October 4, 2011 -- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- Haymarket Books has kindly given permission for Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal to publish "Dissecting those 'overpopulation' numbers", an excerpt from the just published Too Many People? Population, Immigration and the Environmental Crisis by Ian Angus and Simon Butler. Links' readers are urged to purchase this essential book. You can order it directly from the publisher HERE; Australian readers can also purchase it at Resistance Bookshops in their city, or online at Resistancebooks.com.

Download "Dissecting those 'overpopulation' numbers" HERE (PDF), or read it on screen below.

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Too Many People? provides a clear, well-documented and popularly written refutation of the idea that “overpopulation” is a major cause of environmental destruction, arguing that a focus on human numbers not only misunderstands the causes of the crisis, it dangerously weakens the movement for real solutions. No other book challenges modern overpopulation theory so clearly and comprehensively, providing invaluable insights for activists and environmental scholars alike.

Ian Angus is editor of Climate and Capitalism, an online journal focusing on capitalism, climate change and the ecosocialist alternative. His previous books include Canadian Bolsheviks and The Global Fight for Climate Justice.

Simon Butler, a climate justice activist based in Sydney, Australia, is co-editor of Green Left Weekly, the country’s leading source of anti-capitalist news, analysis, discussion and debate.

Reviews

“This excellent book is steadfast in its refutations of the flabby, misogynist and sometimes racist thinking that population growth catastrophists use to peddle their claims. It’s just the thing to send populationists scurrying back to their bunkers.”

—Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved

"How did apparently progressive greens and defenders of the underprivileged turn into people-haters, convinced of the evils of over-breeding among the world's poor? How did they come to believe the 200-year-old myths of a right-wing imperialist friend of Victorian mill-owners? It's a sorry story, told here with verve and anger."

—Fred Pearce, author of Peoplequake

“Ian Angus and Simon Butler are not ordinary environmentalists and Too Many People? is not an ordinary book on population and the environment. They demonstrate that by demolishing the notion that too many people (and too many consumers) are the source of our environmental ills we can get at the real problem: the system of accumulation and waste commonly known as capitalism.”

—John Bellamy Foster, coauthor (with Fred Magdoff) of What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism

“Sadly the population myth has been used to distract attention from the roots of ecological crisis in a destructive economic system and to shift the blame for problems such as climate change on to the poor. This splendid book is an essential read for all those of us concerned with creating an ecologically sustainable and just future. Buy it, read it and spread the word!”

—Derek Wall, author of The Rise of the Green Left

"Ian Angus and Simon Butler’s superb book challenges the “common sense” idea that there are too many people. Clearly and concisely they blame a system that puts profit before people and planet, refuting the arguments of the later day Malthusians. It is a book that should be read by every environmental campaigner, trade unionist and political activist."

— Martin Empson, author of Marxism and Ecology: Capitalism, Socialism and the Future of the Planet

“Angus and Butler have written a comprehensive dissection of the arguments surrounding over-population, It’s a vital and insightful socialist response to the debate and highly recommended to anyone interested in fighting for a better world and avoiding the pitfalls of false solutions.”

—Chris Williams, author of Ecology and Socialism

“With clear prose and careful, cogent analysis, Angus and Butler provide the tools necessary to dismantle the myth of overpopulation step by step … [and] show the way to a more hopeful, justice-centered environmental and reproductive politics.”

—Betsy Hartmann, author of Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control

“This is an essential subject, and we are in Angus and Butler’s debt for treating it with such clarity and rigor.”

—Joel Kovel, author of The Enemy of Nature