Environmentalists devote little attention at the moment to the size and growth of the human population. To counter this neglect, the monograph (i) includes original graphs showing population size and growth since 1920 in the world as a whole and the United States; (ii) assembles evidence tying the increasing number of people to ecosystem deterioration and its societal consequences; and (iii) analyzes sample-survey data to ascertain whether the current disregard of population pressures by U.S. environmentalists reflects the thinking of Americans generally. However, even if a nation took steps primarily intended to lower childbearing and immigration, the findings of social science research indicate that the steps would not have a substantial, lasting impact. The discussion, which suggests an indirect way by which government may reduce fertility, underlines for environmental scholars the importance of studying their subject in a multidisciplinary, collaborative setting.

Emphasizes the growth of the human population, in the world as well as in the USA, and its impact on the biosphere Attempts to reverse the change in approach by environmentalists, including environmental law scholars, who were concerned during the 1960s and 1970s with human population growth but today generally neglect population as a cause of environmental deterioration Uses data from the US General Social Survey to determine whether, among American adults, concern with the environment is related to concern with population growth

Autorentext

Larry D. Barnett is a sociologist (Ph.D., Florida State University) and a lawyer (J.D. with honors, University of Florida; member, Florida Bar). His previously-published books on the macrosociology of law include the two-volume work Societal Agents in Law (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019); Explaining Law (Brill, 2015); The Place of Law (Transaction/Routledge, 2011); and Legal Construct, Social Concept (Aldine de Gruyter, 1993). He is also the author of The Biosphere and Human Society (Bristol University Press, 2023); Demography and the Anthropocene (Springer, 2021); and Population Policy and the U.S. Constitution (Kluwer Nijhoff, 1982). From 1978 to 2013, Professor Barnett was on the full-time faculty of the Delaware Law School of Widener University, where he is now Professor Emeritus. During this time, he was a Fulbright Scholar at Leiden University in The Netherlands (1979-1980), and in 1982 he founded Population Research and Policy Review, a journal in demography that he served as editor-in-chief for eleven years.

Inhalt
1.The Population Factor.- 2. An Empirical Study of Americans' Attitudes.- 3. Environmentalism and Interdisciplinarity.