Why are ecologists and environmentalists so feared and hated? This is because in part what they have to say is new to the general public, and the new is always alarming.
An attack on values is inevitably seen as an act of subversion.
Indeed, our particular concept of private property, which deters us from exhausting the positive resources of the earth, favors pollution.
A finite world can support only a finite population; therefore, population growth must eventually equal zero.
But as population became denser, the natural chemical and biological recycling processes became overloaded, calling for a redefinition of property rights.
The optimum population is, then, less than the maximum.