Global warming isn't planet's real problem

All this talk about global warming is using the art of misdirection to avoid a far more inconvenient truth. Whether you're talking about global warming, rain forest depletion, the likelihood of an epidemic of epic proportions, traffic jams, etc. — the most significant driving force is overpopulation.

We address all the problems of overpopulation like we addressed the need for food. We fertilize the ground and irrigate.

Now, we have the problem of low nutrition food because the soil is depleted of many minerals and trace elements. And we have an ever-lowering water table. We keep the faith that we can get out of our hole by digging deeper. It's just like the folks who transfer balances from one credit card to another and open new accounts, confident that they can stay ahead of disaster.

Besides the ever-increasing population, we seem to be hell bent on spreading technology around the world, thus enabling others to become more like us—super consumers.

If population continues to climb, then no matter what measures you take, we are in for a day of reckoning. To date China is the only country to face the problem and it's a nasty one. Global warming is more of a symptom or a metric.

This poor old planet, how much carrying capacity does it have left? When it gets sick we get sick. When it dies we die.

B. RAMMLER

Sandpoint