97: The Wit and Wisdom of Paul Ehrlich
Continuing our tribute to the late Paul Ehrlich, we discuss the critiques and praise that followed news of his passing, and we share a VERY candid – and charming – “uncensored” 2020 Earth Day conversation. Paul points out a flaw on the cover of The Population Bomb. Can you guess what it is? Listen to find out.
In our prelude and epilogue, we discuss his acerbic wit – was it helpful or did it hurt the cause of overshoot literacy? One fact is certain: Paul wasn’t boring. What if thousands of scientists around the world spoke with Ehrlich’s level of candor about the state of the world, and how tenuous our future really is as we continue deeper and deeper into overshoot? Plus, learn some interesting details about his relationship with Johnny Carson and NBC, failures of the university system, the relationship between population and pandemics, comparative advantage, and the vulnerability of our food system.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
GrowthBusters Earth Day Film Festival
Paul Ehrlich – Uncensored on Earth Day 50th Anniversary – Episode 43 of the GrowthBusters podcast
Paul Ehrlich on The Limits to Growth – Episode 70 of the GrowthBusters podcast
Paul Ehrlich (1932-2026): Behaving Against Our Interests – Episode96 of the GrowthBusters podcast
Paul Ehrlich, a Scientific/Environmental/Cultural Iconoclast (1932-2026) – by Dave Gardner on Substack
Goodbye Paul Ehrlich – The Overpopulation Project
The Vindication of a Public Scholar – by Tom Turner
Did Paul Ehrlich Help or Hurt His Cause? – by Joshua Spodek
The Wisest One in the Room – by Thomas Gilovich and Lee Ross
Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment – by Paul R. Ehrlich, John P. Holdren and Anne H. Ehrlich
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The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones.
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described “energy nerd,” Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
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Tags: overpopulation, overshoot
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Alan Ditmore
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Soylent Green? Silent Running?
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Alan Ditmore
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Abortion rights, as on the Golan Heights, are the only reason to support Greater Israel; not history.
City abortion funding saves city school tax without answering to rural or suburban voters. Think globally. Act Locally, like the World Council of Mayors. .
Abortion banners get bombed by Donnie and not by coincidence. Venezuela, Gaza, Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria and Iran all ban abortions. So he will not bomb Greenland, Colombia or Cuba because they have abortion rights. Donnie’s pretty good at bombing abortion banners for a guy that claims to be one.
Abortion rights are not at stake in Ukraine or Taiwan, so divert all weapons to Greater Israel, where abortion rights are at stake. Abortion rights for the Philippines, as in Tibet, after carrier Lincoln abandonment. And abortion rights for Poland as in Donetsk.
Only abortion rights are worth war, nothing else.
Abortion banning populations were reduced by the Iraq war even if it failed to bring abortion rights to Iraq.
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Alan Ditmore
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I don’t quite get why my comments show up on this page when I left them on the film fest page, but oh, well. I guess it saves me pasting my Zionist comment onto this one.
Childfree people like me see some hypocrisy in overpopulation activist parents like both of you in not having children for the sake of your children, that is unless existance is a curse, which is the basis of efilism and most of Antinatalism. They even reacted with some hostility to my environmentalist arguments, insisting that their curse of existance arguments, applicable to all life, not just humans so that Pandas need birth control too, should be exclusive.
I think my shirt “ABORTIONS SAVE SCHOOL TAX” is the best because school tax is local in the US, paid by neighbors, and opposing taxes makes us less partisan. Except right now we have have a big opportunity to bring abortion rights to Lebanon and Gaza, the land if not the women, who might still lack abortion rights after displacement. But the land is worth something.
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Alan Ditmore
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Don’t COVID masks aggravate overpopulation?
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Alan Ditmore
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Wouldn’t Donnie’s tariffs localize food and respirator production pretty much like Paul is suggesting?
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Alan Ditmore
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Where are the paid agents and lobbyists of the contraception industry anyway? I think diversified into pediatrics the way Johnson & Johnson bought Ortho McNeil and made it a division.
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Alan Ditmore
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Amazing you mentioned several other comedian activists before Overpopulation Zionist Bill Maher, who also has the advantage of being less partisan, like towns using abortion funding to save school tax. Maher is leading the movement right now as the true heir to Carson, not John Stewart.
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Alan Ditmore
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The primary behavior change you are going to see is not people driving less but people moving north, just like other animals, and the state of Florida real estate, especially with the Canadian snowbird sales on Guard The Leaf, is reflecting this, though some Canadians are buying in Mexico, hopefully in the Mexican abortion rights states. Donnie’s interest in Canada and Greenland constitutes acknowledgement too.
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Alan Ditmore
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Perhaps Paul was premature in his negative predictions because he failed to factor in his own influence, just as I have trouble calculating times such as ETA because I have trouble estimating the time it will take me to estimate the time, and at the time estimating time to my time estimate.
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Alan Ditmore
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As for a goal, I think an ideal, world, human population would all realistically be able to live in Hawaii.
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