Yes, Tomorrow Can Be Better: Population, Freedom, and Fairness

By Harry E. Ladd

There are many publications about the need to limit population growth. Most stop after strong arguments that somebody must do something.

Most are scholarly publications that get read by people who are already well aware of the problems. (They preach to the choir, not the other sinners in the pews.)

This one is different. It deals with the economic and moral issues that affect every person. It is aimed at people not accustomed to reading weighty material, and who haven't yet heard the message in a meaningful way. It tells how every individual, in every life circumstance, can help.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 31, 2003
• ISBN: 9781462837878

Harry E. Ladd

Born in 1939, Harry Ladd grew up on the Natural Bridge farm in southeastern Ohio. The Natural Bridge is now the centerpiece of the Ladd Nature Preserve. He graduated from Ohio State University in Mechanical Engineering and from MIT with an MS degree. He married a Pennsylvania farm girl. They have two daughters. Harry retired from DuPont in 1992 after 28 years of service to found COSAM Software Inc. For 10 of those 28 years he traveled extensively to represent DuPont in development of national and international standards for exchange of engineering data. Harry began a self-guided study of population related issues over 10 years ago.

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Copyright © 2003 by Harry E. Ladd.

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE

CHAPTER 1

Prepare to Face the Issues

CHAPTER 3

Admit that We Have a Problem

CHAPTER 4

Define the Problem in Useful Terms.

CHAPTER 5

Identify the Most Difficult Parts of the Problem

CHAPTER 6

Understand The Big Picture (Problem Context)

CHAPTER 7

Understand the Importance of Values

CHAPTER 8

Develop a Clear Vision of the Goals

CHAPTER 9

Understand the Levers Of Power

CHAPTER 10

Make Your Personal Contribution

CHAPTER 11

Expect Results, Short-Term, Long-Term

ENDNOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge the contribution made to this work by the late Dr. Donald P. Ferriss. By profession, Dr. Ferriss was a metallurgical engineer, but his wisdom and concern for mankind transcended the boundaries indicated by this title. For many years, he led a branch of the adult education program at the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. Having attended many of those classes, I am honored that Dr. Ferriss consented to review this work. His critique illuminated many areas where I initially failed to express ideas clearly.

Because I mention a Presbyterian church, one early reviewer concluded that this is a Christian book. The intent is to be inclusive of all religions and non-religions. I once heard a speaker say, I hate to always talk about my personal experiences all the time, but that is the only kind that I have had. The Christian religion has been an important part of my experience and I do acknowledge that.

I would also like to acknowledge the comments and critiques of Martha and Lynn Rau, my daughter and son-in-law, and Joanne and Larry Grunwald, my sister and brother-in law.

INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE

In this great country and on this great earth, there are many places of incredible beauty. There are many plants, animals, and people of incredible beauty. Even in the absence of visually obvious beauty, there are many creatures and people with a deep sense of caring for those around them and with capability to do wonderful things. This is hidden beauty that exists to be discovered by us with a sense of appreciation and wonder.

However, we know that not everything in life can be beautiful, wonderful, or even good. Many have wondered why this is true. But most of us just accept it as something that life taught us soon after we were born. Dealing with problems is the cost of life. To see the show, you must buy a ticket.

Our ticket to continued life will be, and was, purchased by our own efforts and the efforts of others to solve problems. Solving problems can be one of the most rewarding pursuits of life, when we care about those who benefit.

Life has taught us to avoid efforts to solve problems that seem to have no acceptable solution. One much avoided problem is too much population growth. The goal of the following pages is to communicate clearly, to even the most casual reader, the importance of solving this problem, why solving it only seems impossible, and how to solve it.

Rapid growth of human population is not only causing massive human disasters in undeveloped regions of the world, but is also rapidly degrading the quality of life here in the United States. When this problem is directly confronted and studied, it quickly becomes obvious that overpopulation is a major cause of many other problems. These problems include unemployment, poverty, crime, hunger, homelessness, pollution of air and water, loss of productive farm land, general destruction of the natural environment, high taxes, traffic congestion, extinction of plants and animals, loss of freedom, riots, terrorism, and even war.

These problems, each of which may seem individually overwhelming, will yield more easily to problem solving efforts if understood and approached on the basis of their common factor of population density. Reversing population growth is quite possible and the benefits can be readily observed within a few generations as explained in some detail. A generation is the time it takes an infant girl to reach the usual age of motherhood. Thus, the benefits can begin to appear in one lifetime.

Although big problems are discussed, the message is about adopting a fresh way of looking toward the future. It is about understanding problems in a way that will enable real progress toward solving them. It is about understanding why life is like it is so that we can better direct our individual problem solving efforts. This means hope where there may otherwise be no hope.

Taken as a whole, the message indicates how every kind of person in every occupation can contribute something toward solving the population problem.

CHAPTER 1

Prepare to Face the Issues

The Size of the Problem:

Let me start by telling a story.

Steve raised fine horses. He was very proud of one black stallion. He rode it into town one day and tied it up at the saloon. When he came out of the saloon after having a drink, he saw that someone had tampered with his horse. Its underneath parts, the parts that make a stallion different from a female horse, were painted neon orange.

Steve was furious. He stormed back into the saloon and yelled, Who did that?

A very big man stood up right in front of Steve (see Figure 1). His booming voice said, I did. Steve looked down at the man’s size-14 shoes and then up at his chin. Steve thought for an instant and then said, That is just the color I wanted.

The moral of the story is summed up in the well-known prayer, Lord, give me the courage to change the things that I can change, accept the things that I can not change, and the wisdom to know the difference. Steve knew the difference.

Many people view the population problem as the kind of problem that Steve had. It is not. First, there are many people and many organizations that want to help solve it. Second, as you will see, there are many ways to contribute to the solution. Third, there are well-known ways to solve it.

Peace Be With You

Just thinking seriously about the bad effects of unchecked population growth can be very disturbing. You may think, Must I really do it?

True peace of mind can come only to those who accept the fundamental scheme of life on earth. By peace I do not mean the absence of struggle. Rather, I mean the sure knowledge that we individually have an important role to play in the scheme of life and that we are using our abilities in the best way circumstances permit. This includes satisfaction with our accomplishments, eager anticipation of those to come, and an attitude of thankfulness for each new day of our life.

For those who do not accept the fundamental scheme of life, some of the ideas which follow will seem very unpleasant. However, to get to what the beautiful and awesome scheme of life really is, we must first come to grips with reality. For some, that means mentally passing through some unpleasant territory. What follows are statements about things that we know, but perhaps avoid thinking about because of fear. Perhaps, we do not see that they are fundamental concepts that help us understand who we are.

If we could stand before our creator, just as Steve stood before the big man in the saloon, our situation would not be unlike Steve’s. Some things in life are set by the creator. We should not waste our energy trying to change them. The scheme of life is:

First, we are all mortal. We will die. We may do a lot to delay the fact, but ultimately, that’s how it is. There are lots of ideas created by man in his attempt to make this fact more acceptable. Some say that, if you are a true believer in certain things, then you will be happier dead. All concerns about happiness aside, some day we will be dead. If you can accept that as the way things are, then you are on the road to appreciating each day of life.

Image369.JPG

Figure 1. The Size of the Problem

Second, life is fundamentally competitive. We often go to great lengths to hide this fact. For example, I enjoy watching those television specials in which expert wildlife photographers capture scenes in the lives of animals. As a boy I spent a lot of time in the woods. I know how extremely difficult it is to get close enough to wild animals to even get glimpses of how they live. I always had great curiosity about how they spend their time.

My wife had an aunt who would immediately leave the room if you switched the TV channel to such a show. She said that every time she had ever watched a nature show, sooner or later, one animal would start eating another. The whole concept that such a thing could happen was revolting to her. I tried to explain to her that God created lions, tigers, wolves, and all the other predators. The mother lion must feed her cubs. That’s how things are. If the mother lion succeeds, that does not make her evil.

We can go to a fine restaurant and order a steak. We enjoy it. We tip the waiter. We are not evil either. But we should understand that an animal died and we, along with lots of other people, indirectly paid someone to kill that animal.

I know several of people who have thought about what eating meat involves, and have become vegetarians as a result. I don’t have the need to do that because I was never surprised to find out how meat is obtained. I milked cows. I was there when calves were born. I was responsible for taking care of bull calves before and after they were castrated to become steers. Steers are more docile than bulls and their meat is more tender.

I remember one bull calf which was castrated and got an infection after the operation. We drove a steel stake in the ground in the middle of a lush green hillside. The calf was tethered to the stake with a long chain so that it could supplement its diet of milk and grain with grass. I periodically took a sledgehammer, loosened the stake, and drove it into the ground in a new location where the grass was fresh. I carried grain and water to the calf twice a day. It was my job to throw the calf down, roll it over, and apply medicine where its testicles had been removed. The wound finally healed. When the calf got old enough that it would no longer suck milk from the milk cows, we gave it the freedom of the pasture with them.

We named our steers, but were told never to name one after a person. That way it somehow made it more acceptable to butcher them. I always helped my father and brother do that job. We did it outside in cold weather and built a fire to warm our hands when they got cold. It wasn’t something I ever questioned. It was just how things worked in those days.

Becoming a vegetarian does not eliminate the competitive aspect of life. The lush produce required for good nutrition in a vegetarian diet requires fields full of growing crops. Farmers have to apply fertilizer, battle voracious insect pests, plant diseases and weeds, often with substances that cause environmentally damaging runoffs. They have to shoot or otherwise remove animals that invade their fields and destroy crops. Just plowing to prepare the ground for planting kills a lot of small animals, including field mice, baby rabbits, snakes, turtles, and ground-nesting birds. Large and small animals continually lose their natural habitat