I began writing this book during the first seven months of 2020 when we were only beginning to feel the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on health, politics, and the worldwide economy. Since then, many important issues have risen to the fore…the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, the political upheaval of January 6th, the rapid escalation of extreme weather events, masses of people desperately fleeing their homelands, the war in Ukraine, the war in Sudan, and much more. With that in mind, there will be some references to situations and statistics that have since changed, and I am currently in the process of attempting to update many of the statistics and references that may no longer be accurate. So much has happened in the past 3 years as we struggle to address the varied and escalating problems that the presence of our species on the planet has given birth to. Upon reflection, I have also been considering changing the title to “ The Underlying Pandemic…Overpopulation, Overconsumption, Pollution, and the Dark Side of Humanity”, which more accurately conveys an overview of what I see as the predominant issues that need addressing. I have attempted to organize this mini book into chapters, but I would encourage you to read through from the beginning rather than jump to certain chapters that you might be more interested in. The whole book should take only a few hours to read, and some information and perspectives that you might expect to find in one chapter will come up in another chapter, as complex issues can never truly be isolated without consideration of the whole. I thank you for taking the time to explore my perspective. If you feel aligned with the message of this book and the effort to expand this conversation, please consider a donation…any size gift is helpful, and deeply appreciated.

Foreword

I am not a scientist, a statistician, an economist, a politician, an academic, a journalist or writer. I am an elderly (76 years old) lower middle–class college educated woman simply wanting to examine and explore from the ordinary person’s point of view a subject that has alarmed and mystified me since I was a child . . . an eleven-year-old girl whose common sense told her that if we didn’t address population growth and its affect on our planet, we would have some real problems. I would like to make it very clear that I am making no claims of expertise in any of the subjects that I explore in this discussion. All the information that is presented is readily available online and in previous publications (books, articles, interviews, that I have read or researched online). Naturally, there exist many opinions and, also, varied statistics when information is researched in this way. I have attempted to reference my sources as much as possible,(see end notes), and at this time I would like to express my sincere appreciation, gratitude, and apologies to all those whose expertise, research, and informed opinions I have borrowed from to present this simplified exploration of a very complex problem. My intent in writing this is not to present new information, but simply to explore a subject that for many people seems to be somewhat taboo to discuss. I am curious as to why this is so, and writing this book is my attempt to engage in a discussion about the importance of population control to help us as a species to begin to heal the imbalance we have created on the precious planet we inhabit.

-K.J. Rush