ISE Senior Fellow in the New York Times

Philip Warburg, a Senior Fellow with the Institute of Sustainable Energy, responded to an article in the New York Times that claimed population growth ought to be pursued for economic purposes.

His letter to the editor was published both in print and online. In it, Warburg disputes the benefits of increasing the population:

With the growth of a global middle class, or “consuming class,” humanity’s carbon footprint is destined to expand well beyond what sheer population trends suggest. Asphyxiating air pollution already plagues megacities across Asia; water crises threaten security in already tempestuous parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Adding billions of people to a warming world will only place solutions to these problems further beyond our reach.

Read the full article here.