PIP: This letter to the editor refers to an article on the "Baby Boom" published in 1998. The letter notes that no consensus exists among environmentalists about population growth or abortion and calls for more balance in coverage of these issues. The letter points out that, in animal and human populations, a "natural" suppression of reproduction occurs in the presence of a stable ecosystem. However, humans have forever changed the delicate balance of earth's ecosystems. The letter offers China as an example of a country whose drive to become an industrialized power is causing overuse, neglect, and destruction of natural resources. The letter concludes that efforts to obtain sustainability should involve a "more sobering look at free enterprise and the global economy."