like a tax on children and luxury taxes on diapers and cribs if all else failed.

Ehrlich’s belief that population was approaching the exhaustion of the food supply hit home in India, which launched a controversial sterilization program in the mid-1970s that affected 8 million people. But his dire predictions overlooked the so-called Green Revolution of the 1970s, when high-yield seeds, pesticides and better farm management triggered a boom in food production world-wide.

Over the decades, those advances have lessened hunger in India and across the developing world. As efficient farming has increased, the need for large families to run those farms has decreased as well.

There’s no doubt that Ehrlich raised awareness of the impact of population growth on the environment, but his story shows the danger of underestimating mankind’s ability to change.