Among twenty-one representatives of as many nations comprising the World Commission on Environment and Development, there was unanimous agreement on all issues concerning the environment, except two—the causal significance of population growth, and what to do with Antarctica. The lack of consensus on population is symptomatic of widespread confusion not only in the theoretical and empirical literature, but also among advocates of population control.This paper argues that confusion stems from insufficient attention to the nature of the causes involved. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds—ultimate and proximate. Ultimate causes include polluting technologies, affluence-related wastes, environmental consequences of warfare, land and urban mismanagement policies, and so on. In contrast, proximate causes such as rapid population growth are shown to be more situation-specific, contemporary, and of a confounding nature.

中文翻译：

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人口快速增长和环境退化：最终因素与近似因素

世界环境与发展委员会的 21 个国家代表在所有与环境有关的问题上达成了一致意见，除了两个问题——人口增长的因果意义，以及如何处理南极洲。对人口缺乏共识不仅是理论和实证文献中普遍存在混淆的征兆，而且在人口控制的倡导者中也是如此。本文认为，混淆源于对所涉及原因的性质关注不足。从广义上讲，有两种——终极的和接近的。最终原因包括污染技术、与富裕有关的废物、战争的环境后果、土地和城市管理不善政策等等。相比之下，