Educated girls drop population
Johann Hari fails to mention the No. 1 predictor of declining birth rates in the majority of cultures: economic growth. In fact, it is the combination of economic improvement and education for girls that correlates best with a drop in population. Columbia historian Matthew Connelly has recently warned in a new book ("Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population") about neo-imperialist policies that call for imposed control mechanisms. Want to cut human stress on the global environment? Give people jobs and create norms to live more frugally.We could start by modeling that goal better in the United States.
Kathleen Braden
Professor of Geography
Seattle Pacific University
1 comment:
I agree about living more frugally. But a sustainable planet is also about trying to slow the growth in global population from 6bn now to 9bn and beyond by 2050. That means affordable, accessible and universal family planning, something that's lacking and would be welcomed across much of the developing world. See optimumpopulation.org for more about this.
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