*7.

7 (Listening Part 3)
Presenter: Good morning and welcome.
Joining me in the studio today are Hugo
Silva and Bethany Wright, who are here
to discuss the concept of overpopulation.
Hugo - is overpopulation actually a
problem?
Hugo: Well, I know for a start that
Bethany, among others, is going to
disagree with me here but no, it isn't. Now, I
can almost hear listeners shouting at the
radio - 'we're wasting our resources!' they'll
be crying. I'm not deterred by that. I know
my ideas are unpopular in some circles,
but that doesn't mean they aren't credible.
People do challenge me when I attempt
to put my arguments forward on this
matter, but I'm prepared for the onslaught!
Whether they choose to really hear what
I'm saying is up to them.
Presenter: So, tell us. Why isn't
overpopulation a problem?
Hugo: People say we're rapidly depleting
the world's natural resources and the Earth
can't carry on carrying us all. This simply
isn't true. The ecology of human systems
doesn't work in that way. Humanity is not
sustained naturally, and never has been.
People have made use of technologies
and engineering - from as far back as
the earliest stone tools - to manage
ecosystems and sustain populations. It's
taken thousands of generations to become
as sophisticated as we are today, but that's
what's happened all along.