Man's numbers placing demand on resources

Earth’s cache of energy resources are limited, with the exception of wind and solar. I doubt if the powers that be imagined that mankind would be imbecilic enough to overpopulate the planet to the point of her present inevitable demise. My question would be: Do the yet to be conceived have the same right to life?

Human population began to surpass the planet’s ability to comfortably accommodate us back in 1975. A woman in Canada just gave birth to her 18th child. What’s up with that? In bygone times large families were necessary because the mortality rates were high and family was labor.

Now we have become proficient at keeping everyone going strong into their 80s and beyond. That’s a good thing, except we keep making more babies, thus the problem. Nowadays computers and robots continue to eliminate the need for many jobs that required additional people. All of our woes that we grapple with today are solely caused by overpopulation.

There are solutions. If you thrive on lots of children, have a couple of your own and adopt the rest. There are millions of children out there who need good homes. Be aware of what the future holds and ask yourself if you want your newborn to grow up in our future environment. Exercise planned parenthood.

More babies were born in 2007 in the U.S. than at any other time in our nation’s history. Apparently we embrace today and not the future. We see fit to control overpopulation within our animal kingdom, of which we belong, but we exclude ourselves. How shortsighted is that?

LAURIE WADKINS

Priest River