Thursday, March 26, 2015

Science advisor

'John Paul Holdren (born March 1, 1944) is the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues through his roles as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)..

 

Overpopulation was an early concern and interest. In a 1969 article, Holdren and co-author Paul R. Ehrlich argued, "if the population control measures are not initiated immediately, and effectively, all the technology man can bring to bear will not fend off the misery to come."[28] In 1973, Holdren encouraged a decline in fertility to well below replacement in the United States, because "210 million now is too many and 280 million in 2040 is likely to be much too many."[29] In 1977, Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich, and Holdren co-authored the textbook Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment; they discussed the possible role of a wide variety of means to address overpopulation. These included some extreme measures, none of which Ehrlichs and Holdren advocated, such as forced sterilization, compulsory abortion, contraceptives in the food and water supply, reproductive licenses, and more.[20][30][31]

Other early publications include Energy (1971), Human Ecology (1973), Energy in Transition (1980), Earth and the Human Future (1986), Strategic Defenses and the Future of the Arms Race (1987), Building Global Security Through Cooperation (1990), and Conversion of Military R&D (1998).[22]'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holdren

​In my view, population growth is still a problem.  It may not be a doomsday scenario, but it does stretch resources.  High cost of housing, problems in the middle east, urban blight and shortages of water can be at least partially attributed to too many people living in specific areas.  Why do people concentrate in specific areas?   For economic and political reasons, but also because the population is larger and keeps growing.

Ask yourself at what point do we stop, or does the United States keep growing its population forever?  Do we stop at 500 million, or do we keep going to a billion

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people?  What will the country be like when we have 500 million or a billion people?

​People say that we have plenty of land, but the most desirable land is already taken.  Are we all going to be forced to live in apartments, like Al Gore wants, because there is no room?  Will we be forced to ride public transportation, like in New York, because the roads are too clogged with cars?  Will houses sell for $800,000 like in California?  All these seem like realistic scenarios. ​

​John Coffey​

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