Earth Day creator’s overpopulation debate collecting dust

The politics of environmentalism have changed much more dramatically than the planet’s temperature since the first Earth Day celebration in 1970.

When Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced plans for Earth Day in 1969, one of his main concerns was population control.

Since the time of Earth Day No. 1, the U.S. population has grown by more than 101 million people, according to census data .

In a 2005 editorial, Nelson continued to push the politics of population control. He referenced reports saying the U.S. population could balloon to 500 million by 2060 or 2070.

“We are heading into a century in which we will double and triple our population in a short time,” wrote Nelson, who died later in 2005. “World-wide population projections are equally chilling. A series of international conferences have called for bold action to control population growth.”

So how did population become a nonissue in the past 39 years with U.S. politicians, while the population has grown by one-third during that time span?

Nelson’s focus on population control was in response to books like Paul Ehrlich’s Population Bomb, published in 1968.

Perhaps part of the reason the overpopulation argument has lost its punch is many of Ehrlich’s predictions didn’t come true. For example, he said hundreds of millions would starve to death in the 1970s and life expectancies would dive to 42 years by 1980.

Ouch – both those stats have been going the opposite direction since Ehrlich’s doomsday theories were published.

Fortunately for Americans, the baby boom years are over and first-world populations don’t experience the challenges that come with urbanization such as food shortages and poverty.

But the rest of the world isn’t so lucky.

John Powell, director of the World Food Programme said in a January speech that most of the world’s urban growth occurs in low income countries.

“Increasing urbanization puts more pressure on land and on agricultural production in rural areas,” he said. “High food prices have already affected the urban poor, with reports from diverse countries indicating that large numbers of the urban poor are reducing the quantity and quality of the food they consume…”

While Nelson’s overpopulation debate may be overshadowed by climate control and other aspects of the green movement in the U.S., it’s still an important global conversation.

It’s only a matter of time before a food crisis in Kenya or a bad Central American crop will reverberate into our own food chain.

At that point, maybe someone will recall the first Earth Day.