In light of a new year and the upcoming legislative sessions on many levels, with the flurry of new abortion bills that are expected, there are some realities we should keep in mind.
Back in 1970, just after Paul Ehrlich’s “The Population Bomb” came out, the earth had about 3.5 billion inhabitants, and we were in a somewhat sustainable balance with nature for our needs and burdens put upon it.
Fast forward to today, when there are about 8 billion earthlings, conditions are vastly different. As punctuated by the recent “COP 27″ and “30 by 30″ conferences, humans are becoming more aware that nature is now on the run, that is, we are now in the Sixth Mass Extinction regime, wherein up to 60% to 70% of all species of life on the planet will become extinct by the end of this century, or shortly thereafter. Unlike the five such regimes before it, this is the first extinction event caused solely by humans, as the previous ones were caused by natural events like volcanism or a large meteor strike.
There are simply too many of us humans on our blue marble, because we consume and pollute too much and expect the natural world to absorb the residual effects of these excesses.
Rather than going in the wrong direction with population control and women’s health issues, we should be making family planning, birth control and, yes, abortion more accessible on a global basis.
This has now become serious enough that it is larger than any philosophical or religious beliefs. There are two truths to keep in mind:
• There is no Planet B to shift these excesses upon and,
• The planet will always exist, but it is all the life on the planet we must save from extinction, including our own.
John Kennington, Cottonwood Heights