epee RS pee rence oma san FE ae ‘its centenary . with 7 Commentary by Jorma Jyrkkanen - Politicians throughout the world are elected because they promise jobs and growth to an “ever needier population. The Pope refuses to endorse birth - control, and Pro-lifers argue that all life is precious. Is. this a wise course for humankind? H. .von Foerster. and others analysed human population growth and contributing factors - back in the late 1950’s, and they came out with a most interesting -human . population _ prediction - equation. That: equation predicts that in “the 2026 the human population will go up to infinity. Big deal you say! Predictions have been wrong before. I ran. this equation on my computer and ‘got ‘some in- teresting facts. These don’t ex- _ actly agree with what Stuart _ . Umpleby of George Washington University reported in Science, Vol, 237, 25 Sept. 1987, pages 1555- 1556, but they are close. ~~ With all due respect, I think, _ that my colleague made a mis- . -take'in his report by one year on -.One Statistic: . doesn’t change the outcome. :! The equation predicted that in. | 1975, the population would b be . a F 58993 billion, but it. was ‘ac- tually. 4.414 billion, an under- ". estimate of 11.2. percent. ‘ Note that the percentage in-* _ creases .over the ° predicted ‘However, _ it. From infinity to zer0_ — In one year ~ percentage. In 1986, it predicted 4, 545299 billion, but the actual was over 5 billion. Note that the percentage in- crease jumped between 1975 and 1980, and that the equation was |. conservative. | Thus, the human population ' is ‘growing faster than the: predicted growth based on this doomsday equation, despite zero population increase in Canada, India and other | coun- tries, : Because of the high rate of destruction of the life- supporting ecosystem through pollution, : desertification, . pro- ductive land alienation, salin-. ification, degradation, and climatic alteration, the world’s carrying capacity to hold humans is decreasing, not in- creasing. The accelerated rate of extinc- tion of other life forms suggests that we are treading on perilous ground. with the philosophy .of. growth presently promulgated. If-my colleague is right, then -the politicians would do better to finda platform promoting ‘leveling off of the human pop- ulation, or even decreasing it in key. areas, ‘The. Pope could: provide wise leadership in this regard, if he would but accept ' that perhaps. the risk of -science being right and the church being wrong are too great to take by clinging to™ old dogma: If the politicians and the Pope’ do not. change course soon, we may well be facing .a holocaust, c VON FOERSTER'S 1960 [EQUATION PREDICTIONS. YEAR PRED. POP , (billions) 1975 3.589 1980 . 3.968873 1985 4.437815 - 1990 5.033229 1995, ' §,814401 2000 — - 6.884589 . 2005 8.441173 - 2010 10,91464 2015 ~*'15.45778 2020 | ‘ - 26.56233 2025 - _ . 96,32321 2026. © - | .9 but one that could have been averted by taking action now, It could just be that we don’t need. to destroy this planet if we ac- cept the possibility that the Bible was wrong on this count. With all due respect, I disagree with all of these learned people and the bible on the. growth philosophy, :and I- re- commend that we ‘take action now to’save this planet by giving Mr. Foerster the benefit .of: the possibility of being right. Christian Heritage Party. tc to field Skeena candidate | The Christian Heritage Party of Canada announced recently it : will field. a candidate in. the Skeena riding for ‘the next _ federal election.. Riding associa- , tion president Marinus Moeliker. of Smithers stated that the party plans to have a local executive Church. celebrates centennial ok ‘Te. Terrace Alliance Church -. and nearly 300 other congrega- - tions of the Christian and Mis- “sionary Alliance in Canada this. year celebrate the denomina- .tion’s centenary. The group ‘is concluding the final decade of record growth. The Christian and Missionary | Alliance, in 1977, reported 218 - Canadian congregations. That number has grown last year to « 286, and the target for this year is 315. Even More remarkable than -the growth in the number of churches, however, is the explo- sion in the number in the total _ church constituency, including _-Members and adherents. In - 1977,.the Canadian constituency ‘numbered 30,403. The 1986 figure was 59,733, and the --centennial year target is 60,806. The founder of the denomina- tion, whose international head- quarters is now in New York, was a Canadian. Born in Prince _ Edward Island, Albert B. Simp- son graduated in theology from Toronto’ S Knox ‘College and served large Presbyterian chur- ches in Hamilton, Ontario; ‘Louisville, Kentucky; and New York City. While in New York, Simpson became concerned ‘with the growing alienation between the . churches and the working peo- ple. In 1881, he resigned as minister of a large urban con- gregation and launched into a more broadly based ministry. In 1887, he founded two groups which were to unite 10 years later to become the Chris- ‘tian and Missionary Alliance. The emphasis was upon evangelism at home and mis- sions abroad. The Canadian wing of the movement chose, in £981; to become an autonomous national denomination; but it. maintains . close fellowship and liaison with the international body. . The small denomination hasa larger overseas. mission focus than many larger churches, There are Alliance ministries in 53 countries and an interna- tional overseas missionary force of 1,214. Over 15 percent of the staff abroad are Canadians who are supported by the Canadian - churches. That overseas growth means that the number ¢ of members in overseas churches © exceeds the number of members in churches on the home fields. The local Alliance congrega- tion, which was established in 1963, has the same emphasis on evangelism and global missions, states: Terrace Pastor Richard Wiebe. Everyone welcome. Kermode Knit Wits, a club for all persons Interested in furthering _ machine knitting. Regular monthly meetings will be held on the 2nd Tuesday at noon and the 4th Thursday at 7:30 p.m. For further informa- ‘tion call Audrey at 638-1335, Jan at 635-7517 or Nancy at 635-5319. NEW FURNITURE AUCTION ‘Saturday, November 7 — 2:00 p.m. | TERRACE ARENA _ See our display for more details Terrace Review — Wednesday, November 4, 1987 7 . nf David and Chad Edmonds teamed up with David Shepherd, center, to run the annual All Seasons Half-Marathon in relay fashion on October 25. The grade ‘nine students of Skeena Junior High School posted a respectible time of one hour, 24 minutes. - elected by the beginning of next year, after which selection and preparation of a candidate will : begin. ; The party was ‘registered in” April 1986 and currently claims a membership of about 5,000 - people nationwide. A national convention is scheduled to take. place ‘in Hamilton, Ont. Nov. ‘18 to 21. , from pressed the intention to field a ‘Minimum of 50 candidates in the next: election, Moeliker sum- Christian Heritage ‘has. eX-, RIGHT TO CHOOSE ard © FOR GROWTH fi °FOR PROGRESS | ! °FOR EMPLOYMENT va *FOR TOURISM Nf ©FOR ECONOMIC fy DEVELOPMENT 1f4 °FORTHERIGHTTO CHOOSE |. 1 *FOR THE COMPETITIVE EDGE marized the party’ S - philosophy by stating, Heritage Party desires to raise . the standard of living for all Canadians of whatever color, Tace or creed, It wants.to do this _by pointing to the: standard of life, the Bible, God’s revelation . to man. Its objective i is to build a - party which can unite all’ those . ‘wishing to see a’ continuation of Canada’s heritage of freedom through © the - preservation’ of ‘ biblically based civil law.’”: Moeliker said the party’s con- cepts are “‘the sanctity of life, . continued on page 21 FOR THE | SATURDAY: NOV. 41 “The .. Christian. -