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Quote by Paul R. Ehrlich

“I thought if the climate was heating that CO2 was the only forcing, and it would be late in the century before we had trouble. Now that we know about the other half of the forcing, it's obvious that the trouble is coming much sooner.”

Quote by Paul R. Ehrlich

Author

Paul R. Ehrlich

Paul R. Ehrlich is a renowned population biologist known for his research on population ecology and biodiversity. Born on May 29, 1932, he is an advocate for the issues of population explosion and biodiversity, authoring the influential book 'The Population Bomb.' His work has had a profound impact on global environmental issues. more

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“After The Bomb we developed a fairly good system for moving food around and have avoided the kind of massive famines that attract the media. Although of course we've had a fair number of them, particularly in Africa, since The Bomb was written. But we have had a steady level of attrition of malnutrition and malnutrition-related disease. Probably something on the order of 5 to 10 million people starve to death each year, but they're spread out; they're not dramatic news events.”

People Years Kind Moving Order Courses Levels Numbers Millions Written Media Events Disease News Fairs Spread Dramatic Related Bombs Massive Steady Avoided Famine Malnutrition Attrition

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“So, regarding the time frame, I'm only too willing to admit that my crystal ball, like everybody else's, is cracked. If I could predict precisely, I would have started predicting the stock market and would now be living with a bunch of young women on Bora Bora, having bought it.”

Ifs Young Willing Balls Bunch If I Could Young Women Crystals Cracked Predicting Crystal Ball Bora Bora

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“There's no question at all that the population explosion will come to an end. The two basic choices are it'll come to an end because we control our reproduction, and in many areas we have started to do so, or we'll end up with a high death rate. You have to take a personal moral stand on this.”

Two Ends Choices Moral Areas Rate Population Explosions Reproduction Population Explosion

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“We ought to take good care of everybody we have on the planet, but we ought to regulate the rate at which people join us. The old saying is, "It's the top of the ninth inning, and humanity has been hitting nature hard, but you've always got to remember that nature bats last."”

People Has Beens Hard Care Lasts Remember Humanity Planets Ought Rate Hitting Bats Old Saying

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“I'm sort of optimistic about what we could do, but I'm very pessimistic about what we will do. I can't tell you that Al Gore's 10-year plan is impossible. I'm old enough to remember the Second World War - if we had a World War II-type mobilization, we might accomplish Gore's plan. In 1940 we were making tens of thousands of automobiles, and in 1941 we were making tens of thousands of airplanes. We mobilized as a nation. If we get that kind of mobilization as a nation or globally, then we could solve a lot of these problems.”

“Recycling helps make people feel involved, and in some cases can be useful. Although you've got to do careful life history studies of what you're recycling. If all you're doing is recycling - if you've got three automobiles, and 10 children, and a 7,000-square-foot dot-com palace and second home up in the mountains that has to be heated - the recycling isn't making much difference.”

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Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“If we were redesigning around people instead of around automobiles, which I think the market is more or less going to do, although too slowly, than I'd be a lot cheerier.”

People Ifs Thinking Automobile

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“The drilling idea is spherically senseless - it's senseless from whatever point of view you look at it. It'd take 10 years to bring any oil online, and it would probably go to Japan. It sure wouldn't help gasoline prices here. All the economists say gasoline is still too cheap in the United States anyway. So here we're having this huge debate over offshore drilling that is just straightforward nonsense, which won't surprise you.”

“It turns out the population issue is an easier thing to deal with than the consumption issue. Some obvious extremes in consumption we can deal with. The standard cure for a stuttering economy is to go out and buy an SUV and three more refrigerators. That's obviously not the way to go.”

Way Turns Three Deals Economy Issues Easier Standards Population Obvious Extremes Cures Consumption Refrigerators Stuttering Suvs

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich

“We know that if you have $20 million, it's better to buy a van Gough print than it is buy an executive jet, from the point of view of the environment. But when you start getting down, it's like the recycling question: What are things we can really afford to do, and how much pleasure do we get out of them? We haven't even started to have that discussion, and it's getting awfully late.”

Ifs Knows Pleasure Views Millions Environment Havens Late Point Of View Discussion Executives Print Vans Jet Recycling

Author:Paul R. Ehrlich