"As our numbers increase, so space for other animals and plants decreases.

Our skills and technological integuity seem to know no bounds.

Having ventured to every corner of our planet, we are now beginning to look

beyong it. We are conducting experiments to find out how to grow food to

sustain ourselves should we manage to extent the teritory of our species

to mars.

Men impressed their footprints on the moon a mere three and a half million

years after the first of them to walk upright lef theirs across a field of volcanic

ash in Africa. That is a mere blink in the eye of evolution. In that short time we,

alone among all animals, have discovered how to exploit our environment to

produce more and more food to sustain our unparalleled numbers. In so doing

we have denied the earth to other species to such an extent that many have been

driven into extinction and many more are now trembling on the blink.

Perhaps the time has come, when we should put our aspirations into reverse.

Perhaps now, instead of controling the environment for the benefit of our population,

we should find ways of controlling our population to ensure the survival of our

gravely threatened environment."

An admirable statement from David Attenborough