The Population Bomb
Topic: Natural Resources: Classification, Planning and Sustainable Use · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "Planning and Sustainable Development in Indian Context"
Meaning
The Population Bomb is a 1968 book by Paul Ehrlich. It warned that the world's population was growing so fast that food would run short, leading to mass famine and damage to the environment. Together with The Limits to Growth (1972), it spread fear about the Earth's limits. These fears pushed world leaders towards resource conservation and, later, sustainable development.
Example
In the 1960s, India was often named as a country facing famine. Instead, the Green Revolution in Punjab and Haryana raised wheat and rice harvests, and the mass famine Ehrlich predicted did not happen in India.
Don't confuse with
- The Limits to Growth (1972): a report for the Club of Rome that used computer models and looked at industry, pollution and resources as well as population. The Population Bomb was a single author's warning centred on population and famine.