Paul Ehrlich: “Was the Population Bomb Defused?”

Episode 09
March 2, 2022

(Conversation Recorded on January 10, 2022.)

On this episode, we meet with Professor Emeritus of Population Studies at Stanford University and author of The Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich.

Ehrlich discusses what has happened with the human population situation in the decades since he published The Population Bomb. Why has humanity not responded to our long-term sustainability challenges? How would Ehrlich frame contemporary discussions about population?

In a wide-ranging conversation spanning stories about his appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to how the environmental movement merged with corporate greenwashing, Ehrlich provides colorful and interesting commentary on the human predicament.

About Paul Ehrlich

Paul Ehrlich is the Bing Professor Emeritus of Population Studies at Stanford University and author of many books, including The Population Bomb.

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

01:15 - Paul Ehrlich information and works

02:01 - The Population Bomb

02:21 - Population growth rate over time 

03:11 - Johnny Carson

04:05 - Commonwealth club and Paul’s episode

05:53 - Genuine Progress Indicator

06:55 - Ecological polymath

07:15 - John Holdren

07:19 - IPAT equation

08:40 - Environmental impact of a person correlates with wealth

10:11 - 80-90% of carbon emissions in the world are by the top 10-15% wealthiest people

12:20 - The Race Bomb (co-authored with Shirley Feldman)

12:57 - Overshoot

13:56 - Tony Barnosky paper on 96% of biomass being humans and livestock

14:32 - 50% of nitrogen in our bodies comes from Haber-Bosch cycle
15:18 - Current 6th mass extinction event

16:46 - Energy Scientific Publications | Anthony D. Barnosky

17:53 - Sherwood Rowland and ozone depletion

18:58 - Norman Myers on extinction

21:37 - Number of malnourished people and child mortality

22:15 - Green Revolution

22:57 - Energy is the currency of life and this also applies to humans

23:15 - Kleiber’s law

23:39 - Thomas Malthus

24:22 - Energy surplus

24:36 - Economy’s imperative to grow and population

25:19 - Nuclear war risk

26:51 - Economics ‘circular flow model’

27:08 - We have over financialized the human experience

28:25 - Markets have long been a part of history

29:43 - Thorstein Veblen and Veblen Goods

29:23 - Conspicuous Consumption

30:17 - E.O. Wilson

31:06 - Silent Spring Rachel Carson

33:29 - The Social Conquest of Earth E.O. Wilson

34:49 - Changing age structure with slowed growth

35:41 - Humans have trouble with long term planning

36:44 - Proprioceptors

38:03 - Pseudo kin/Fictive-kin

39:36 - Women’s rights can reduce population humanely

41:17 - Our real history goes back 300,000 years

41:31 - Hunter gatherer groups were much more egalitarian

42:02 - Australian aboriginal paintings

43:15 - We have difficulty conceptualizing large numbers

44:14 - Greenwashing

44:41 - How does debt relate to ecology

46:54 - Second law of thermodynamics

47:15 - Superorganism

47:34 - Hoover institution

48:55 - Universities as mechanisms to help fight wars

49:45 - Criticisms of overpopulation theories

50:11 - Tucker Carlson

52:53 - Are borders ethical?

54:51 - De-development

55:22 - Niger-delta birth rate

56:48 - Population numbers do not necessarily represent strength

57:55 - Advance policy

59:25 - Avoiding a Ghastly Future

1:00:42 - Humans are highly social animals

1:01:32 - No one can be a completely self made millionaire

1:02:44 - The United States has used more hydrocarbons than any other country 

1:02:54 - Garrett Hardin - ecolate

1:03:41 - Partha Dasgupta 

1:07:45 - Pope Francis

1:08:35 - We can change consumption when incentivized

1:09:30 - One Earth Lifestyles

1:09:40 - We are creatures of our cultures

1:10:35 - US has 4% of the world population

1:10:48 - US holds 50% of the world’s medical prescriptions

1:11:39 - Rex Tugwell

1:13:21 - Indigenous North Americans’ ethics and social organization

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Nora Bateson: “Complexity Between the Lines”

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Peter Ward: “Oceans - What’s the Worst that Can Happen?”