Friends' Population Concerns

When the issue of world population growth was first raised within QEW in the early 1990s, some Friends thought it might be "too controversial," given the often acrimonious public debates going on over sex education, contraception, and abortion, as well as differing perspectives that were pitting affluent countries against many supposedly "overpopulated" Third World countries.

However, with the persistent witnessing of QEW supporter Stan Becker, a demographer, more Friends have come to see that a population concern for Friends does not have to be the anti-human complaint that is heard in many environmental concerns. As modern demographic studies have shown, the factors that serve to stabilize population growth, such as improved status and education for women, easily fit within the scope of Friends' traditional values of equality and compassion for all. Other studies on population have shifted the focus to humans' material consumption as a more significant factor in assessing environmental impact than simply counting gross numbers. In this perspective, the United States is one of the most "overpopulated" countries in the world! Addressing the issue of overconsumption is a good fit with the Quaker testimony of simple living as well.

Read the QEW Statement on Population Issues

We offer in this section an article by Stan Becker on his 30-year personal journey under the weight of a concern for population issues. (This article is taken from the QEW book, Earthcare for Friends, a Study Guide for Individuals and Faith Communities, which is available from the QEW Publication Catalog.)

We also recommend:

• QEW pamphlets:
  • Friends Witness on Rapid Population Growth
  • A Witness for Friends on Sexuality
  • Toward Taking Away the Occasion of Abortion
  • Adoption: An Earth-friendly Alternative
  • Immigration in a Crowded World
• QEW's booklet, The Population-Resources Exercise, available from the QEW Publications Catalog
• QEW's book, Population is People, a Friends Perspective, available from the QEW Publication Catalog
• The book, Population, Resources, and the Environment (United Nations Population Fund, 1991)

See also the work on population concerns of the QEW Sustainability: Faith & Action interest group.

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