Paul Ehrlich, the butterfly biologist turned rock star eco-pessimist, has died at the age of 93. That in itself is remarkable because in 1970, he forecast that within the coming decade “at least 100–200 million people per year will be starving to death” and “by 1985 enough millions will have died to reduce the earth’s population to some acceptable level, like 1.5 billion people.” Furthermore, he warned that by 1980 the life expectancy of the average American would have fallen to 42 years as a result of cancer caused by pesticides.
Ehrlich’s life debunked his own statistics. He survived a half-century longer than the average life expectancy he predicted. He also spent his last years as one of more than eight billion people, in an era in which global life expectancy has increased by more than seven hours day since he forecast that it would collapse.
