Paul R. Ehrlich

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Paul Ralph Ehrlich
Paul Ralph Ehrlich
Born	May 29, 1932 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Fields	entomology
Institutions	Stanford University
Known for	The Population Bomb

Paul Ralph Ehrlich (born May 29, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a renowned entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera (butterflies). He is also well known as a researcher and author on the subject of human overpopulation, notably for his 1968 book The Population Bomb, and is Bing Professor of Population Studies in the department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University^[1].

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Education and academic career 1.2 Marriage and family 1.3 Other activities 2 Population growth predictions 3 Writings 4 Awards 5 See also 6 References 7 External links 7.1 General 7.2 Organizations 7.3 Sympathetic articles 7.4 Critical articles

[edit] Life and career

[edit] Education and academic career

Ehrlich earned a B.A. in zoology in 1953 at the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in 1955 at the University of Kansas, and a Ph.D. in 1957 at the University of Kansas, under the prominent bee researcher C.D. Michener. During his studies he participated in surveys of insects on the Bering Sea and in the Canadian Arctic, and then on a National Institutes of Health fellowship, investigated the genetics and behavior of parasitic mites. In 1959 he joined the faculty at Stanford, being promoted to full professor of biology in 1966. He was named to the Bing Professorship in 1977.^[2]

Ehrlich currently is the president of the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford University. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Ehrlich's research group at Stanford currently works extensively on the study of natural populations of checkerspot butterflies (Euphydryas). Along with Dr. Gretchen Daily, he has conducted work in "countryside biogeography", or the study of making human-disturbed areas hospitable to biodiversity. Ehrlich continues to conduct policy research on population and resource issues, focusing especially on endangered species, cultural evolution, environmental ethics, and the preservation of genetic resources.

[edit] Marriage and family

On December 18, 1954, Paul Ehrlich married Anne Fitzhugh Howland, a research assistant. They remain married and have one child, Lisa Marie.

[edit] Other activities

Ehrlich was one of the founders of the group Zero Population Growth in 1968, along with Richard Bowers and Charles Remington. He and his wife Anne were on the board of advisors of the Federation for American Immigration Reform until 2003.

With Stephen Schneider and two other authors, writing in the January 2002 issue of Scientific American, he critiqued Bjørn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist.

[edit] Population growth predictions

Ehrlich wrote an article that appeared in New Scientist in December 1967. In that article, Ehrlich predicted that the world would experience famines sometime between 1970 and 1985 due to population growth outstripping resources. Ehrlich wrote that "the battle to feed all of humanity is over ... In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." Ehrlich also stated, "India couldn't possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980," and "I have yet to meet anyone familiar with the situation who thinks that India will be self-sufficient in food by 1971." These specific predictions did not actually come to pass, and his later book The Population Explosion is much more cautious in its predictions.

The article led to a book (The Population Bomb), the founding of Population Connection|Zero Population Growth, a vigorous policy debate, and both widespread support and criticism of Ehrlich.

Dr. Ehrlich reviewed the predictions in his book The Population Bomb in a 2004 interview and the subsequent criticism that followed due to the specificity of the dates in his predictions.^[3] He stated that some of his predictions did not occur, but noted that it was still “horrific” that 600 million people were very hungry and billions under-nourished or malnourished. He stated that his predictions about disease and climate change were correct.^[3]

The Population Explosion (1990, co-authored with Anne Ehrlich) was followed two years later by a Centers for Disease Control publication which noted, "During the past three decades, the most common emergencies affecting the health of large populations in developing countries have involved famine and forced migrations."^[4] Famine was defined as "a condition of populations in which a substantial increase in deaths is associated with inadequate food consumption".^[5]

Other academic authors have echoed Dr. Ehrlich’s concerns about overpopulation. Professor Jared Diamond has argued that population growth and overusing natural resources lead to social collapse.^[6] Professor Diamond predicts that these combined factors create an environmental time bomb with an estimated fuse of 50 years, after which he speculates the situation will be resolved one way or another.^[6]

Dr. E.O. Wilson, a Harvard biologist and twice a Pulitzer winner, argues that overpopulation and overconsumption could result in the extinction of half of Earth's species sometime in the 21st century.^[7]

On the other hand, Professor Ehrlich and his wife Anne have been praised for raising awareness of environmental matters and for bringing to public awareness issues regarding population, resources and environment, as well as making ecology a household word.^[8]

[edit] Writings

Ehrlich has written numerous books on the subjects of ecology, entomology, overpopulation, and related subjects. His best known book is The Population Bomb, published in 1968.

• How to Know the Butterflies (1960)
• Process of Evolution (1963)
• The Population Bomb (1968)
• Population, Resources, Environments: Issues in Human Ecology (1970)
• How to Be a Survivor (1971)
• Man and the Ecosphere: Readings from Scientific American (1971)
• Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions (1973)
• Introductory Biology (1973)
• The End of Affluence (1975)
• Biology and Society (1976)
• Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment (1978)
• The Race Bomb (1978)
• Extinction (1981)
• The Golden Door: International Migration, Mexico, and the United States (1981)
• The Cold and the Dark: The World After Nuclear War (1984, co-authored with Carl Sagan, Donald Kennedy, and Walter Orr Roberts)
• Earth (1987, co-authored with Anne Ehrlich)
• Science of Ecology (1987, co-authored with Joan Roughgarden)
• The Cassandra Conference: Resources and the Human Predicament (1988)
• The Birder's Handbook: A field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds (1988, co-aurhored with David S. Dobkin and Darryl Wheye)
• The Population Explosion (1990, co-authored with Anne Ehrlich)
• Healing the Planet: Strategies for Resolving the Environmental Crisis (1991, co-authored with Anne Ehrlich)
• Birds in Jeopardy: The Imperiled and Extinct Birds of the United States and Canada, Including Hawaii and Puerto Rico (1992, co-authored with David S. Dobkin and Darryl Wheye)
• The Stork and the Plow : The Equity Answer to the Human Dilemma (1995, co-authored with Anne Ehrlich and Gretchen C. Daily)
• A World of Wounds: Ecologists and the Human Dilemma (1997)
• Betrayal of Science and Reason: How Anti-Environment Rhetoric Threatens Our Future (1998, co-authored with Anne Ehrlich)
• Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect (2002)
• One With Nineveh: Politics, Consumption, and the Human Future (2004, co-authored with Anne Ehrlich)
• On the Wings of Checkerspots: A Model System for Population Biology (2004, edited volume, co-edited with Ilkka Hanski)
• New World, New Mind: Moving Towards Conscious Evolution (1988, co-authored with Robert Ornstein)

[edit] Awards

Ehrlich has been recognized for his work with the following awards:

• The John Muir Award of the Sierra Club
• The Gold Medal Award of the World Wildlife Fund International
• A MacArthur Prize Fellowship
• The Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• ECI Prize winner in terrestrial ecology, 1993
• A World Ecology Award from the International Center for Tropical Ecology, University of Missouri, 1993
• The Volvo Environmental Prize, 1993
• The United Nations Sasakawa Environment Prize, 1994
• The Heinz Award for the Environment, 1995
• The Albert Einstein Club Commemorative Plaque, 1997
• The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, 1998
• The Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences, 1998
• The Blue Planet Prize, 1999
• The Eminent Ecologist Award of the Ecological Society of America, 2001
• The Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, 2001

[edit] See also

• Simon-Ehrlich wager

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] General

• Paul R. Ehrlich's faculty web page at Stanford University

[edit] Organizations

• Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth)

[edit] Sympathetic articles

• History of the Zero Population Growth organization
• Info on The Population Explosion, the 1990 sequel to The Population Bomb
• Biographical page at the International Center for Tropical Ecology, University of Missouri, St. Louis
• Simon knew what he was doing!
• Several online Paul Ehrlich interviews
• "Plowboy Interview" of Paul Ehrlich, 1974 from The Mother Earth News

[edit] Critical articles

• A critique of Paul Ehrlich
• A critical biographical sketch
• We're Doomed Again: Paul Ehrlich has never been right. Why does anyone still listen to him?
• Doomsayer Paul Ehrlich Strikes Out Again
• Paul R. Ehrlich and the prophets of doom A look at Ehrlich's treatment of exponential growth.
• Ehrlich quotes