Why Do Environmentalists Avoid “Population”?

By Richard Grossman MD | 22 June 2025
Population Matters-USA

“The words ‘birth control’ and ‘population’ shouldn’t be in the same sentence. Indeed, they shouldn’t even be in the same room!”

I was interviewing the president of a company that markets contraceptives. She belongs to an ethnic group that has suffered from genocide and involuntary sterilization in the past. She was quite adamant that family planning should not be advocated as a means to help the environment.

Some words have adverse connotations to some people in certain situations. For instance, I used the word “vagina” in my work as an OB-GYN, but in many groups it would be rude to speak it. “Population” is one of the words that has become sullied in the recent past. My demographer friends talk about population all the time, but they don’t seem aware that there are many people who are antithetic to the word.

What is the meaning of “population”? One definition is: “the number of people in a country or region”, however that seems too simple. It has come to have the implication of “overpopulation”, as in the title of the Ehrlichs’ book, “The Population Bomb”.

Population growth is driving our animals to extinction. Since 1970, the global human population has increased from 3.7 bn to over 8 bn. In the same time frame, global #wildlife populations have plummeted by 73% on average. https://t.co/8JLDYDUy3V pic.twitter.com/MOy6HPI20H

— Population Matters (@PopnMatters) January 4, 2025

Why does this simple word carry so much baggage? I think that there are several reasons. One is that some religions promote large families or prohibit the use of birth control; they follow the biblical admonition to “be fruitful and multiply”. In addition, focusing on human population forces us to take responsibility for environmental degradation.

Perhaps the main reason that “population” has negative connotations for many people is its past history of abuse. There have been two huge regrettable examples of population policies that ignored people’s civil and reproductive rights. China forced women to use contraception or to have abortions during its one child policy. In India, both men and women were forcibly sterilized during The Emergency, in the mid 1950s.

Unfortunately, there have been many smaller abuses of people’s reproductive rights. Sterilizations of poor Indigenous women in Peru is an example. That was part of Peru’s National Population Program during Fujimori’s reign. There have also been cases closer to home. Many “Mississippi appendectomies”—forced tubal ligations of Black women—have been documented. Native women also have been targeted, continuing the genocide of the 19th century. The majority of states had eugenic laws in the early 20th century, with forced sterilizations of “undesirable” people. Colorado was one of the exceptions without such a law.

Sterilization without consent is real. I assisted with an infertility operation many years ago. The patient had moved from Texas after getting divorced and remarrying. She had had 3 children by cesarean with her first husband, but hadn’t conceived with her new mate. At surgery we found that her tubes had been tied. The patient later told us that her doctor in Texas had not liked her first husband and had apparently done the tubal ligation without her consent or knowledge.

Both the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society had population programs in the past. Then, they recognized the relationship between population growth and environmental problems, and had educational programs on that subject—but no longer. Apparently slowing population growth is too controversial for them, and for most other environmental groups.

In 1926, when our Patron Sir David Attenborough was born, the global population stood at two billion. 98 years later, it stands at over 8bn people.

Find out more about what that meanshttps://t.co/nHscFzol2O

— Population Matters (@PopnMatters) December 30, 2024

It seems that the word “population” has bad connotations for many people now, including environmentalists. It brings up the specter of involuntary reproductive procedures done in order to limit world population growth or to get rid of certain populations of people.

“Population” is an important word, since the planet is already overpopulated. Therefore, need to pay attention to the word and remove barriers to access family planning. However, we also need to be aware of its bad baggage when we use it.

Reprinted with permission from the author.

Richard Grossman became concerned about overpopulation in high school and chose a medical path to work in the field. He practiced gynecology and obstetrics, including abortion care, for 40 years in Southwest Colorado. Now retired, he writes a monthly essay on aspects of human population. If you like his blog, www.population-matters.org, you can subscribe using the form at the bottom of the page.