I've never been much of an environmentalist. Hugging trees and marching in protests to save the whales doesn't interest me. People who are willing to legislate against the building of much needed industrial plants and factories just to protect some endangered species of horned toad strike me as having their priorities all wrong.

There are however, some environmental issues we can't ignore. First and foremost among these is the simple fact that there are only so many square miles, feet and inches available on this planet on which we humans can stand, squat or huddle and still breathe, eat, reproduce and eliminate body wastes. This truth has nothing to do with religion, personal beliefs, philosophies or political affiliations. It simply IS.

In 1950, there were approximately 2.8 billion of us here on this planet. Today--50 years later, there are 6.1 billion of us. It is projected that 50 years from now, there will be 9.3 billion of us vying for space here on earth. As you can see, the trend is slowing. That is the good news. The bad news is the trend is slowing because 60 million people are expected to die of AIDS in the coming 20 years alone. Tens of millions of others will die of starvation and twice that number will die of diseases other than AIDS.

As I said, I have trouble identifying with endangered species like rats, toads and whatnot, but fellow human beings, I DO identify with. It makes me wonder what the answer might be in the effort to stop the earth's out of control population explosion. Were it not for disease, starvation and wars, one can only wonder what our current population might be. Stalin alone is said to have starved and killed off more than 20 million of his countrymen. Hitler, as we know, was responsible for not just the deaths of 6 million Jews, but for more than10 million other deaths on both sides of that war. Since WW2, dozens and dozens of wars throughout the world have accounted for tens if not hundreds of millions more dead with most of these deaths being young people of child bearing age.

Starvation, disease and the mass murders of war have held our population growth down to only doubling in the last 50 years. Still, I can't help but wonder; isn't there some better way? I don't lose sleep over how many whales are left in the ocean, but pictures of millions of children starving to death get to me. They really make me wonder......................isn't there something we can do about this?

For those who think this is only a third world problem, look at Mexico City. Fifty years ago, it was a city of 4 million people. Today, there are 20 million people living in that city. Fifty years ago, America was home to 125 million people. Today, we are home to more than 260 million. Fifty years from now...........how many.........1/2 billion?

I wish I knew the answer to this problem. So far, our only solution has been starvation, disease and war. Surely there must be a better way to control our population explosion.