Counting Beans
By Michael Ratcliffe
I ask my students:
Are there too many people?
They’ve been raised on the problems
that come with overpopulation–
famine, poverty, and
environmental degradation.
To them, demography is destiny.
We go over the numbers:
7.8 billion and growing,
doubling times,
population momentum,
fertility rates—going down overall,
below replacement in some countries,
but still high in others,
especially those that are the poorest.
I rise early to pick beans and lettuce.
Kale and okra coming along,
cucumbers, grapes, and apples too,
all in my small patch behind the house.
I think of my students
and the semester that begins
in a month; of the numbers
and the data we will confront,
and the questions we need to ask:
Are resources distributed fairly?
What if each person had enough land
to grow the food they need?
Are we counting the right beans?
