“Be fruitful, multiply, fill the Earth, and subdue her. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the Earth.”

Since these words were first attributed to the God of Abraham, the number of humans on the planet has increased by a factor of 1000. Now there are over 6 billion humans on the planet. Monotheistic religions promote large families and oppose abortion and birth control, while the dominant religion of consumerism magnifies the effect of population.

Overpopulation means overconsumption. Twenty years ago, Paul and Anne Ehrlich estimated that humans were appropriating over 40% of the total production of the Earth’s surface. Of course, this appropriation is not evenly divided among the Earth’s population. As the Ehrichs point out in a more recent book: “Because its combination of huge population size and profligate per capita consumption puts enormous stress on the Earth’s life-support system it is fair to say that the United States is the most overpopulated country on the planet. This is clear when you realize that each baby born in the United States on average will cause 15-150 times more environmental damage than a baby born in a very poor country.”

How do consumers in the overdeveloped world manage to have it all? Securing resources for the American market requires wars and military occupation. The Bush-Cheney Administration has established a huge military base in Iraq to secure the market for Middle Eastern oil, while Democrats debate how many troops should be “redeployed” to Afghanistan to secure the market for Central Asian natural gas.

Global climate disruption is a result of production for the North American market, even if the initial pollution takes place within the boundaries of China or other nation-states. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) from automobiles, trucks and power plants is not the only problem. In its recent study Livestock’s Long Shadow the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that the livestock industry is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions (measured in CO₂ equivalent), a higher share than transportation. The FAO identified livestock grazing as by far the single largest anthropogenic user of land. The total area occupied by grazing is equivalent to 26% of the ice-free terrestrial surface of the planet.

We do not have enough water in northern New Mexico to risk aquifers by drilling for oil or gas, or to lease out national forests to raise grass-fed beef. One-third of the land area of the United States, 782 million acres, is used to graze livestock. In the Mountain and Southern Plains states grassland pasture and range account for 55% of all land area. Livestock are the main cause of damage to riparian areas in the West, which are home to 70-80% of all western wildlife. Grass-fed cattle are the primary (if not the only) reason for predator control in the West. Thousands of wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, coyotes, mountain lions and other wildlife are killed each year to protect livestock on public and private lands.

There are varying estimates of the biological carrying capacity of the Earth, but we are clearly well beyond it. Humans’ insatiable appetite, especially in overdeveloped countries like the United States, is killing all life on this planet. We need to learn to control both our numbers and our consumptive lifestyle.

This will be the site of the new Peace and Justice for Animals blog. We will discuss topics of interest to animal activists, with particular emphasis on issues affecting the Southwestern U.S.