STOPPING THE EXPLOSION IN THE HUMAN POPULATION

... In terms of food production—with grains fed to people instead of cows and pigs—a strictly vegetarian, or even a partially vegetarian world would be able to feed people better. Animal herding contributes to desertification. Lands equally dry are strikingly different when there are no domesticated animals grazing on them. ...

Growing crops to feed animals causes soil erosion. Cattle trample areas near streams and wells, as they travel there to drink, causing erosion and crop destruction. Certain domesticated animals kill trees. Some eat new saplings and thus prevent trees from growing after humans have cut them down for firewood and construction. Often a poor and hungry country must export the animal protein it produces to service foreign debt. Animal domestication enriches a few but impoverishes the majority. ...

A CLEAR CONNECTION BETWEEN DIET AND POPULATION GROWTH

... While contraceptive education is the primary and immediate technique for reigning in population growth, dietary change could work to the same end. ...

First, if ample food were available at reasonable prices, people would be freed from their desperate quest for food. They would have more time and energy to perform productive labor or obtain education—including education about family planning. Population stabilization correlates directly with the educational level of women.

Second, radical reductions in animal husbandry reduce erosion and generally increase soil fertility. In poor agricultural countries, people will generally be more prosperous when land is more fertile. And prosperous people are more secure economically. People who are economically secure will be feel more secure that most of their children will survive, and so they will be more willing to limit the number of children they bear. ...

Third vegetarian girls enter puberty several years later than other girls. Fourth, vegetarian women enter menopause several years earlier than other women. Fifth, there are indications that women who eat a low-fat diet remain relatively infertile for significant periods of time following childbirth, whereas a high-fat diet enhances fertility.

For all these reasons, vegetarian women experience lower average fertility level over the course of their lives. A small change in fertility can result in a small percentage change in population growth, which will result in a big difference in total population over a long period of time. ...

STOPPING THE EXPLOSION IN THE FACTORY FARM ANIMAL POPULATION

There are two population explosions. The first is the explosion in the number of human; the second is the explosion in the number of domesticated food animals, most of these animals spending part or all of their lives in factory farms. There are 15 billion such animals, without counting fish raised in fish farms. Of this 15 billion, around four billion are large animals such as cows and pigs, which produce five to ten times as much manure per capita as humans. ...

TAKING CONSCIOUS CONTROL OF THE HUMAN POPULATION

Most people are only vaguely aware of population issues. No president or surgeon general has ever addressed the nation on the subject. Neither major political party, neither "Republicrat" nor "Democan" - tweedle-dum and tweedle-dumber on this issue - has made population control a campaign issue. This is nothing less than an outrage against environmental reality. ...

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