summary and response

Summary

1. Author: Mary Ellen Harte and Anne Ehrlich

2. Title: Crowd Control? Unsustainable Population Growth Trumps All of Our Other Problems

3. Source: Time: Los Angeles Times, Op-ed article

4. Topic: Attention to stopping population growth

The article “Crowd control? Unsustainable population growth trumps all our other problems” was published in the Los Angeles Times written by Ellen Harte, Anne Ehrlich on July 21, 2011. It suggested that we live in an information-drenched environment and on many occasions, people talk mostly about comforting subjects and they tend to avoid factors that are threatening humanity's future. Climate change and overpopulation are the two factors that are threatening humanity's future. On the other hand, video games, movies, economical issues among others are the comforting issues that people like to talk about to divert our attention from increasingly real long-term problems. Overpopulation is the root of social problems like poverty, shortened live through an unwanted pregnancy, severe environmental change among others.

Response

After reading this article, I agree with Mary Ellen Harte and Anne Ehrlich, “We can do many things to solve environmental, economic and social problems, but each is a lost cause if we cannot bring our populations down to sustainable levels.” Overpopulation is the root of the all problem people are facing today. I think a lack of sex education or poorly-implemented education has led to overpopulation issues in many countries, particularly in poorer areas of the world. Therefore, better education will help people understand more about the potential consequences of having sex as they relate to childbirth. Overpopulation is a crisis that potentially stands alongside climate change as one of the biggest challenges facing humanity today. Although the problem will not be solved soon, we can still raise people's awareness and pass the information to the public to solve the problem as a whole.