Preface

Summary

For most scholars, human overpopulation as a subject for study requires a hard sell. That, however, was not true for me. My childhood was spent in southern California during the 1940s and 1950s, and I thus personally saw a beautiful area fall victim to growth in the number of people. This experience led me to have a long-standing interest in the field of demography and in how the numerical size of the human population affects the natural world and the social life of human beings. Unfortunately, however, the effects of human overpopulation are subtle and, therefore, generally unappreciated. The Biosphere and Human Society and its predecessor, Demography in the Anthropocene (published in 2021), summarize the evidence that the natural and social sciences have developed, especially in recent years, regarding the deleterious consequences of the number, and increases in the number, of humans. The two books complement one another, and my hope is that together they will underscore these consequences and will stimulate scholarship on humanitarian ways to end the numerical growth of Homo sapiens.

Let me mention, too, that The Biosphere and Human Society elaborates on my May 2021 blog ‘Population Dynamics, the Concept of a “System,” and the Law of Unintended Consequences.’ The blog is at https://overpopulation-project.com/population-dynamics-concept-of-system-and-law-of-unintended-consequences.

I would be remiss if I closed without acknowledging the members of the library staff at the Widener University Delaware Law School, especially Christy D’Antonio. The staff responded expeditiously to requests I submitted for copies of publications that I was unable to access. The assistance was invaluable and added immeasurably to my ability to write the chapters that follow.

Larry D. Barnett

Wilmington, Delaware, August 2022