Letter: Three threats to mankind

When I look at the fate of our species, I see three threats.

The first is world population. In a few thousand years, we have gone from at most half a billion people to more than 7 billion, and most of that growth has occurred in the last several centuries.

The next is environmental disaster, and, of course, this problem is coupled to the first. Climate change is just one issue here, and we cannot afford to wait until our contribution to the problem is a certainty. That will be too late. Environmental sub-threats are too numerous to list.

The final threat is some sort of nuclear disaster. The worst would be all-out nuclear war, which won’t eliminate all life but will have an impact for many millennia.

The nuclear situation has been tenuous, but stable. While places like North Korea and Iran remain problematic, it seems that we can deal with them, if not now, eventually. The non-proliferation treaty has to be continued, and we must work to lessen hostility between nuclear powers, like Pakistan and India.

Now, Donald Trump is suggesting that it might be acceptable to add countries, like Japan, to the list of the nuclear armed. Our nuclear protection is a high cost that we must bear. It is not the same cost as boots on the ground, foreign bases, etc. Adding more nuclear powers is like encouraging college students to be armed on campus. It is not a good idea.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 9:59 PM with the headline "Letter: Three threats to mankind."