Ehrlich << AYR lihk >>, Paul Ralph (1932-…), an American biologist, is a leader of the international movement for population control. In his book The Population Bomb (1968), Ehrlich claimed that the world’s population was growing faster than its food supply. He warned that hundreds of millions of people would starve to death as a result of overpopulation.
Many scientists criticized some of Ehrlich’s statements as exaggerations. Although he agrees that other factors are involved, Ehrlich continues to stress that overpopulation is the most important cause of hunger and environmental problems.
In 1968, Ehrlich helped form an organization called Zero Population Growth (now Population Connection). This group urges every family to have no more than two children. Ehrlich’s other books include Biology and Society (1976), Human Natures (2002), and One with Nineveh (2004). Ehrlich was born on May 29, 1932, in Philadelphia.
