Meanwhile, others, as he says, take a different view. Jacques Cousteau continues to warn that overpopulation is humanity's greatest threat to survival. He condemns environmental destruction in the name of progress, citing the draining of marshlands, the destruction of coral reefs, the depletion of ma rine populations by driftnet and dynamite techniques, and the felling of millions of acres of rainforests. Population increases are truly stark and overwhelming. In the U.S., for example, our present population of almost 262 million has grown by more than 100 million in the last 40 years.
Worldwide figures are similarly staggering.
It took about 100 years fo r the world to add a billion people after the first billion was reached in the 1830s. And we are expected to reach 6 billion in 1998, only 11 years after our fifth bill ion was reached. Many now warn that we cannot keep adding people at the present rate for very much longer. Disease, famine and war wi ll eventually stop the unending expansion of our masses. They go on to quote Vice President, Al Gore.