“You can only spend so much time alerting people to a problem. After that, they do their own thing.”

That quote from Paul Ehrlich in a National Wildlife article titled, “What Ever Happened to the Population Bomb?” could refer to so many other environmental issues. It also speaks to numerous related issues people have worked on for years, such as: the myriad of reasons people should embrace veganism; that feeding antibiotics to livestock is creating superbugs; or that encouraging people to make sport of killing animals puts our very society at risk.

But the fact that most folks are inclined to do their own thing despite warnings from scientists or pleas from the compassionate few shouldn’t discourage good people from spreading the word. “The Population Bomb” sold 20 million copies and educated an entire generation about “…the rise to total dominance of a single species: man,” as Ehrlich put it.

Though the vast majority may be happy to tune out (“as long as they have their sports channels and pizza deliveries,” to quote fellow anti-hunter, Peter Muller), there will always be the magnanimous and informed few working to secure a better world for all. Ultimately, it’s up to the majority to finally decide that the continued existence of this living planet takes priority over “their own thing.”

Photos Copyright Jim Robertson