Dear Mr. Paxson,
On behalf of our Mentor Connection group, thank you for the outstanding
presentation. Our Mentor Connection group appreciates your generosity
in sharing your time and expertise.
Enthusiastic student responses verify the importance of your presentation.
I am so astounded by the statistics you shared with us today. I was
aware that population growth was an issue, but I had no idea that it
would actually take affect in my life time.
The biggest problem in the world today is dealing with population.
The movie said that by preserving the resources and limiting the number
of children people have. There are 6.1 billion people on earth and we
will divide in about 54 years. This is unbelievable I am so glad you
came to speak because I didn't know we were short on resources.
My field of study this year in Mentor Connection is architecture.
I'm particularly interested in "greek" architecture (ecologically
sustainable buildings that consume less fossil fuels/resources) and
combating urban sprawl. Greek architecture is directly related to
population growth. I've never known the detailed figures on population
growth -- they're more startling than I thought. Additionally, we
Mentor Connection students are just a bunch of suburban kids who don't
think much about how lucky we are. Your talk really opened my eyes.
Thank you for speaking to us.
He was a very informative speaker. He made me realize all the things
that I take for granted that are slowly ruining our world. The #'s that
he put up were staggering and frightening and it makes you realize that
something must be done before we destroy the world we live in.
The use of the Metronome really opened my eyes. It is hard to
comprehend the rate of which the population is growing. (Doubling in
54 years!) The video was a good visual when Mr. Paxson talked about the
poverty, I was reminded of the time I spent in these camps with
indigenous Mexicans. I agree with how he said that everyone should see
and experience the struggles people have to go through just to live.
What an interesting topic! David Paxson's obvious passion for this
current and important topic is clear and made him a wonderful
presenter. He did a wonderful job of intervening facts, statistics and
anecdotes to create an understandable presentation. The stat that 2
billion people (less than we have now) can be sustained comfortably for
any length of time was scary and very realistic. I also understood very
clearly the idea that the largest problems in underdeveloped countries
are high birth and growth rates because of my trips to Madagascar.
I was very surprised at how interesting this presentation was today!
I was aware that population was an issue, but I had no idea how
critical of an issue it is becoming. The video and the Metronome
(especially the Metronome) were incredibly helpful visual aids; they
immensely enhanced the presentation by illustrating the problem so
clearly.
Everything in our livelihood will be affected but our population
growth, unless we do something. The "American Ideal" does not allow
conservation. We go for big everything, there has always been enough
and "more where that came from." It will destroy the world.
Thank you for talking to us today. It was very interesting. It's a
subject I haven't been exposed to very much, so a lot of your
information was shocking to say the least. Unfortunately there are so
many aspects to the problem and no clear solution. Hopefully people
will realize the problem and become better stewards of the planet.
What a disturbing topic. The metronome was extremely effective, and
so was the video? I want to be able to do something to help, but it's
difficult to know what to do. I will certainly start by sharing some of
this information with my friends and family.
Thank you for coming in today to speak to us about the world
population growth. I can't believe that our world is growing so fast
today. I was glad to hear that the growth rate had slowed down a bit.
I learned a lot from you today. Hopefully, the growth rate will slow
down so that we won't run out of resources. I can't believe that the
U.S. uses 25% of the world energy when we only make up 5% of
the population that's really amazing.
It is incredibly upsetting to be reminded of the over-population
crisis in our world. I am thankful that Mr. Paxson has dedicated
himself to helping the problem and educating others. We are the future
and we need to be informed so we can improve life in the world.
I thought the speaker was excellent. The examples he gave about how
quickly the population is growing really helped me to realize how
serious the problem of quick growth has become. The use of the
metronome and the video to demonstrate how fast the population is
growing were very helpful. I thought the story of the research done
about how many people the planet could support was shocking. I will do
my best to conserve resources and inform others about this problem
after hearing this speaker.
I loved this seminar -- this is a subject that I am very interested
in. I still find it unbelievable how quickly the population is rising
and how quickly we are depleting our resources. I don't understand how
the U.S. can just stand by and do nothing about this problem area. We
are using 25% of the world's energy. People everywhere need to think
seriously about this subject.
It was very sobering to hear about all these implications of
population growth. I struggle with how to lessen consumption and
pollution, but it is difficult in the American society. I think
ultimately there needs to be a change in our values.
Mr. Paxson's presentation about the rapid growth of human population
was very interesting and pretty shocking. The video Mr. Paxson showed
about the increase in human population over the past 2000 years is one
I've seen before. But it's very effective in making a point. I think
that it's very sad that Americans waste so many resources. However, I
don't understand how it can be stopped because so many people are
unaware of the problem and unwilling to try to solve it.
This issue is so crucial to us -- the facts are truly frightening
regarding the current state of affairs in the world and the U.S. I had
no idea the State of Affairs was so crucial but now I will carry the
knowledge of this problem with me. Thanks you so much.
The development of tomorrow's leaders depends on the contributions of
caring and accomplished adults. Because we believe that your colleagues
and friends should be aware of your generous community service in the
development of tomorrow's leaders, we enclose a Certificate of
Recognition.
In the summer we will be contacting you about participating in the
2002-03 Mentor Connection Seminar Speaker Series. We hope that you will
be available.
With deep respect and appreciation, we thank you for sharing your
passion, providing a challenge, and thereby touching the future.
Dorothy B. Welch, Ph.D.
Constance Cameron
Mary Ellen Hennessey
Del Bosacker
