Hi, my name is Clayton Poppe and I am a senior at Fairview High School
in Boulder, Colorado. I believe that you are very much mislead in your
research. It it hard to not notice the amount of degradation around you.
Just look at the devastation of the Pacific Northwest's old-growth
forests. There are plenty of examples where the environment is being
brutally destroyed in order to make way for more and more people. I
would respect your position much more if you would know first hand what
a typical Indian person has to go through. Not everyone is as
comfortable as you. If population growth stays at its current pace, in
as little as 150 years there will be over 700 billion people. The
population explosion in China was so great that people are forced to
only have one child. That seems like there is a huge problem to me. I
don't expect to sway you but I do challenge you to look more closely at
what will be the biggest problem we will ever face.
Thank you
****************
Good to hear you, Clayton. I always enjoy letters from high school
students, even if expressing an opposite view. I was in Boulder
a couple of weeks ago with my seminary classmates (25th anniversary
reunion). It's a great town in a beautiful area and I can understand
how you and others would be concerned to preserve it.
Please take a look at the letter from Matthew for
more on this key issue.
God Bless,
Fr. Phil Bloom
July 29, 1997