A University of Texas at Austin professor believes that planet Earth would be better off if Mother Nature simply killed off 90 percent of the human population – and that’s what he predicts will happen in the near future.

According to Professor Eric Pianka, a herpetology and evolutionary ecology specialist who was named the 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist by the Texas Academy of Science, human beings have strained Earth’s natural resources to the breaking point.

At a recent presentation, he argued that the sharp increase in the human population since the onset of industrialization was destroying the planet. He warned that Earth would not survive unless its human population was reduced to a tenth of its present number.

Decreasing the number of human beings living on Earth from 6.5 billion to around 700 million is the solution to this crisis, said Pianka.

Pianka is convinced that eventually, through widespread disease or other effects of global warming, Nature will prevail.

“Everyone of you who gets to survive has to bury nine,” he said excitedly at a recent presentation.

Pianka began his speech by condemning anthropocentrism, or the idea that the human race occupies a privileged position in nature. To this idea he exclaimed, “We’re no better than bacteria!”