As a class, we have learned a tremendous amount about our planet and the many hardships that we humans are making it go through, and at the same time causing depletion of its resources at a very high rate and fast pace. 

The main problem we have been facing for the past few decades, according to Dr. Saier, is that the human population is growing at an alarming rate, “Now at 6.3 billion, [humans] we are experiencing a global increase of 250,000 people (births over deaths) every day!” Needless to say, adding this many people to our planet every day means we have to increase production of practically everything a person consumes in order to maintain survival of the species, which brings us too many negative consequences to talk about in one letter. 

The point I’m trying to make is not that we should stop procreating altogether, however, we can definitely start by doing as much as possible to get rid of all those unwanted and unneeded pregnancies. Since sex is way too much fun and pleasant to give up, trying to prevent it or prohibit it would be an epic fail, and it would mean taking the wrong approach. 

The right thing to do in this case would be to take advantage of the learning community in which we live in and try not to stop sex, but rather, to encourage its safe practice.

Providing contraceptives like condoms in the most random places and throughout the school year would be a good start, instead of just having them on RA apartment doors during Valentine’s Day. Nothing spells safe sex like strips of condoms dangling from trees, or taped to the doors of restrooms. Also, it would be a great idea to provide constant patrolling of the darkest and loneliest places on campus instead of having to wait for students to call for help when it’s too late. This would certainly prevent disgusting, creepy guys who can’t get any from raping girls when they find themselves in a vulnerable situation. 

Perhaps the most important approach to take would be to encourage the enrollment in classes such as BILD 18 that promote the safety of our planet and as a consequence, of our own. 

— Carlos A. Ponce
Senior, Thurgood Marshall College