ZPG is currently launching its Y6B campaign to focus on the year when the world reached 6 billion people. Symbolically, Oct. 16 was chosen as the day. ZPG's intent is to get national media icons like Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings to emphasize the problem all 6 billion of us face. Anyone following environmental issues can identify a variety of issues of critical importance in the United States or worldwide. Introduced species, destruction of natural habitats, and excessive environmental pollution are three obvious ones.
Human overpopulation is the primary culprit for all three.
Introduced exotic species like zebra mussels, fire ants and chestnut blight are here because people brought them to us. Today, invasive species are coming and going in all directions around the globe. We send or carry living things to other continents constantly, on purpose or unknowingly. A world with fewer people would be a world with fewer living things moving around and ending up in the wrong places. The alteration of native habitats by unregulated development of housing areas and sprawl malls makes us wonder if some of our elected officials are in the real estate business.