Editor,

I just turned 84 years old on Sept. 17. I was curious of what the world’s population was in the year I was born, 1939. According to Google it was 2 billion. So then I asked Google what the world’s population is today; it is 8 billion.

This means that the world’s population has doubled to 4 billion and then redoubled to 8 billion in my relative short lifespan of 84 years. In my opinion this population explosion has greatly contributed to our climate crisis.

Here are just a few examples :Millions of autos and trucks sit in congested traffic on freeways and streets all over the world spewing out millions of tons of carbon monoxide each day.

Millions of tons of Walmart gadgets are shipped around the world from China on old inefficient, diesel gushing freighters; semi-trucks and railroads.

Six billion more people need millions of new housing, therefore forests are mowed down and streets are paved with asphalt (using more oil products). All causing unmanageable traffic congestion all over the world.

Millions of high-rise buildings and apartments built in the world cities store heat from the sun, increase the heat index daily and expel that heat in the evening.

Perhaps 6 billion new bodies cause a substantial increase in exhaled body heat.

I met a Mexican Indian boy who claimed he had 23 brothers and sisters (same father, two mothers). Catholic religion encourages no birth control.

I dated a Mexican social worker that tried to go into villages and convince women to use condoms. She was literally thrown out of many villages by the Catholic priests.

For the record, I am not anti-Catholic, my two daughters are Catholic.

There are many ways to start encouraging birth control around our fragile world. For example, I believe the Catholic Church leaders should encourage their 1 billion followers to practice some form of birth control .

Again, I am not anti-Catholic, I am simply concerned about this population explosion and the negative affects to our beautiful, God-created planet.

Bill Rowlands

Langley