Letters WANTED: BIGGER PLANET QUIZ QUESTION Diana Deumling of Redefining Progress, the organization that designed the "Big Foot" quiz, replies: The quiz measures each individuals demand on nature, and more people in a household decreases the per-person housing footprint. But Ms. Eielsons point about overall population numbers is well-taken. Adding another American makes large demands on the planet: for example, 20 tons of meat and 4.5 cars over an average life span. Furthermore, if world population keeps growing at the 2001 rate of 1.3 percent per year, it will more than triple by 2100, meaning that the resources now available to one person would have to be shared by more than three. Clearly, we must address population size to keep our planetary use of natural resources in balance, but that was beyond the scope of this quiz. DO DIAPERS MATTER? Editors reply: Our source was The Consumers Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, a book produced by a group noted for its sound technical information, the Union of Concerned Scientists. A passel of impassioned letters have convinced us that parents might want to dig further, however. Readers pointed out that an article in the March 22, 2001, Ecologist came down firmly on the side of cloth. The British magazine cited a 1991 study by the Womens Environmental Network (www.wen.org.uk) that found cloth diapers use 3.5 times less total energy, 8 times less non-regenerable material, and 90 times less renewable material, and produce 2.3 times less wastewater than disposables. For a good summary of the controversy, see "The Politics of Diapers" in Mothering magazines January/February 2003 issue. BUILDING PATRIOTISM BUSH ON POPULATION Carl Pope replies: Mr. Hufnagel is right. I missed an opportunity. In 1994, the United States signed on to the Cairo accord, a model international agreement aimed at improving womens health and helping to slow population growth. I didnt mention it because it didnt appear to be a treaty Bush was targeting. Of course, about the time the column appeared, he went after it anyway, by refusing to reaffirm U.S. support for Cairo at a meeting of Asian and Pacific nations in Bangkok. I winced during the State of the Union when the president proclaimed an exciting-sounding initiative to deal with the AIDS crisis in Africa, knowing that his administration promotes abstinence-only for planning families and preventing AIDS. President Bushs war on the environment clearly includes his family-planning policies. CORRECTIONS CONTACT US EDITORS NOTE |