Review
"Like Malthus, Rohe ends his own Essay on a note of hope. If people are able to comprehend that there are limits to growth, and will take personal and community responsibility for ensuring that resources are not exhausted, then there is no theoretical reason why future generations will be forced to exist in a new Dark Age." -- Wayne Lutton, Ph.D. The Social Contract, Spring, 1998.
"Like an attorney arguing a case, he (Rohe) uses the short chapters as building blocks, first to explain key concepts such as exponential growth and carrying capacity. He then combines the key concepts with specific examples and powerful images such as that of the juggernaut to emphasize their stark reality and vital importance. Gradually, the reader comes to see the individual chapters as the links that define the fundamental relationships among human population growth, economic activity and a finite and fragile environment . . . Ultimately Rohe's book is about a paradigm shift that humans cannot ignore." -- Sharon McCloe Stein, NPG Booknote
"Our perception of Malthusian principles underlie continued jurisprudential development in the field of individual liberties, citizenship and property. As the adaptation of laws enables us to perpetuate our civilization, it may come to pass that laws will provide us with our secular salvation." -- William B. Conn, Michigan Lawyers Weekly
"Parson Malthus was on the right track 200 years ago. Michigan lawyer and author, John Rohe, in his new book "A Bicentennial Malthusian Essay," states my concern succintly: 'If we remain indifferent to the limits of visual abuse on interior viewscapes, then we will sacrifice not only a prime natural resource, but we will also diminish ourselves in the process.' That visual abuse and the costly social problems that go with it are driven by population growth, a phenomenon that is within our power to manage in a rational, voluntary, democratic way." -- Rupert Cutler, The Roanoke Times
"State Bar member John Rohe, a dedicated conservationist, frequent Journal contributor, prolific writer, and 1994 Clarity Award winner, recently published A Bicentennial Malthusian Essay, in which he addresses in today's context, the themes Malthus sounded 200 years ago. His book has caused a stir prompting renewed interest in the basic and indisputable truths Malthus articulated two centuries ago." -- Frederick M. Baker, Jr., Bar Journal Advisory Board State Bar Journal of Michigan, January, 1998.
"The author, John F. Rohe, attributes many of today's problems, from famine to road rage, to the same overpopulation that concerned Malthus 200 years ago. Compounding the problem, he writes, is the quest for economic growth regardless of its impact on natural resources." (CQ Researcher, July 17, 1998). -- CQ Researcher, July 17, 1998.
"We consume things and land at an incredible rate, one that cannot be sustained. Warnings have been made about the expansion of population and consumption of resources for 200 years, notably in 1798, when Thomas Malthus wrote the controversial essay on the principle of population. It caused such a stir at the time, and such a negative perception of both the message and the messenger that Malthus is believed to be the model for the character, Scrooge, in the Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol. It would be unfortunate if John F. Rohe, author of A Bicentennial Malthusian Essay, became known as a modern-day Scrooge. In person, Rohe, an attorney who lives in Petoskey, is a very pleasant, happy, devoted family man. Perhaps it is his devotion to family that motivated him to review Malthus' essay on its 200-year anniversary. The result is a well- researched, thoughtful book on the basic failing of humankind to adequately plan for its future due to an inability to deal with limitations." -- John D. Warbach, Ph.D., Planning & Zoning News, November, 1998
Neither the Social Contract nor Mr. Rohe, a lawyer, mechanical engineer and environmental activist, is conservative, at least not part of the "movement," but through their sympathy for Malthus, they have independently rediscovered some of the fundamental concepts of the conservative tradition that the conservative movement has long since dispatched to the toxic waste dump. -- Samuel Francis, Chronicles, Dec. 1998.
"Like an attorney arguing a case, he (Rohe) uses the short chapters as building blocks, first to explain key concepts such as exponential growth and carrying capacity. He then combines the key concepts with specific examples and powerful images such as that of the juggernaut to emphasize their stark reality and vital importance. Gradually, the reader comes to see the individual chapters as the links that define the fundamental relationships among human population growth, economic activity and a finite and fragile environment . . . Ultimately Rohe's book is about a paradigm shift that humans cannot ignore." -- Sharon McCloe Stein, NPG Booknote
"Our perception of Malthusian principles underlie continued jurisprudential development in the field of individual liberties, citizenship and property. As the adaptation of laws enables us to perpetuate our civilization, it may come to pass that laws will provide us with our secular salvation." -- William B. Conn, Michigan Lawyers Weekly
"Parson Malthus was on the right track 200 years ago. Michigan lawyer and author, John Rohe, in his new book "A Bicentennial Malthusian Essay," states my concern succintly: 'If we remain indifferent to the limits of visual abuse on interior viewscapes, then we will sacrifice not only a prime natural resource, but we will also diminish ourselves in the process.' That visual abuse and the costly social problems that go with it are driven by population growth, a phenomenon that is within our power to manage in a rational, voluntary, democratic way." -- Rupert Cutler, The Roanoke Times
"State Bar member John Rohe, a dedicated conservationist, frequent Journal contributor, prolific writer, and 1994 Clarity Award winner, recently published A Bicentennial Malthusian Essay, in which he addresses in today's context, the themes Malthus sounded 200 years ago. His book has caused a stir prompting renewed interest in the basic and indisputable truths Malthus articulated two centuries ago." -- Frederick M. Baker, Jr., Bar Journal Advisory Board State Bar Journal of Michigan, January, 1998.
"The author, John F. Rohe, attributes many of today's problems, from famine to road rage, to the same overpopulation that concerned Malthus 200 years ago. Compounding the problem, he writes, is the quest for economic growth regardless of its impact on natural resources." (CQ Researcher, July 17, 1998). -- CQ Researcher, July 17, 1998.
"We consume things and land at an incredible rate, one that cannot be sustained. Warnings have been made about the expansion of population and consumption of resources for 200 years, notably in 1798, when Thomas Malthus wrote the controversial essay on the principle of population. It caused such a stir at the time, and such a negative perception of both the message and the messenger that Malthus is believed to be the model for the character, Scrooge, in the Charles Dickens story, A Christmas Carol. It would be unfortunate if John F. Rohe, author of A Bicentennial Malthusian Essay, became known as a modern-day Scrooge. In person, Rohe, an attorney who lives in Petoskey, is a very pleasant, happy, devoted family man. Perhaps it is his devotion to family that motivated him to review Malthus' essay on its 200-year anniversary. The result is a well- researched, thoughtful book on the basic failing of humankind to adequately plan for its future due to an inability to deal with limitations." -- John D. Warbach, Ph.D., Planning & Zoning News, November, 1998
Neither the Social Contract nor Mr. Rohe, a lawyer, mechanical engineer and environmental activist, is conservative, at least not part of the "movement," but through their sympathy for Malthus, they have independently rediscovered some of the fundamental concepts of the conservative tradition that the conservative movement has long since dispatched to the toxic waste dump. -- Samuel Francis, Chronicles, Dec. 1998.
