Critics reframed population-driven scarcity as a distribution problem

Evidence

In his book The Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich (1968) forecast that, within several decades, soaring population growth would cause widespread famine and spark civil unrest. The book gained popular success in an era when the public was becoming more ecological minded. However, it also drew a host of critics. The predicted catastrophes did not come to pass in the designated short term. Critics challenged the inevitability of scarcity as a result of population growth, citing expanded food production made possible by high-yield agriculture, pesticides, and fertilizer. They argued that hunger in developing countries was caused by corrupt governments and faulty distribution systems, not by overpopulation. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2555

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2555
• XREF: connects to: Globalization critiques center the inequitable distribution of both goods and bads — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 287; Debating overconsumption versus overpopulation obscures compounding ecological damage — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2557; Most scarcity is socially defined rather than intrinsic to resources — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 387 (+8 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Globalization critiques center the inequitable distribution of both goods and bads — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 287; Debating overconsumption versus overpopulation obscures compounding ecological damage — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2557; Most scarcity is socially defined rather than intrinsic to resources — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 387 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Debating overconsumption versus overpopulation obscures compounding ecological damage #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2557
• Stabilizing population at carrying capacity is insufficient; humanity needs actual reduction #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2580
• Population growth offsets green technology gains and is a taboo topic for ecology #complicates (0.74)
• Population growth is a taboo subject excluded from ecological discourse #complicates (0.73) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2554
• Selective inattention reframes population growth as decline and erases it as a problem #complicates (0.72) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2574