Dear Editor, (submitted to WTimes 12-7-22)
Anthony J. Sadar’s math
and people’s polar perspectives on “World Population at 8 billion and counting”
(Dec 7, 2022) is good. But incomplete.
Assuming all humans
are party animals but are not limited to two-dimensional space, eight billion
people could occupy the square milage of three New York Cities. And assuming
most people wouldn’t party over 8 hours straight, everyone frocking could mathematically
be accommodated in just one New York City.
Mr. Sadar’s math on
sufficient food for eight billion is also correct. But the singular reason about 15,000 infants still
die daily from easily preventable malnutrition and related infectious diseases
is due to just one thing. A lack of “political
will” among each world government. And,
as Mr. Sadar states “if world leaders regarded their constituents not as the
great unwashed but...as precious souls worthy of dignity, respect and
compassion” they could “be...raising everyone’s standard of comfortable living.”
Long forgotten is
the summary conclusion of the 1980 bipartisan Presidential Commission on World Hunger. It clearly warned that by failing to achieve
that goal by the year 2000 humanity would experience even more wars, terrorism,
disease, and environmental problems. And
unless it was framed in the context of “national security" it probably wouldn’t
happen. Now world leaders must decide to keep their 2015
pledge to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development goals by the year 2030. This wise accomplishment could kick start a sustainable
world that would be increasingly free of hunger, war, terrorism, and infectious
diseases. This will take more than hope
and prayers.
Chuck Woolery
Rockville, MD
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