Road to Survival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Author | William Vogt |
|---|---|
Publication date | August 5, 1948 |
| Publication place | United States |
| ISBN | 0548385165 |
Road to Survival is a 1948 book by William Vogt. It was a major inspiration for a certain strand of modern environmentalism as well as for the revival of Malthusianism—the so-called neo-Malthusianism—in the post-war era.
Road to Survival is a summary of the ecological status of the world. Vogt documented the negative effects of an expanding global population on the environment. He gathered reports of deforestation, gullying, overgrazing, soil erosion, and many forms of destruction of fundamental resources which he believed had arisen from the greed and ignorance of humankind.[1]
Vogt contended that global population growth surpasses the capacity of food production to sustain it, thereby advocating for the necessity of universal birth control measures.[2] Vogt also critiqued capitalism, characterizing it as a flawed system, and portrayed the historical trajectory of the United States as a continuous series of destructive events and actions.[3]
The book is filled with scientific data, and its worldwide scope was unusual at the time.[4] Ultimately, the book advocates population control as the only way to prevent environmental disaster.[5] Human population could not exceed the planet's carrying capacity without disaster.[3] According to Hampshire College's Betsy Hartmann, Vogt is the founder of what she calls "apocalyptic environmentalism".[6]
