Tom Bridgeland wrote:

>A personal example, when I was a kid, 30 years ago, it >was rare to see
deer or any other wild animals in the >countryside where I grew up. The
rivers and roadsides >were filled with garbage and chemicals. The difference
>now is astounding. Deer, turkeys, coyotes, all kinds of
>animals are so common people hardly comment on them >anymore. The roadsides
and rivers are so clean it is hard >to find a piece of trash.

Yes, Tom, there are certain wildlife that are returning. But the reason has
nothing to do with slowing population or any recovery  by intention. The
coyote is coming back because of the return of the forest, which is due to
the collapse of agriculture in the eastern US. Same with turkeys. Deer just
love the small woodlot/fractured woodland that has replaced the farm fields.
And all departments of conservation in the US are mandated to "Maximize" the
deer herd for the hunters. Wilderness does not have deer populations like
this.

Forestry on the scale that once denuded nearly all of the great eastern
forests has simply moved to other places. One ot eh favorite is Russia's
spruce forests. They are being destroyed now like the ones in the NE US were
100 years ago. They are just out of sight.

I have read some that the world's population growth has begun to slow. The
problem with that is that it is already way above a healthy level. And the
US population as gone from about 180 million when I was a kid to nearly 300
million. If kids don't die at the reate they did 100 years ago, that makes
for more of us. This 120 million growth spurt in 50 years is not from
immigration alone. We are still producing too many people.

Tom Barber