Free Abstract

There was no motivation to go outside this morning. It was dark and rainy.  We took the warnings to stay off the roads seriously and hunkered down with a knitting project I'd forgotten about (me) and the income taxes (John). My picture today is of a little dried hydrangea blossom in a pot on the kitchen windowsill. Thanks to Ingeborg for continuing this challenge into the new year.

 While I knitted, I listened to a podcast debunking Stanford professor Paul Erlich's dire predictions of the 'mass extinction of humanity' in his book The Population Bomb published in 1968. The book led to controversy, discussion and eventually the 'zero population growth' movement. In 1969 I was pregnant with our third child and a neighbor asked me at a party, 'How come every time I see you, you're pregnant?' I got a lot of that at the time. The podcast suggested that  Ehrlich should have said 'too many poor people' rather than 'too many people' for that is what he really meant. There were suggestions of genocide, immigration control  and some other ludicrous 'solutions'. Paul Ehrlich is now 90 years old, and despite the fact that many of his claims have been disproven, he clings to his theory. In 2022 he wrote a paper entitled "Circling the drain: the extinction crisis and the future of humanity."

I don't argue that the population is growing at an alarming rate (although not nearly at the rates he predicted) but I remember thinking his suggestions for population control missed the point. I believe income inequality remains the root of the problem. 

For the last two mornings we have gotten unsolicited telephone calls before 7am. This morning it was 6:20. Tonight I'm unplugging the phone.
 We're supposed to have a break in the rain tomorrow before it starts again on Saturday.