Interest Groups - Areas Being Explored

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.