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Please note!
This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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FACT BRIEF

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

By Gus Fisher
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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.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Tracy Stone-Manning Screenshot of mock “ad” from graduate thesis
ScholarWorks (University Of Montana) Tracy Stone-Manning: Into the heart of the beast (1992)
Yahoo! News Biden nominee argued Americans should have fewer children to protect environment
BBC How many people can our planet support?
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Gigafact
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.