Editor,
I am writing in response to the letter by Leslie Stoeckle published in the Daily Lobo on Wednesday. The letter was about global warming and how the population needs to be curbed to support efforts in decreasing the effects of global warming. I feel this would be a major mistake for several reasons.
First, look at the effects of population curbing in China. The Chinese government determined that the population was growing at a rate that was too fast and implemented a one-child-per-household policy.
This has definitely controlled the population, but many families that disobey the rule have their children killed or taken away. I feel this is inhumane and is not a good solution.
Second, European countries have tried similar ideas to what Stoeckle was suggesting by providing better education and family-planning facilities. This is also bad because Europe's population is declining. If you look at the birth and death rates in Europe, many countries are now in the negative, meaning that the birth rate is less than the death rate.
Finally, the major contribution to global warming is not overpopulation. It is, rather, that the population is grouped together in mass metropolitan areas. We live on a very small percentage of the Earth's land. If people were to spread out instead of forming cities with dense populations, then global warming would decrease.
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James Burkhard
UNM student
