32 THE AUDUBON BULLETS 
ceives more mail in support of the 
anti-ballistic missile system than 
he does on cancer research. He 
receives more mail in support of 
the Vietnam war than on the pre- 
servation of wildlife and _ the 
environment. 
Delegates approved resolutions 
calling for stronger regulation of 
strip mining where such mining 
threatens the environment. They 
called for stronger laws to improve 
the status of women, and to repeal 
anti-birth control laws. They re- 
quested a stepped-up program to 
eliminate auto pollution emissions. 
Among other recommendations of 
the Congress delegates were: that 
a national health insurance pro- 
gram be provided for every citizen; 
that mass transit plans be advanced 
in Congress; that air and water 
pollution programs be made far 
more effective; that the administra- 
tion program to develop an SST be 
stopped; and that environmental 
zoning be established to protect 
our local and federal parks, farms, 
homes and wilderness areas. 
The NCOPE was given extensive 
coverage on radio, television and 
in newspapers. Conservation and 
population-oriented groups pro- 
vided news coverage in their maga- 
zines and newsletters both before 
and after the conference. The 
national meeting was planned over 
a year in advance by NCOPE 
Executive Director, Rev. Canon 
Don Shaw, an ordained Episcopal 
priest. He had served previously 
with the Planned Parenthood As- 
sociation of Chicago. 
The population of the USA is 
now about 210 million persons. 
Like ex-Secretary of the Interior 
Stewart Udall, Don Shaw feels that 
the USA would be better off with 
a population stablized at about 150 
million persons. Demographers now 
feel it may reach 275 million before 
leveling off. (That is, of course, if 
we are lucky. Other signs indicate 
that we might reach a national] 
population growth of 340 million.) 
An article reprinted from Mid- 
west Focus magazine (P.O. Box 
3086, St. Louis, Mo. 63130), written 
by Richard Watson and Philip M, 
Smith and widely circulated at the 
conference, calls for an optimum 
population for the Planet Earth of 
500 million persons. Watson and 
Smith point out that there are 
about 3.5 billion persons now living 
in the world, of which 1.5 billion 
are undernourished and another 
500 million are starving. They 
point out that “the way of life of 
the average American is obviously 
ostentatious and wasteful in many 
ways.” The U.S.A. consumes 4 
percent of the world’s non-renew- 
able resources. 
The Congress had its origin 
among four Chicagoans who heard 
Dr. Paul Ehrlich’s address before 
the Planned Parenthood Associa- 
tion in January, 1969. Following 
a Conference on Abortion Laws 
in Chicago in February, 1969, it 
was felt that a national conference 
dealing with environment and pop- 
ulation was urgently needed. Ehr- 
lich is author of “The Population 
Bomb.” 
Don Shaw left his job with the 
Episcopal Diocese in order to de- 
vote full time to organizing such 
conferences. Dr. Lonny Myers, wha 
had been active in the birth con- 
trol and abortion reform battles in 
Chicago, helped provide financial 
backing. These two were joined by 
