An open reply to Dick Bell:

About a month ago I posted an article by Lester Brown of Worldwatch, which made no
mention of population in an optimistic view towards the future. Dick Bell, VP of
Communications responded with this short note. I assume his dual usages of
"stabilizing population growth" (ZPG's recent contrivance to circumvent 'stopping
growth' -'Zero' *is* the first word of their name) and "stabilizing population"
(means something!) is as unintentional as he claims was the ommision of population
from the original article!

Also, I didn't claim there was a "lack of focus on population in the article", as Mr.
Bell indicates. I said there was "no mention" of the subject! Big difference, IMO.

I hereby apply to do critical reading for Worldwatch to help provide maximum clarity
and precision to their communications. Perhaps there is an editorial opening. ("We
appreciate having readers like you who are paying careful attention to what we
write.")

Steve Kurtz

> *************************
> Steve,
>
> I am responding to your comments about the importance of keeping population
> growth in the forefront of environmental planning. Worldwatch has focused on the
> critical importance of stabilizing population growth from its earliest days. In
> just a few weeks, we will be publishing a book with W.W.Norton, "Beyond Malthus:
> 19 Dimensions of the Population Challenge," that expands on a paper we did last
> fall on this topic. In both the paper and the book, we argue forcefully for the
> importance of stabilizing population as soon as possible by voluntary means,
> before famine and disease do their tragic work instead. We are especially
> concerned about the impact of HIV/AIDS, which will be bringing a number of
> southern African countries to zero population growth within the next few years
> because of rising death rates.
>
> The lack of focus on population in the article your responded to was not
> intended to slight or ignore the problem. The focus in this article was on the
> existing evidence that a change might be afoot. You are right that such change
> canot take place without a concomitant change in population growth as well.
> *********************************
>
> We appreciate having readers like you who are paying careful attention to what
> we write.
>
> Thanks for your comments.
>
> Dick Bell
>
> ************************************************************************
> Dick Bell
> Vice President for Communications
> Worldwatch Institute
> 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
> Washington, DC 20036
> Phone: 202-452-1992x537
> Fax: 202-296-7365
> email: [log in to unmask]
> Web: http://www.worldwatch.org
>
*************************************************************************
> Fri, 26 Feb 1999 13:12:49 -0500
> Steve Kurtz ([log in to unmask])
>
> This sound nice, but no mention is made of the NET ADDITION of over 7
> million humans per MONTH to earth's population. Attitides and awareness
> must include the responsibilities and effects of procreation if the below
> perceptions are to become meaningfully realized.
>
> Steve Kurtz
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> February 25, 1999
>
> WORLD MAY BE ON EDGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL REVOLUTION
>
> As we approach the new millennium, there are growing signs that the world
> may be
> on the edge of an environmental revolution comparable to the political
> revolution that swept Eastern Europe, reports Lester Brown, president of
> the
> Worldwatch Institute, in an article in the March/April issue of World
> Watch. The
> social revolution in Eastern Europe led to a restructuring of the region's
> political systems. This global revolution could lead to an environmentally
> driven restructuring of the global economy.
(snip)


--

"To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being
paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy,
in our age, can still do for those who study it."
Bertrand Russell, "A History of Western Philosophy"


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