{"id":238022,"date":"2023-01-06T09:34:21","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T08:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=238022"},"modified":"2023-01-06T09:34:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T08:34:22","slug":"serially-wrong-paul-ehrlich-is-wrong-again-we-are-not-on-the-brink-of-a-6th-mass-extinction-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=238022","title":{"rendered":"Serially Wrong Paul Ehrlich Is Wrong, Again. We Are Not on The Brink of a 6th Mass Extinction Event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest Opinion by Chris Talgo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 1, CBS News\u2019 \u201c60 Minutes\u201d rang in the new year by airing a segment<\/a><\/strong> in which several scientists, including Dr. Paul Ehrlich, predicted that we are on the cusp of a sixth mass extinction event and that \u201cthe next few decades will be the end of the kind of civilization we\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suffice to say, Ehrlich does not have a stellar track record when it comes to making predictions about impending planetary doom. For those unaware of Ehrlich, in 1968 he authored The Population Bomb<\/em>, in which he wrote, \u201cThe battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970\u2019s the world will undergo famines \u2013 hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death\u2026nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, Ehrlich was dead wrong about his doomsday prediction in the 1970s. However, that has not stopped him from constantly ringing the apocalypse alarm bell. Indeed, for more than half a century Ehrlich has been producing ridiculous claims of mass starvation, ecological Armageddon, and a host of other wacky prophecies, all of which none have come to pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, despite his abysmal history of failed predictions, Ehrlich was front-and-center on \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d engaging in his most outrageous claims to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, according to Ehrlich, \u201chumanity is not sustainable. To maintain our lifestyle (yours and mine, basically) for the entire planet, you\u2019d need five more Earths. Not clear where they\u2019re gonna come from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, that is completely untrue. As Michael Schellenberger notes<\/a><\/strong>, \u201cThe assertion that \u2018five more Earths\u2019 are needed to sustain humanity comes from something called the Ecological Footprint calculation. I debunked<\/a><\/strong> it 10 years ago with a group of other analysts and scientists, including the Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy, in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, PLOS Biology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the segment, Ehrlich\u2019s Stanford colleague, Tony Barnosky, also made several shocking predictions about a looming mass extinction event that he claims will wipe out life as we know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Barnosky, \u201cThere are five times in Earth\u2019s history where we had mass extinctions. And by mass extinctions, I mean at least 75%, three quarters of the known species disappearing from the face of the Earth. Now we\u2019re witnessing what a lot of people are calling the sixth mass extinction where the same thing could happen on our watch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added, \u201cThe data are rock solid. I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll find a scientist that will say we\u2019re not in an extinction crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, lets separate fact from fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Per Environmental Progress<\/a><\/strong> (EP), \u201cThe IUCN has estimated that 0.8 percent of the 112,432 plant, animal, and insect species within its data have gone extinct since 1500. That\u2019s a rate of fewer than two species lost every year, for an annual extinction rate of 0.001 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, as EP points out: \u201cMany environmentalists and conservationists claim that fossil fuels and economic development are responsible for the decline in population numbers. However, this couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn fact, denying developing countries access to fossil fuels and economic growth is among the largest threats to wild animals. Making charcoal and burning biomass are top drivers of tropical deforestation, and is still the primary source of energy in Sub-Saharan Africa,\u201d explains EP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, as Ehrlich and friends continue to beat the world-is-going-to-end unless we curb population growth, disavow fossil fuels, and reduce consumption of material goods, they could not be more misguided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human innovation has overcome the vast majority of the problems we\u2019ve encountered to date. People like Ehrlich and Barnosky are anti-human, in that they view humans as the source of problems. In reality, humans are ultimate problem solvers, and if history has taught us anything, it is that the capacity for humans to conquer unforeseen difficulties is literally limitless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally published by <\/em>The Center Square<\/a>. Republished with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more on population, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more on resources,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 1, CBS News\u2019 \u201c60 Minutes\u201d rang in the new year by airing a\u00a0segment\u00a0in which several scientists, including Dr. Paul Ehrlich, predicted that we are on the cusp of a sixth mass extinction event and that \u201cthe next few decades will be the end of the kind of civilization we\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":237500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-238022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","9":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/0paul-ehrlich.webp?fit=322%2C433&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-ZV4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":237801,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=237801","url_meta":{"origin":238022,"position":0},"title":"’60 Minutes’ Touts Apocalyptic Fake News With Eco- Doom Peddler","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/05\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Chalk this up as \"60 Minutes\" hosting the worst peddler of false knowledge since Dan Rather left the set.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-165.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":411070,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411070","url_meta":{"origin":238022,"position":1},"title":"Land of the Living Dead: Paul Ehrlich this Halloween","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"10\/31\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Always wrong but never in doubt. Welcome to the-end-is-always-near world of Paul R. Ehrlich, where humans are the problem\u2013or at least everyone that does not see what the neo-Malthusians warn against. The land of the living dead\u2013something to think about this Halloween.","rel":"","context":"In \"Anne Ehrlich\"","block_context":{"text":"Anne Ehrlich","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=anne-ehrlich"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQM80jndZoa0VyhFcmo2JfJWJruvdDvemlCI7s49aPaKwCAg6CIC_SyewvQccQyhstwHfyrv9CCxYSeigst18vDcBmvGMeLl6Nd5_OP-HusQiFfWQaIaUnMHe9WIcgMf-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQM80jndZoa0VyhFcmo2JfJWJruvdDvemlCI7s49aPaKwCAg6CIC_SyewvQccQyhstwHfyrv9CCxYSeigst18vDcBmvGMeLl6Nd5_OP-HusQiFfWQaIaUnMHe9WIcgMf-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQM80jndZoa0VyhFcmo2JfJWJruvdDvemlCI7s49aPaKwCAg6CIC_SyewvQccQyhstwHfyrv9CCxYSeigst18vDcBmvGMeLl6Nd5_OP-HusQiFfWQaIaUnMHe9WIcgMf-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQM80jndZoa0VyhFcmo2JfJWJruvdDvemlCI7s49aPaKwCAg6CIC_SyewvQccQyhstwHfyrv9CCxYSeigst18vDcBmvGMeLl6Nd5_OP-HusQiFfWQaIaUnMHe9WIcgMf-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0AQM80jndZoa0VyhFcmo2JfJWJruvdDvemlCI7s49aPaKwCAg6CIC_SyewvQccQyhstwHfyrv9CCxYSeigst18vDcBmvGMeLl6Nd5_OP-HusQiFfWQaIaUnMHe9WIcgMf-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C663&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":237767,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=237767","url_meta":{"origin":238022,"position":2},"title":"He’s Back! The Paul Ehrlich Apocalypse Is Having A Revival","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019ll say this for Paul Ehrlich \u2014at least he\u2019s consistent. In 1968 the Stanford biologist famously declared that \u201cthe battle to feed all humanity is over,\u201d at a time when the Earth\u2019s population was about 3.5 billion.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-137.png?fit=1200%2C874&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-137.png?fit=1200%2C874&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-137.png?fit=1200%2C874&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-137.png?fit=1200%2C874&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-137.png?fit=1200%2C874&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":237499,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=237499","url_meta":{"origin":238022,"position":3},"title":"Paul Ehrlich Claims Vindication for his Climate Catastrophe Prediction","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Serial doomsday prophet\u00a0Paul Ehrlich\u00a0admits he got it wrong on mass starvation, the\u00a0green revolution (agricultural)\u00a0boosted yields and fed the world. But this hasn\u2019t discouraged Ehrlich from making more predictions of mass doom \u2013 he claims his 1968 climate catastrophe predictions are still on track.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-72.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-72.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-72.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-72.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-72.png?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":218677,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=218677","url_meta":{"origin":238022,"position":4},"title":"Avoiding a Malthusian Future","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/13\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In January 2021, Paul and Anne Ehrlich and a host of other famous scientists published the grimly titled article,\u00a0Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-656.png?fit=1200%2C912&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-656.png?fit=1200%2C912&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-656.png?fit=1200%2C912&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-656.png?fit=1200%2C912&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/image-656.png?fit=1200%2C912&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":238230,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=238230","url_meta":{"origin":238022,"position":5},"title":"Friday Funny: Paul Ehrlich Discredits the Peer Review Process","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever since CBS trotted out serial doomster Ehrlich to promote his never ending negative knowledge this week, we\u2019ve heard a lot of pushbacks.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-239.png?fit=1100%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-239.png?fit=1100%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-239.png?fit=1100%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-239.png?fit=1100%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/image-239.png?fit=1100%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=238022"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238029,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238022\/revisions\/238029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/237500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=238022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=238022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=238022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}