The Population Explosion by Paul R. Ehrlich

Ehrlich himself underwent a vasectomy after the birth of the couple's first and only child. Human reproduction, especially in highly developed countries like the United States, should be discouraged through levying taxes on diapers, baby food, and other related items compulsory sterilization among the populations of certain countries should be enacted (the authors' feelings on compulsory sterilization have relaxed somewhat since 1968). The authors warned that birth and death rates worldwide need to be 'brought into line' before nature intervenes and renders (through ozone layer depletion, global warming, and soil exhaustion, among other environmental degradation ) the human race extinct. It is evident throughout the book that the words and warnings of The Survival Game continued to exert a strong influence on Ehrlich. In the book, the Ehrlichs focus on a variety of factors contributing to overpopulation and, in turn, world hunger.

In 1954, he married Anne Fitzhugh Howland, biological research associate, with whom he wrote the best-selling book, The Population Bomb (1968).

His travels enabled him to learn first-hand the ordeals endured by those in overpopulated regions. Other related field projects have taken him to Africa, Alaska, Australia, the South Pacific and South East Asia, Latin America, and Antarctica. His degrees led to post-graduate work on various aspects of entomological projects, including observing flies on the Bering Sea, the behavioral characteristics of parasitic mites, and (his favorite) the population control of butterfly caterpillars with ants rather than pesticides. He received his master's degree from University of Kansas two years later and continued at the university to receive his doctorate in 1957. After high school, Ehrlich attended the University of Pennsylvania where he earned his undergraduate degree in zoology in 1953.

This concept is one Ehrlich has discussed and examined throughout his career.

He was particularly influenced by ecologist William Vogt's book, Road to Survival (1948), in which the author was the outlined the potential global consequences of imbalance between the growing world population and level of food supplies available. As he entered his teen years, Ehrlich grew to be an avid reader. American population biologist and ecologistīorn in Philadelphia, Paul Ehrlich had a typical childhood during which he cultivated an early interest in entomology and zoology by investigating the fields and woods around his home.

The Population Explosion by Paul R. Ehrlich