Regarding the Jan. 2 letter, “Overpopulation is a very real issue,” which asserted that we are over-populating ourselves off the planet: While a higher population does place larger pressure on us all to work in harmony, there is too great of a disparity in the allocation and consumption of resources for our birth rate to be the largest problem. I believe that there is “enough to spare” when it comes to sustaining human life; we just have to free our minds from the cellophane barrier that has caused us to think only of ourselves.

In order to be more equitable as a society, we will have to alter the way we enjoy life. There are others around the globe whose share of the global resource pie is just crumbs that have fallen from our lips. We need to do what we can to minimize the impact we put on others and on the environment. There are many ways we can do this: Grow a small garden; walk, bicycle, or ride the bus more; avoid excess packaging; when possible buy local goods; donate time and money to social services; recycle and use recycled goods; landscape with native vegetation.

The typical American lifestyle of an individually-wrapped sense of entitlement to individually-wrapped goods is simply not sustainable. There may be a day when it will not be financially, socially or practically feasible for everyone to have their own quarter-acre of consumptive bliss. We are not breeding ourselves off the planet; we are consuming ourselves off the planet.

Gabe Philips

Everett