Malthusian and Neo-Malthsian Thoughts

After learning about both Malthusian and Neo-Malthsian ideas in the book The Bet, I have very different reactions to each of them. Firstly, I agree with the Malthusian ideals about population and how we are growing faster than the planet can replenish them (similar to The Tragedy of the Commons). I have always believed the human population is growing faster than the resources restore themselves.

Neo-Malthsian ideas, on the other hand, sound a little too extreme to my liking. Neo-Malthsians follow the basic ideas of Malthusian but takes it even further. Such Neo-Malthsians, such as Paul Ehrlich, try to "tackle controversial issues such as birth control, abortion and women's rights" (Sabin p.37) and Ehrlich's organization Zero Population Growth try to "legalize abortion and the removal of restrictions on contraception in the interest of population control" (Sabin p.37). I don't agree with the idea of forced abortions for the need of a "smaller family". Women deserve to have a say in whether they wish to have children and how many they should have. It is their right to decide if they want an abortion, not on some random organization. They deserve a say in this.



Reference:
Sabin, Paul.  2014.  The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and OurGamble over Earth’s Future.  New Haven: Yale UP