Paul Erlich as an Environmental Role Model

Paul Erlich as an Environmental Role Model

While studying butterflies in the 1950s to answer questions on biological classification, ecology and evolution, Paul Erlich started thinking about global populations. Since then, he has become one of the leading experts in the world on the subject of population and the author and co-author of over 30 books on population and the environment including his most famous in 1968 "The Population Bomb" (USC 1). Erlich was also the co-author and founder of the theory and field of co-evolution. Though Erlich has been criticized for predictions that have not come true (yet) and scrutinized over his figures, he remains a well-respected pioneer and a great communicator in political and environmental thought.

Born on May 29, 1932 in Philadelphia, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1957. It was while doing fieldwork in the 1950's that Paul and his wife, Anne, began to think about human population, over-consumption and the use of environmentally damaging technologies. This, with their research on butterflies, reef fish, and birds led Paul and colleague Peter Raven (Ph. D.) to the concept of co-evolution. Co-evolution explains the relationships between species and how one population affects another. These discoveries eventually led to one of Erlich's most important works, a textbook written in 1977 titled "Ecoscience; Population, Resources, Environment" (Dossier 2).

Paul Erlich has been a member of the Stanford University faculty since 1959 and belongs to a number of scientific organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Some of his honorary degrees and awards include the John Muir Award of the Sierra Club, the Gold Medal Award of the World Wildlife Fund International, the MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Heinz Environmental Prize and the United Nations Sasakawa Environmental Prize (USC 4).

The most well known of his books is the 1968 best seller "The Population Bomb." This book has been widely acclaimed and criticized. The book argued forcefully that the world was headed for catastrophic overcrowding, food shortages and starvation. Many of his critics are quick to point out his predictions have yet to materialize (Bailey 1). Erlich's response to his critics was expressed in an interview with Jim Motavalli from the Environmental News Network:

The one resource we will never run out of is imbeciles.