In an interview with Glenn Beck on May 16, 2008 the inimitable actor William Shatner made many thoughtful if offbeat remarks about politics.
Early in the interview, Beck asked the former Captain Kirk about the zany obstreperousness of Star Trek fans. Shatner responded, “I mean, it was a fantasy, wasn’t it? It was just a television show.”
When pressed, Shatner assented to holding the belief that “almost every problem we have right now is due to overpopulation”. Shatner said that “…nature eventually will take care of that problem like they did, like nature does with animals.” He elaborated,
…how do we stop the overpopulation? I guess it’s by education and saying you’ve got to have less children, you can’t have all the children you want anymore. There’s a difference in the world now. Or nature will take care of it.
Shatner ascribes his views on the subject to a reading (40 years ago) of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.