The infamous overpopulation bet: Simon vs. Ehrlich - Soraya Field Fiorio
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TEDEd Animation
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In 1980, Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon bet $1,000 on a question with stakes that couldn’t be higher: would the earth run out of resources to sustain a growing human population? They bet $200 on the price of five metals. If the price of a metal decreased or held steady over the next decade, Simon won. If the price increased, Ehrlich won. So, what happened? Soraya Field Fiorio investigates.
Paul Ehrlich is often labeled a pessimist in the debate about environmentalism and climate change, while Julian Simon was an optimist, predicting that everything would turn out fine. Modern discussions about environmentalism still tend to follow either a black-and-white, all good or all bad, mentality. What are some ways these two approaches could be combined?
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Soraya Field Fiorio
- Director Avi Ofer
- Narrator Alexandra Panzer
- Music Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio
- Sound Designer Nirana Singh, cAMP Studio
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
- Editorial Producer Elizabeth Cox
- Fact-Checker Charles Wallace
