M.A. Keys has been concerned about human overpopulation for nearly four decades. In the author’s lifetime, world population has increased from 3 billion to 8.2 billion. Concern regarding the number of humans on the planet has been a point of discussion for over 200 years – since the early part of the industrial revolution – but is rarely part of modern-day conversation when we talk about environmental issues. Earth has finite resources which humans use. Only a few of our resources are naturally renewable, such as trees, crops and other food sources, and only to a certain degree. If humans use these resources more quickly than they can naturally renew themselves, then they begin to dwindle. Earth Overshoot Day is a calculation of when that point is reached each year. 1972 was the last year Earth Overshoot Day occurred on 31 December. In 2025, Earth Overshoot Day was reached on 24 July. Does it look like there is a co-relation between increasing human population and decreasing resources? When you think you live sustainably, think about Earth Overshoot Day.

 

After a lot of reading and research, and thinking about various problems facing humans and the planet, Keys believes human population is the bottom line. The idea for Freedom Farm came into the author’s head in the late 2000s and in 2010 pen was finally put to paper. Fifteen years later it felt right to share the story of Freedom Farm with a troubled world. The author’s hope is that people will then talk about the human plague and what the future looks like or could be.

 

We are living in a time of more, and more, and more. How well could the earth breathe if there were less?