A devastating collapse of the world we know is a "near certainty" in several decades, as people continue to destroy the nature of our planet, Professor Paul Ehrlich was quoted by the Guardian as saying.
According to him, the maximum number of people which is optimal for the Earth is less than two billion people. Today, the global population has reached 7.6 billion people.
The main problem, as the scientist sees it, is the growing pollution of the Earth by synthetic chemicals that may pose a greater danger to humans and animals than climate change.
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The scientist also argued that one needs profound redistribution of wealth in order to stop the over-consumption of resources, but "the rich who now run the global system — that hold the annual ‘world destroyer' meetings in Davos — are unlikely to let it happen."
"Population growth, along with over-consumption per capita, is driving civilization over the edge: billions of people are now hungry or micronutrient malnourished, and climate disruption is killing people," the scientist said, cited by The Guardian.
The book, viewed by many as controversial, said that "hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death" in the 1970s — but this tragic turn of events was prevented by a green revolution, the scientist argued.
In May, it will be 50 years since Ehrlich's work was published and the author remains committed to his predictions. Although some aspects and timings were wrong, Ehrlich is confident that the general idea of the book corresponds with reality.
