In 1968, Paul and Anne Ehrlich published their best-selling book The Population Bomb. In it, they predicted that as the world population outpaced food production, widespread famine would bedevil the future. To prevent such a thing, the made some bold prescriptions -- e.g., cutting off food supplies to problematic countries. But what really happened?
The original Wikipedia page lives at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb
From ChatGPT: "The Population Bomb" is a book written by biologist Paul R. Ehrlich and first published in 1968. The book is a warning about the potential consequences of overpopulation, arguing that population growth was outstripping the planet's ability to sustain it, and that unless significant action was taken, humanity faced catastrophic consequences such as famine, disease, and resource depletion.
The book was highly influential and controversial when it was first published, and it sparked a global conversation about the relationship between population growth and the environment. It helped to bring attention to issues such as food security, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation, and it played a significant role in shaping the global environmental movement of the 1970s.
Some of the book's predictions have since been criticized, such as the claim that global famine was imminent in the 1970s and 1980s. However, many of the concerns raised in "The Population Bomb" remain relevant today, such as the impact of population growth on the environment, and the need for sustainable and equitable approaches to managing global resources.
Overall, "The Population Bomb" is an important and influential work in the history of environmentalism, and it continues to be a key text in discussions about the relationship between human society and the natural world.
