I recently received and read (some of) my copy of Sierra, the Sierra Club magazine. I’m finally frustrated enough to write.

As usual, the well-written articles bemoan the degradation of the environment. And, as usual, the authors of the articles blame the situation on anything but the real cause. The cause is people and population; all the other problems are only symptoms. It seems obvious that pollution, consumption of resources, loss of habitat and farmland and urban sprawl are all directly proportional to population. To talk about environmental problems without even mentioning population is ludicrous.

The Sierra Club is not the only group that avoids dealing with population. Most of the other well-known environmental organizations also refuse to address it.

There are brilliant, dedicated people in the environmental movement. They should be willing to confront the real problem. It’s not politically correct to talk about population, but ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. John H. Frecker Baileyville