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Did President Biden’s choice to run the Bureau of Land Management advocate for population control in her graduate-school thesis?

Wednesday, June 30, 2021
By Gus Fisher
This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
YES

Tracy Stone-Manning, President Biden’s nominee to be director of the Bureau of Land Management, suggested in her 1992 environmental studies master’s thesis that limiting children to two per family would help the environment.

The thesis, archived on a University of Montana website, included fictitious advertisements she created to make arguments for various policies. One of the ads, focusing on the impact of population growth, reads in part: “When we overpopulate, the earth notices it more. Stop at two. It could be the best thing you do for the planet.”

The headline calls out a baby as an environmental hazard.

In recent years, scientists have acknowledged that the planet may have enough resources to support a larger population, while focusing on the need for humans to manage the nature and scale of their resource consumption.

Stone-Manning has not yet been confirmed to the post.

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