At 08:50 AM 5/13/97 -0400, you wrote: >Hi David, > >Going over to South America, contraceptions are a 'no-no' on religious >grounds. I don't mean abortion here. David, I understand & respect your >views. But finding solutions to the problems will be an uphill battle. >I've read about the Food Summit at FAO. The solution seems nothing short >of a nuclear winter. But I'm willing to hear you out & work at it too. > >God bless. > >Nelson Wong >MTC > Dear Nelson: Thanks for your comments. I agree that the problem is an uphill battle. However, a journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step. If I can get just one other forester to Join ZPG or some other organization that promotes education regarding population concerns, we will be taking one step together! Education is the key! It would really be great if all the foresters on this newslist of 900 would contribute $25/year (membership fee) to ZPG. Although this would only be a drop in the bucket, it would show we are truly concerned about reducing the consumption of the world's future resources! As you can see by the posting of Daniel, Kjell, and Edilberto, some on this list believe that ZPG for developed countries would be a step in the right direction regarding the rate of CO2 increase. While I agree that concerns about population growth are world-wide, I do not believe it should be limited only to developing countries. Personally, I feel very uncomfortable telling those in other countries not to cut down their trees or to have only 2 children per couple (especially since those of us in developed countries cut down our trees during the last century and both sets of my grandparents had more than 2 children). Just as I believe that sustainable management of forests is an ethical choice (and can be achieved without government intervention) I also believe that sustainable management of human population can be an ethical choice and can be achieved without government intervention. Since you mentioned India, I have to mention Kerala. In Kerala, the ethic now is to have only two children per couple. Some people in Kerala are embarrassed to say if they have more than two children. Again, the key here is education. To repeat the success story of Kerala requires an effort to increase the literacy rate in developing countries. Due to high literacy and adopting a population ethic, I think Kerala will be a better place to live in the year 2050. Please review the web page: http://www.utne.com/lens/cs/15cskerala.html Especially the two paragraphs that begin "Kerala--and a scattered collection of other spots around the world, now drawing new attention...." "The two-child family is the social norm here now," said M.N. Sivaram,..." The Enigma of Kerala One state in India is proving development experts wrong by Bill McKibben David South School of Forestry Auburn University, AL 36849-5418 dsouth@forestry.auburn.edu 334-844-1022 334-844-1084 (FAX) As always, views expressed here are my own (and I am not speaking on the behalf of others). I use only 100% post-consumer paper in my home printer. (discarded used office paper printed on one side) http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/coops/sfnmc/sfnmc.html ========================================================================= The world population is expected to double by the year 2100. Therefore the annual demand for wood for energy (etc.) will increase and might double (to more than 7 billion m3/yr). To provide plantation wood for people in the future, support the planting of trees on pastureland. Set a goal of converting 8 million ha of pastureland/yr for the next 55 years. This would increase tree plantations to about 5% of the world's landbase. ========================================================================= Support Zero Population Growth for the United States http://www.igc.apc.org/zpg/index.html
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