Advertising-fueled overconsumption. Crushing poverty. Resource wars. Climate chaos and unraveling ecosystems. An energy sector madly trying to power growth using any means necessary—from splitting atoms to “fracking” shale to decapitating mountains in search of coal.
Every major problem facing humanity is exacerbated by a needlessly ballooning human population. So why is the explosive growth of the human family—more than sevenfold since the Industrial Revolution and still expanding rapidly—generally ignored by policy makers and the media? And why has the environmental movement chosen to be mostly silent about the fundamental driver of species loss and the destruction of wildlife habitats around the globe? Isn’t it time to start speaking out about the equation that matters most to the future of people and the planet?