Paul R. Ehrlich

For other people named Paul Ehrlich, see Paul Ehrlich (disambiguation).
Paul R. Ehrlich
Ehrlich in 1974
Born
Paul Ralph Ehrlich

(1932-05-29) May 29, 1932 (age 92)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education
Known forThe Population Bomb (1968)
Simon–Ehrlich wager
Spouse
​
(m. 1954)​
Children1
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsStanford University
ThesisThe Morphology, Phylogeny and Higher Classification of the Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) (1957)
Doctoral advisorC. D. Michener

Paul Ralph Ehrlich (born May 29, 1932) is an American biologist known for his predictions and warnings about the consequences of population growth, including famine and resource depletion.[2][3][4][5] Ehrlich is the Bing Professor Emeritus of Population Studies of the Department of Biology of Stanford University.

Ehrlich became well known for the controversial 1968 book The Population Bomb, which he co-authored with his wife Anne H. Ehrlich, in which they famously stated that "[i]n the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now."[6][7] Among the solutions suggested in that book was population control, including "various forms of coercion" such as eliminating "tax benefits for having additional children".[2]

Scholars, journalists and public intellectuals have mixed views on Ehrlich's assertions on the dangers of expanding human populations.[8] While Paul A. Murtaugh, associate professor of statistics at Oregon State University, says that Ehrlich was largely correct,[9] Ehrlich has been criticized for his approach and views, both for their pessimistic outlook and, later on, for the repeated failure of his predictions to come true. In response to Ehrlich's assertion that all major marine wildlife would die by 1980, Ronald Bailey termed Ehrlich an "irrepressible doomster".[10] Ehrlich has acknowledged that "some" of what he predicted has not occurred, but nevertheless maintains that his predictions about disease and climate change were essentially correct and that human overpopulation is a major problem.[11] Whereas American journalist Jonathan V. Last has called The Population Bomb "one of the most spectacularly foolish books ever published",[12] journalist Fred Pearce argues that overconsumption is the real problem.[13]

  1. ^ Professor Paul R. Ehrlich ForMemRS, The Royal Society, retrieved September 26, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Haberman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Waters, Hannah (April 22, 2016). "Why Didn't the First Earth Day's Predictions Come True? It's Complicated". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved March 13, 2023.
  4. ^ Mieszkowski, Katharine (2008-09-17). "Do we need population control?". Salon.com. Retrieved 2012-09-27.
  5. ^ "The Population Bust: Demographic Decline and the End of Capitalism as We Know It". Foreign Affairs. September 2019. Ehrlich's prophecy, of course, proved wrong, for reasons that Bricker and Ibbitson elegantly chart in Empty Planet.
  6. ^ Leaders from the 1960s: A Biographical Sourcebook of American Activism. Greenwood Press, 1994. 1994. p. 318. ISBN 9780313274145.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference tierney1990 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Is Overpopulation a Legitimate Threat to Humanity and the Planet?". The New York Times. June 8, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
  9. ^ Murtaugh, Paul A. (June 8, 2015). "Paul Ehrlich's Population Bomb Argument Was Right". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2023. Ehrlich's argument that expanding human populations cannot be sustained on an Earth with finite carrying capacity is irrefutable and, indeed, almost tautological. The only uncertainty concerns the timing and severity of the rebalancing that must inevitably occur.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Reason was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference grist was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Last JV (2013) What to expect when no one's expecting, Encounter Books, New York, pp 7.
  13. ^ Pearce, Fred (June 8, 2015). "Overconsumption Is a Grave Threat to Humanity". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2023. Ehrlich was right, however, to point out that humanity's impact on the planet is a combination of three elements: our numbers, our consumption patterns and how we produce what we consume. So, because massive poverty and unmet demand for basic goods is a widespread problem in much of the poor world today, we still face a "consumption bomb" — our growing demands for both consumer goods and life necessities are responsible for runaway climate change and the depletion of soils, water and other essential planetary life-support systems.