Here are documented the February, 2009 efforts of those who have pledged to speak out. This is an unprecedented gathering of voices calling attention to the problem of the size and growth of the human population. It should help to weaken the taboo now shackling discussion of this all-important topic. Efforts are listed by category and date.
[Note: GPSO ended on the last day of February, 2009. A few late reports which were in process or planning in February are included below. We can post no further reports of efforts.]
[Note: Please sure to have read the GPSO letter. To qualify, your effort needs to be an instance of speaking out publicly in some way. Speaking out to any sort of group does qualify as do all media (including most Web) based efforts. Though not without real value, writing or talking to an individual privately is not the focus of GPSO. Some exceptions appear below as "unofficial" GPSO efforts.]
Uncategorized actions
Mar. 19: The Bridge, Community Newspaper of Montpelier, Vermont: In conjunction with GPSO, The Bridge devoted a special supplement to speaking out on population. It thereby placed itself a step ahead of all other newspapers in its recognition of the importance of pubic discsussion of overpopulation. A special thanks to publisher and editor Nat Frothingham whom I am told spearheaded the project and saw it to completion. The supplement contains a full range of notable articles on population issues. Perhaps this small newspaper will set an example for larger papers to follow.
Mar. 5: Albert Kaufman, Population Activist; Owner, Albertideation: Represented Americans for UNFPA in Washington D.C., lobbying for more funding for The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Efforts were successful and $50 million in funding was approved. Albert decribes his trip and efforts in a revealing look inside population politics in Washington.
Mar. 5: John R. Coulter, Ph.D., President, Sustainable Population Australia: John and Sustainable Population Australia issued a press release pointing to the fallacy that population growth is connected to improved human welfare. To quote: “It is long past the time for all Australian Governments to adopt population policies aimed at environmental sustainability, rather than the mirage of economic and welfare benefits from a growing population.”
Feb. 28: Jeffrey Cohen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anthropology, Ohio State University: In both of his courses this semester, Jeffrey included discussion of population matters. Discussion included economics and population in the context of development.
Feb. 23 – 27: Jason Bremner, Program Director, Population, Health, and Environment Program, Population Reference Bureau: Jason organized a Meeting of the East Africa Population, Health, and Environment Network in Kigali, Rwanda. Attendees met “to reaffirm their commitment to examine the linkages between population, health, and environment (PHE) and explore integrated solutions to address these complex issues. The meeting brought together 30 champions of PHE from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.”
Feb. 26: Center for Biological Diversity: The Center of Biological Diversity published a press release announcing support for the Global Population Speak Out. To quote: “‘For many years now the issue of human population size and growth has been the elephant in the room,’ said Randy Serraglio, conservation advocate at the Center. ‘But overpopulation is really at the root of virtually all of the ecological threats facing our planet, and it needs to be addressed. Species extinction, pollution, resource depletion, and — the biggest threat of all — climate change can all be traced back to unsustainable population growth.’” In addition the CDB plans to develop extensive material for their website related to population, biodiversity and extinction, and more. These steps make the CBD a leader among environmental organizations in its willingness to speak out on the importance of overpopulation. They have set an example one hopes other groups will follow.
Feb. 23: Arend de Haas, Director of Conservation, African Conservation Foundation, Kenya: Arend and the African Conservation Foundation have published a poll on their website (see the right hand column) asking, “Do you think human population growth will have an adverse effect on wildlife?” They will have the poll available for some months.
Feb. 23: John M. Reid Ph.D., Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Psychological Medicine; Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Sciences, Monash University, Australia: John’s university is establishing a new group/institute to research and speak about climate change. At the inaugural meeting John suggested “that Climate Change and Overpopulation are the two problems that threaten the future of life on Earth…” He distributed a related paper examining the population-climate change link and approaches to achieving population decline, with consideration of the ethics of voluntary versus involuntary contraception. As a result of his actions, the new group has agreed to address both climate change and overpopulation. To quote from the paper: “[Overpopulation and climate change] intersect and are interactive, but they are separate and distinct, and either is sufficient to cause the Holocene Mass Extinction.”
Feb. 19: Adrian Fisher, Environmental Activist; Quaker Earthcare Witness; Environmental Concerns Committee, Friends Illinois Yearly Meeting: Sent an email to Quaker Earthcare Witness which will be forwarded to members.
Feb. 18: Randolph Femmer, Biologist/Marine Biologist; Science Writer; and author of Digital Science presentations from Gycolysis to DNA sequencing: This month Randolph created the Population and Carrying Capacity Forum on the Nature Network. So far, topics on this discussion forum include questions concerning carrying capacity and why we are ignoring the “elephant in the room.” Randolph invites “GPSO pledgers… who are members of academia or with scholarly interests to sign up as members of both the Nature Network and the Population and Carrying Capacity Forum and share their ideas, efforts, and insights with the wider scholarly community.”
Feb. 18: Paolo Musumeci, Associazione Rientrodolce; Associazione Liberalivorno & Liberamoneta, Italy: Has been instrumental this month in an effort to create a “Malthus Day” in Italy. He and pledger Luca Pardi created a Facebook group to promote the idea.
Feb. 17: GPSO Signer/Endorser Peter Salonius, Research Scientist, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: Circulated an email to the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) cyberseminars listserv’s recipients. It offers a book review, written by Peter, with material relevant to a subscriber’s request for information on the population-environment relationship in pre-industrial contexts. To quote: “[A]s natural systems are simplified by increasingly complex societies to produce goods and services, these ecosystems are destabilized and carrying capacity is reduced.”
Feb. 17: Evan Jones, Director, Whoa Nellie Foundation: Sent the GPSO Press release to his local Sierra Club population committee, the Whoa Nellie Foundation, the Sacramento Bee, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Feb, 17: Walter L. Williams, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, History, and Gender Studies, University of Southern California: Walter wrote an impassioned letter to Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena California, in response to his recent “My Turn” column in Newsweek Magazine. In the column, Mouw had explained why he voted for California’s Proposition 8 which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. Walter explained in detail his disagreement, and that of the gay-lesbian community in general, with Mouw’s views. Among other points, he identified Christianity’s culpability in contributing to human population growth through its frequent opposition to birth control. He added the less often discussed point that, on the whole, gay-lesbian couples have a much lower rate of reproduction, a behavior with clear advantages in addressing human overpopulation.
Feb. 12 – 16: Randolph Femmer, Biologist/Marine Biologist; Science Writer; and author of Digital Science presentations from Gycolysis to DNA sequencing: Contacted, by email, participating panelists on seven scientific symposia (who were attending the AAAS annual meeting in Chicago) whose panel topics dealt with climate, environment, science policy, national policy, and education topics, pointing out the population-generated implications for each of the panel topics.
Feb. 16: Vicki Watson, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Montana: Dr. Watson’s classes this week will focus on climate change and human population growth. Discussion will focus on why addressing human population growth is essential to addressing a wide range of environmental problems, but especially climate change. A critical thinking and research class has been exploring scientific consensus and controversy. A graduate level class in Environmental Impact Assessment will be reading guidance on including climate change in environmental impact assessments. Among other items, both classes will read and discuss two articles by Albert Bartlett which examine the reluctance of the scientific community to confront human overpopulation. Some notes from Dr. Watson here.
Feb. 16: Bruce Howard, Writer and Activist: Has distributed a brief PowerPoint presentation via email to various individuals and organizations. It uses imagery to convey a message to the effect that “A peaceful society does not exceed the capacities of hard technologies like farming AND its soft technologies like politics.”
Feb. 16: Optimum Population Trust, UK: Developed and launched the Optimum Population Trust’s Stop at Two Pledge which asks people to pledge to try to have no more than two children.
Feb. 15: Randolph Femmer, Biologist/Marine Biologist; Science Writer; and author of Digital Science presentations from Gycolysis to DNA sequencing: Circulated an email to the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) cyberseminars listserv’s recipients. To Quote: “[T]he term “neo-Malthusianism” needs to be completely discarded, and at the very least, needs to be seriously modified to reflect the true nature of the concerns offered by today’s natural science community… For example, although “resource” concerns were once a central focus of population-environment theory… to these somewhat antiquated, or at least oversimplified, “running out of resources” concerns, today’s natural science community would now add (at the very least): climate, environment, thresholds, replacement of and/or complete eradication of ecosystems, destruction of ecosystem functioning, as well as tipping points, unintended consequences, potentially-catastrophic feedback delays, potentially-catastrophic self-amplifying feedbacks, and international instability in the form of failed and/or ungovernable states.”
Feb. 15: Val Allen, Author; Population Activist, Alberta Canada: Sent a letter to the Oprah website which is requesting stories on “You Hero in these Troubled Times.” Val wrote about Martin Luther King Jr. and his strong stance on the need to address overpopulation.
Val challenges others to submit names and descriptions of others known for strong statements or actions concerning population matters
Feb. 13: Randolph Femmer, Biologist/Marine Biologist; Science Writer; and author of Digital Science presentations from Gycolysis to DNA sequencing: Circulated an email to the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) cyberseminars listserv’s recipients. To Quote: “[T]oday the unfolding crises that may well invite calamity between now and mid-century may center to some extent on agriculture, but center far more severely on the impacts of: (1) our worldwide and growing levels of industrial and societal wastes and their impacts on earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and climate, and (2) the already-extensive and growing physical damage that we are inflicting on earth’s biological machinery.”
Feb. 13: GPSO Signer/Endorser Peter Salonius, Research Scientist, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: Circulated an email to the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) cyberseminars listserv’s recipients. To Quote: “The contention of Turner and Ali — that agricultural productivity in Bangladesh, where there is no new land to cultivate, “is likely to continue on a ‘muted’ path of growth” — does not recognise the dependence of production increases… on sources of energy that are expected to become increasingly scarce and unaffordable in the foreseeable future.”
Feb. 12: GPSO Signer/Endorser Peter Salonius, Research Scientist, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: Circulated an email to the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) cyberseminars listserv’s recipients. It continues his theme of recent messages emphasizing the need for researchers and other academics to focus on the basics (e.g., we’re overpopulated and need to address it) and not be distracted by theoretical minutia which may only obfuscate the most fundamental ecological realities.
Feb. 11: GPSO Signer/Endorser Peter Salonius, Research Scientist, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: Circulated an email to the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) cyberseminars listserv’s recipients. It responds to the work of researcher Laura Murphy which appears to minimize the importance of the population-environment link. Peter argues the work she describes fails to appreciate the physical limits of temporary stores of geological energy and their implications. For anyone willing to read through Murphy’s text, this discussion is a fascinating look at how physical and ecological realities may or may not sometimes play into the views of a biologically trained, natural scientist on the one hand and a researcher with a background in social development issues on the other. To quote Peter: “Geological energy realities and the food production potential of the [now damaged] arable soils on the planet will drive our appreciation of population-environment imbalances much more actively than will shifting our attention to “complex systems, [and] an acknowledgement of power dynamics at any level of analysis”.”
Feb. 10: Robert Gillespie, Theatre and Television Professional; Environmental Activist, UK: Sent a letter to Tobin Aldrich, Director of Fund Raising for the World Wildlife Fund – UK. (Along with it he sent a letter he had sent previously to another representative who had not replied.) The letters urged the WWF to put the population problem squarely on their agenda. [Update: As of Feb. 23, Robert has received a positive response from Tobin Aldrich.] To quote: “Human over-population is now a threat to humans, too. However, there are strong signs that the Conservative and Labour parties are both quietly admitting this; but each is too frightened of the other to proclaim it aloud, in case it loses electoral clout. W.W.F. could help the major political parties to frame the over-population problem in a sensitive and convincing way.”
Feb. 8: GPSO Signer/Endorser Peter Salonius, Research Scientist, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: Circulated an email to the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) cyberseminars listserv’s 541 recipients. It suggested we “shift our limited research resources away from the study of the fine structure of the dilemma we have inadvertently created for our species . . . and that we . . . turn our research attention toward the study of [ways to] lower our numbers to [sustainable] levels in as painless a manner as possible.”
Feb. 6: GPSO Signer/Endorser Rick Shea, Biodiversity Activist, British Columbia, Canada: Sent his article, Smart Growth: The Worst Kind of Sprawl?, to the Canadian Broadcasting Company, accompanied by a request that they stop having “smart” growthists on their programs. (He plans upcoming activities with classes he teaches as well… to be posted.)
Feb. 4: GPSO Signer/Endorser J. Kenneth Smail, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Kenyon College: Sent an email to 2,000 Kenyon College faculty, staff, students, and others. In it, he urged them to read and consider his essay, “Acknowledging and Confronting the Inevitable: A Significant Shrinkage in Global Human Numbers, and Other Inconvenient Truths.” He encouraged them, as well, to comment on it and to pass it along to others.
Feb. 3: GPSO Signer/Endorser Peter Salonius, Research Scientist, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: Circulated an email to the Population-Environment Research Network (PERN) cyberseminars listserv’s 532 recipients. In response to the STIRPAT finding that “Population size is consistently the primary driver of environmental threats,” it called attention to Peter’s work on agricultural soil degradation.
Peter wrote a letter to David Kidney, Labour politician and MP for Stafford, UK, concerning the latter’s upcoming debate on global population growth. Peter encouraged Kidney to consider his work including this article on the subject. He also offered him a link to relevant economic information and urged him to consider the adoption of policies to promote a steady state economy, a move which would require stabilization and reduction of human numbers.
Feb. 2: Jeffry Schabilion, Ph.D., Professor, Paleobotany and Paleoecology, Department of Biology, University of Iowa: Is distributing 92 copies of Lindsey Grant’s VALEDICTORY: The Age of Overshoot (PDF) to students in his Ecology and Evolution class. The students will have until Feb. 23 to read the publication and prepare to engage in graded group discussion sessions during the last two weeks of February.
Feb. 1: Steven Earl Salmony, Ph.D., Psychologist; Founder, AWAREness Campaign on the Human Population: Wrote a letter to his congressman, David E. Price, urging him to consider the importance of the population issue and to examine a presentation by Dr. Russell Hopfenberg about an underappreciated argument concerning population growth and global food production. The letter will be posted publicly to the Sustainability Southeast website.
Videos, Film. etc.
Mar. 1: John Burton, Author; CEO, World Land Trust, Suffolk, UK; Leon Kolankiewicz, Consulting Environmental Scientist; Wildlife Ecologist; Natural Resources Planner; Kirsten Stade, Science Reporter; Conservation Biologist: John, Leon, and Kirsten were all interviewed concerning population issues for a film in production, Rise Again from Sharkwater Productions. The film “aims to trigger the revolution necessary to save humanity from the converging environmental catastrophes of the 21st century; to save us from our own extinction.”
Feb. 28: Edouard Jurkevitch, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, The Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel: Created the video The Olive Tree Is Thirsty: A comment on population and water in the Middle East. It examines water and population issues, illustrating the environmental costs of increased water demands and the way these play out in the context of Israeli-Palestinian politics. Edouard suggests that even if technology can allow for even more people in this already extremely densley populated region, we must ask, “What is the price?”
Blog, article, and public forum comments
Feb. 26: Kelpie Wilson, Author; Environmental Writer; Former Environmental editor at Truthout: Commented on George Monbiot’s article trying to dismiss the relative importance of overpopulation. To quote: “The frustration you feel at the ‘old white men’ who always bring up population growth is an interesting contrast to the frustration I (a middle-aged white woman) feel when people like you, who are often white men, refuse to focus on population growth as a key issue.”
Feb. 26: Bruce Howard, Writer and Activist: Commented on George Monbiot’s article attempting to dismiss the relative importance of overpopulation. To quote Bruce: “Even as old warnings become new facts of life, we ignore the problem of too many people and quibble about how to patch the symptoms. For example, our growing numbers are used to excuse, as a necessary evil, the costly radioactive hazards of nuclear power, when instead a campaign to reduce our population and energy demand is both simple and prudent.”
Feb. 26: Rebecca Harrington, National Field Coordinator, Population Connection: Commented on a piece at George Monbiot’s blog. George tries to dismiss the relative importance of population in environmental degradation. To quote Rebecca: “It makes little sense to say that cutting consumption is more important than limiting population, as the two issues are inextricably linked. Those in developed countries need to consume less, but those in developing countries must be able to consume more.”
Feb. 25: Evelyn Haaheim, Concerned Citizen: Commented on an article at the BBC’s Green Room. The article was about the need for biotechnology to feed a growing world population. To quote Evelyn: “Contraceptive distribution needs to be free, universal, and no questions asked…free access to effective contraceptives is crucial to our future, much more so than GM crops.”
Feb. 24: Kelpie Wilson, Author; Environmental Writer; Former Environmental editor at Truthout: Commented on an article titled “Could Energy Success Backfire in the End?” on the Dot Earth blog at the New York Times. To quote: “We should not treat growth as inevitable. People in the US are already starting to choose a different “small is beautiful” path.”
Feb. 24: Adrian Fisher, Environmental Activist; Quaker Earthcare Witness; Environmental Concerns Committee, Friends Illinois Yearly Meeting: Adrian, a college English instructor, Will shortly begin using the problem of overpopulation as the model topic in a module about researching and writing to discuss problems and propose solutions.
Feb. 24: Adrian Fisher, Environmental Activist; Quaker Earthcare Witness; Environmental Concerns Committee, Friends Illinois Yearly Meeting: Has commented on relevant Huffington Post articles and plans to continue to do so.
Feb. 21: Kelpie Wilson, Author; Environmental Writer; Former Environmental editor at Truthout: Commented on an article at Alternet. The article details the author’s personal experience with abortion. To quote Kelpie: “[I]n my research I have discovered an ancient ethic around abortion that I call the “pro-Gaian” ethic. This is a pro-life ethic but it is based on the welfare of the whole planet. Within this ethical system, a woman may decide to abort an embryo because she is not ready to take on the task of motherhood. Her decision is further validated by the needs of the ecosphere – the collectivity of life on planet earth.”
Feb. 21: Randolph Femmer, Biologist/Marine Biologist; Science Writer; and author of Digital Science presentations from Gycolysis to DNA sequencing: Posted a comment (#23) on the site of the World Focus news program (see Randolph’s earlier effots below) concerning one of its segments on the severely degraded environmental conditions and poverty in Haiti. To Quote: “Most of the food and energy needed by New Yorkers, for example, comes from distant regions such as steaks from Brazil or Argentina, oil from the Middle East, corn and wheat from Nebraska, and wood and paper products, perhaps, from logging in tropical forests… What this means is that essentially every city on earth is living beyond the strict carrying capacity of its local environment.”
Feb. 23: Kirsten Stade, Science Reporter; Conservation Biologist: Commented on an article at the WorldChanging website. To quote: “[w]e Americans are going to have to start living as though we recognize the bounds of our finite planet, and we have already begun by rescinding the global gag rule and the ban on funding of international family planning and population stabilization efforts.”
Feb. 23: Kirsten Stade, Science Reporter; Conservation Biologist: Commented on a Washington Post article about the rise in “ecomigrants” as a result of climate fears. To quote: “There is truly nowhere to hide from the ecological devastation wrought by the last century of unbridled human population and economic growth. These two elephants in the room are the root causes of climate change and its associated catastrophes, the collapse of global biodiversity, the poisoning of land and water habitats by persistent toxic substances and dwindling global water and food supplies.”
Feb. 22: Mary E. Siefert Zander, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences), Medical Writer: Commented on an article on the WorldChanging website. To Quote: “In addition to the several great ideas and concepts discussed in this article, another imperative part of the picture to create a green and sustainable culture is that of human population control.”
Feb. 21: Kelpie Wilson, Author; Environmental Writer; Former Environmental editor at Truthout: Commented on an article titled “Could Energy Success Backfire in the End?” on the Dot Earth blog at the New York Times. To quote: “[L]arge families ensure that population pressure will continue to threaten biodiversity and other planetary resources, no matter how green and energy efficient technology becomes.”
Feb. 21: Randolph Femmer, Biologist/Marine Biologist; Science Writer; and author of Digital Science presentations from Gycolysis to DNA sequencing: Posted a comment (comment #19) on the site of the World Focus news program which airs on PBS stations. The program has been featuring segments on the severely degraded environmental conditions and poverty in Haiti. Randolph commented on a segment showing how poor Haitians turn to eating cookies made of mud as a way of filling their stomachs. Randolph praised the series, but pointed to the absence of mention in it of the overpopulation which has fueled the problems described: “It would have been nice if the story could have incorporated three or four facts concerning the demographics of Haiti – past, present, and future… In 1969, for example, Haiti was poor and had a population of approximately 4,400,000 people… and today’s population has doubled to approximately 8,700,000 people.”
Feb. 20: GPSO Signer/Endorser Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: Commented on Maurizio Morabito’s blog concerning his article on overpopulation. To quote: “Ignorance is the real problem and it breeds prejudices which are so diffused, that anybody who dares to tackle the population issue is accused of catastrophic millenarianism. But it is enough to look at the world map and read some informations available on Internet, to be able to judge with one own’s brain that it is ALL the planet which is overpopulated, not just the underdeveloped part. Europe is overpopulated too, in spite of the illusory demographic downturn.”
Feb. 20: GPSO Signer/Endorser Rick Shea, Biodiversity Activist, British Columbia, Canada: Posted two comments on the CBC forum devoted to “The Nature of Things” Living City show. In response to the topic “Ideas for Improving Cities,” he commented, “Stop issuing building permits for new developments, and only issue permits for sensitive and tasteful “redevelopment” of existing areas — permits which lead to reclamation of natural spaces (not manicured “green” spaces), to more contact with the natural world…” In response to the topic “Comment on the Show,” he commented, “…Former Mayor Sullivan’s promotion of even more densification as “eco-density” is in fact an eco-obscenity.”
Feb. 20: Jane Roberts, Cofounder, 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund; Author, 34 MILLION FRIENDS of the Women of the World: Commented under an article on the Dot Earth blog at the New York Times. The article was on human conflict over natural resources and environmental issues. To quote Jane: “We are crashing. In no way can this planet give a decent life to 6.7 billion people let alone the 9.1 billion to come and keep an ecological, environmental balance.”
Feb. 20: George Mobus, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Institute of Technology, Computing & Software Systems, University of Washington, Tacoma: Commented under an article on the Dot Earth blog at the New York Times. He introduced GPSO and described the article he has written on the problem of a growing population in a time of energy contraction. To quote: “The issue of overpopulation is at the core of every other issue that faces us today, either as a direct cause or as an aggravating factor. We cannot ignore it any longer.”
Feb. 19: Jane Roberts, Cofounder, 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund; Author, 34 MILLION FRIENDS of the Women of the World: Posted a comment on the Dot Earth blog at the New York Times. She responded to an article containing a Greenpeace USA video featuring climate scientist James Hansen and a call to protest the use of coal, a leading cause of global warming. Hansen does not mention the role of population in climate change. To quote Jane: “Scientists simply must speak about population as they address resources and climate change.”
Feb. 16: Kelpie Wilson, Author; Environmental Writer; Former Environmental editor at Truthout: Commented on an article titled “Could Energy Success Backfire in the End?” on the Dot Earth blog at the New York Times. To quote: “Thus far in human history, an increase in available energy has always led to an increase in population growth. There are a few instances where civilized societies have maintained a steady state – these are all island nations… So-that means that tackling population growth head on is an absolute necessity, whether we can increase the energy available to us or not, ultimately it makes no difference.”
Feb. 14: GPSO Signer/Endorser Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: Began a new discussion topic, Crescita Demografica, in the Facebook group “Pronto? Qui Marco Pannella.” The post protests Radical Party head Marco Pannella’s failure to follow through on assurances that he would bring up the topic of overpopulation in the international and national political arena.
Feb. 14: Leon Kolankiewicz, Consulting Environmental Scientist; Wildlife Ecologist; Natural Resources Planner: Commented on the Dot Earth blog at the New York Times. He cautioned that renewable energy, is not a panacea and does not eliminate the need to address our numbers. He said of the population taboo, “Energy enthusiasts consider this outside their purview, while for two decades environmentalists have shamefully ducked the issue because of their unwillingness to be called nasty names by vocal anti-abortionists, supporters of mass immigration without end, and assorted flat-earthers.”
Feb. 14: Donald C. Fraser, Concerned Citizen: Has been engaged this month in an ongoing, lively discussion of population matters at chrismartenson.com. He is ending all his posts this month with “7 billion people can be wrong, very wrong.”
Feb. 13: GPSO Signer/Endorser and Biodiversity First President Brishen Hoff: Posted to the forum for TVO’s The Agenda a comment calling on the TV show to cover the problem of biodiversity loss and its link to human overpopulation. Brishen offered to appear on the show to debate other environmentalists who avoid the population issue.
Feb. 1: Evelyn Haaheim, Concerned Citizen: Commented under this article and this article at the Times Online.
Feb. 1: Haldun Abdullah, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical Engineering (Retired), Sakarya University, Turkey: Posted a comment (#24) on this Christian Science Monitor article concerning population issues.
Feb. 1: Leon Kolankiewicz, Consulting Environmental Scientist; Wildlife Ecologist; Natural Resources Planner: Posted a comment under an article at The Times Online and a comment under an article at The Mail Online.
Letters to the editor (etc.)
Mar. 26: Jack Marshall, Ph.D., Anthropologist; President, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP): On February 4, Jack wrote a letter to the Sierra Club’s Sierra magazine, pointing the the magazine’s (and the club’s) willful avoidance of the subject of overpopulation. To quote: “For the many years I’ve been a Sierra Club member I’ve looked in vain for articles in Sierra that deal realistically with the truth that the environmental threats the magazine so lucidly describes are a result not merely of profligate per capita consumption, but also the number of ‘capitas.’ ” Not surprisingly, the magazine has chosen so far not to publish it.
Mar. 8: Jack Marshall, Ph.D., Anthropologist; President, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP): ASAP’s January and February newsletters urged members to write letters to the editor concerning population. Here are some results: (1) Elizabeth Burdash’s March 8 Letter to the Editor, New York Times Magazine. To quote: “Jon Mooallem’s article (Feb. 22) is yet another poignant and frightening reminder of how immensely destructive a force human overpopulation is, especially when that force is multiplied many times over by modern technology and economic policies bent on perpetual growth.” (2) Jane Williamson’s March 2 Letter to the Editor, Daily Progress. To quote: “Reading the small stories behind the headlines, one learns that distress signs are everywhere — collapsing fish stocks, depleted topsoil, vanishing forests and farmland, extinction of species, dwindling supplies of food and clean water, to name just a few.” (3) Jack Marshall’s March 6 Letter to the Editor, Daily Progress. To quote: “We’re under no obligations to respond to the coming ‘pent-up demand’ by accommodating to every request for new development. We are, though, under an obligation to be responsible stewards of our community, and to pass on this magnificent place without messing it up further for future generations.” (4) Richard Collins’s February 9 letter to the Population Connection newsletter The Reporter. To quote: “The ASAP group will present their findings to the community and to public officials. The goal: a comprehensive plan for the Charlottesville-Albemarle region which would aim to achieve a population level (an optimum target range) to be reached within a defined planning period.” This letter was not published but has led to indications the newsletter will likely report soon on ASAP’s efforts.
Mar. 3: Luca Pardi, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council, Pisa, Italy; Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas, Italy: Wrote a letter to Corriere della Sera. To quote (with the aid of Google Translate): “Continues the illusion of the triumphant march of growth even when the deck of the Titanic in the global economy tilts inexorably, indicating the next disaster for the most presumptuous of the great apes.” Luca also had a letter published in La Stampa.
Mar. 1: Jill Ginghofer, Concerned Citizen: Sent a letter to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. To quote: “On a local level, working to reduce California’s burgeoning teen pregnancy figures enables young women to acquire employment skills which ultimately reduce future draws on public services. Personally, I will no longer donate to organizations that bring medicine and food to impoverished people worldwide, unless they also disseminate birth control information.”
Mar. 1: Graham Cooper, Concerned Citizen: Sent a letter to the Economic and Social Research Council regarding their avoidance of the population issue in their Britain in 2009 magazine. To quote: “In future I will expect your articles to allow for the fact that the British must prepare for a human population reduction of between 50 and 80% by the end of this century.”
Feb. 28: Jane Addison, Environmental Scientist, Consultant, and PhD Student, University of South Australia: Wrote two letters to the editor, one to the The Australian and one to The Advertiser. Neither, however, was printed.
Feb. 28: Chuck Knutson, Retired Senior Fisheries Biologist, California Dept. of Fish and Game; Committee for a Sustainable World Population, Mother Lode Chapter (California), Sierra Club: Sent a letter to the Sacramento Bee. To quote: “[T]he global human family needs better planning. With the world’s human population currently exceeding 6.5 billion and projected to grow to 9 billion, a sustainable future can only be achieved by addressing the root causes of environmental degradation… The global environment can be preserved for future generations by advancing global reproductive health and sustainable development initiatives.”
Feb. 27: Hans Tammemagi, Ph.D., School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, British Columbia; Environment Columnist, Vancouver Sun, Canada: Sent a letter to the Vancouver Sun as well as the Times Colonist in Victoria, B.C. To quote: “Media coverage of population is woefully lacking and, when it does happen, is often met with hostility or apathy… But there’s hope… If a large number of qualified voices speak out on overpopulation all at once, perhaps people will listen.”
Feb. 27: Jenny Goldie, National Secretary, President – ACT Branch, Sustainable Population Australia: Wrote a letter which was published in the Canberra Times. To quote: “If we are really concerned about the long-term, we need to address just what population this country can sustain. If we maintain a growth rate of 1.7 per cent, we will double our population by mid-century. With climate change threatening to desertify so much of our food-producing regions, do we really want this?”
Feb. 26: Luca Pardi, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council, Pisa, Italy; Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas, Italy: Wrote a letter to Il Tirreno urging attention to population. To quote (with the aid of Google Translate): “Quite often we talk of depletion of resources, often even more pollution and its effects on human health and ecosystems… [A]lmost always absent is… the link between the several crises manifested in these decades, that ecological one, that energetic one, and that economic, and the demographic outbreak of last the two centuries.”
Feb. 26: Mark Rogers, Ph.D. Candidate, Computational Biology, Colorado State University: Sent a letter to the Sierra Club’s “Sierra” magazine. To quote: “Population is the key multiplier for environmental problems: the cost of any human activity is measured by the average person’s impact times the number of people. Currently the world’s population (births minus deaths) grows at a staggering 80 million per year. Prudent conservation measures may reduce the average impact, but these will be overwhelmed by exponential population growth.”
Feb. 26: Steven Earl Salmony, Ph.D., Psychologist; Founder, AWAREness Campaign on the Human Population: Sent a letter to the Chapel Hill News. (If it is published, this will be his 34th letter to appear there since 2004!) To quote: “Perhaps a day will come when our children might ask us three questions, ‘What did you know; when did you know it; and on what date did you begin speaking out loudly, clearly and often to save humanity, life as we know it, and the environs of the planet we are blessed to inhabit?’”
Feb. 25: GPSO Signer/Endorser Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: Sent a letter to L’espresso journalist Stefania Rossini in response to others’ letters which lament nature’s destruction without mentioning the obvious cause of such woes, human population growth.
Feb. 25: Evelyn Haaheim, Concerned Citizen: Sent a letter to the New York Times. To quote: “Promoting family limits is not totalitarianism, but a long-sighted strategy to prevent overpopulation and the collapse of natural systems that are necessary for life.”
Feb. 24: Kathleen Evans, RN, Concerned Earth Citizen: Has sent letters to the editor of several local newspaper and weeklys but nothing so far has been printed.
Feb. 24: Melvin Bolton, Author, The Face in the Smaller Picture; Retired Ecologist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Member, Sustainable Population Australia: Sent three variations of a letter to three major newspapers. None has printed it. He sent it as well to his local weekly paper which will be printing it. He sent it to the Guardian via the PublishaLetter.com site where it should be archived as well.
Feb. 24: Adrian Fisher, Environmental Activist; Quaker Earthcare Witness; Environmental Concerns Committee, Friends Illinois Yearly Meeting: Emailed letters to the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun Times. To quote: “Seven billion humans pose a significant strain to the planet’s resources. If all women had unfettered access to reproductive healthcare and non-coercive family planning, they and their families would benefit in very tangible ways. By extension, societies and whole countries would benefit. In the long term, the threat of over-population would recede.”
Feb. 24: Bruce Howard, Writer and Activist: Is sending a letter this week to national and local newspapers, population writers and NGOs and others. To quote: “We’ve foolishly believed growth is good for us when, in fact, it’s our undoing. We’ve been duped, lied to, manipulated, and poisoned by capitalists who care more about profits than people.” (Update: The letter was printed in the Hood River News – scroll down to “GPSO month.”)
Feb. 23: Michael Healey, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada: Wrote a letter to the editor of the Vancouver Sun. It’s message is similar to that of his letter to the Star, described below.
Feb. 21: Michael Healey, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada: Wrote a letter to the editor at the Toronto Star. It emphasizes the population-climate change link. To quote: “Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama agreed on a clean energy dialogue, which is good… Missing from any of their commentary, however, was any recognition that reversing climate change is more than a problem of technology. Population growth is a key driver of climate change and no plan to reverse global warming can succeed without facing, head on, the problem of global overpopulation.”
Feb. 20: Adrian Fisher, Environmental Activist; Quaker Earthcare Witness; Environmental Concerns Committee, Friends Illinois Yearly Meeting: Sent emails to Huffington Post, WBEZ (Chicago Public Radio), and NPR Science Friday about the need to cover the population topic (and mentioned GPSO and John Feeney’s availability for interviews).
Feb. 20: David Kault, M.D., Ph.D., Research Foci Including Epidemiological Modeling, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, James Cook University; President, North Queensland Branch, Sustainable Population Australia: Sent a letter to the editor to South Australian newspapers as well as a copy to his local North Queensland newspaper. To quote: “There are now about 7000 Victorians who can reasonably be termed climate change refugees. Fire threatening Melbourne’s water catchments could apparently reduce Melbourne’s water supply by about a third. With an adequate water supply available to support a million fewer Melbournians, this million may also be added to the list of climate change refugees. Exacerbating population pressure in Southern Australia is the Rudd Government’s unprecedented boost to numbers in order to support the development industry and to increase values for the propertied classes.”
Feb. 20: Bill Dowling, Friends of the Earth, Group Coordinator, Bracknell Berkshire, UK: Wrote a letter to the editor at the Independent. To Quote: “I am not the first to observe that a political party that does not have a constructive policy on population is undeserving of our votes at the next election.” (We’ll provide a link if the letter is published.)
Feb. 18: GPSO Signer/Endorser, Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: Wrote a “web letter” in response to an article by Tara Lohan which appeared in The Nation. For the article, Lohan interviewed water expert Peter Gleick on the global water crisis. Maria points out that the article never mentions the problem of human overpopulation despite its central role in the issue. To quote: “The relation between people and resource consumption is so easy to point out that it must be a strange inbuilt defect of vision to impede its discovery.”
Feb. 16: Lisa Sammet, Board Member, Vermonters for a Sustainable Population: Has sent a letter to ten Vermont newspapers. It highlights the population problem and solutions, points people to GPSO, and encourages attendance at the upcoming VSPop-sponsored forum in Montpelier on population issues. To quote: “This is an issue that few policy makers talk about, yet, if population growth is not checked, our problems will only be exacerbated.”
Lisa has sent a letter with a similar theme to the Vermont Natural Resource Council and comments to National Public Radio’s program All Things Considered. She also sent an edited version to the National Public Radio program, Living On Earth. She sent a similar letter to her two senators and the congressman from Vermont.
Feb. 14: Roger Plenty, Member, Optimum Population Trust, UK: Wrote a letter to the Stroud News and Journal. To quote: “[I]sn’t it wrong to tell people how many babies they can have? Yes, of course, but at present that is scarcely necessary… [T]here is clearly an unfulfilled demand for family planning.”
Roger also wrote a letter, based in part on the one above, to WWF Action magazine.
Roger also persuaded his local branch of the UK Green Party to hold a special meeting on population this July.
Feb. 14: Albert Kaufman, Population Activist; Owner, Albertideation: Wrote a letter to the editor at the Oregonian. To quote: “Could we all agree that women and men who would like to have fewer children should be given the choice — and access to reproductive health care including contraception? Could we agree that children should be born wanted, not unintended?”
Feb 14: Jorge Gutierrez, Ph.D., President, Grupo de Investigación y Educación en Temas Ambientales (GrIETA), Mar del Plata, Argentina; Visiting Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York: Sent letters (here and here) to the two major newspapers in Argentina (Clarín and La Nación). They were not published, but Jorge plans to continue sending them to other outlets.
Feb. 13: Arthur H. Westing, M.F., Ph.D., Author; Environmental Consultant; Former Senior Researcher, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: Had a letter titled “The Question of Population” published in the Brattleboro Reformer. Among other points, he asserts the need “to recognize that we have a moral obligation to share the biosphere with its other living inhabitants.”
Feb. 13: GPSO Signer/Endorser and Biodiversity First President Brishen Hoff: Wrote a letter to the editor at Canadian Dimension magazine. To quote: “A recession is either zero or negative economic growth and is therefore good news for the environment. Population growth and economic growth cannot go on forever in a finite world.”
Feb. 11: Val Allen, Author; Population Activist, Alberta Canada: Sent a letter to the editor to the Lethbridge, Calgary, Edmonton, and Fort Macleod newspapers, as well as CBC radio and TV, and the MP for the Fort Macleod area. It calls attention to Dr. Matin Luther King Jr.’s strong concern about overpopulation, suggesting it’s, “unfortunate that his most important message has been forgotten by our society, at a time when it so desperately needs to be heard.” Update – Feb. 23: Val reports her letter was printed in the Lethbridge Herald and Macleod Gazette. Her MP’s office has notified her that it is forwarding her letter to the Immigration and Environment Ministers.
Feb. 11: David Hankin, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Fisheries Biology; Acting Associate Dean for Marine Sciences, Humboldt State University: Sent a letter to the Times Standard in Eureka, California. To quote: “It’s time to let your representatives know that you are concerned about human population growth . . .” (Update: Here’s the link to the letter at the paper.)
Feb. 10: GPSO Signer/Endorser David Narver, Ph.D., Former Federal Fisheries Research Scientist; Retired Directer of Fisheries, British Columbia, Canada: Sent a letter to Maclean’s (Canadian national news magazine) urging more attention be paid to the fundamental role of population growth in climate change. David will be sending the letter to some newspapers in British Columbia as well. (We’ll post any links which become available.)
Feb. 9: René Monet, Author; Agronomic Engineer; Retired Director of Research, National Institute for Agronomic Research, France: Has written a letter (available at his blog) to two of the largest French newspapers: Le Monde and Le Figaro. He sent it also to his two local important Newspapers: Sud-Ouest and Midi Libre. In the letter he introduced GPSO and explained the importance of human demography in environmental matters and the problems induced by its excessive growth.
Feb. 9: Bruce Howard, Writer and Activist: Sent a letter to various national publications. To quote: “‘The Merry Old Soul’, a fractured nursery rhyme Merrie Melodies cartoon, is GPSO 1933…” Update: Bruce’s letter was published in the Hood River News (scroll down to “Un-Merrie Melodies”).
Feb. 9: Kirsten Stade, Science Reporter; Conservation Biologist: Sent a letter to the New York Times in response to this article. It has not been published, but Kirsten is making further efforts. (Though they publish only a small percentage of letters received, it is worth taking a shot at the largest papers because of the large readership if a letter does make it into print.)
Feb. 8: Mark Rogers, Ph.D. Candidate, Computational Biology, Colorado State University: Wrote a letter to the editor at the Coloradoan in Fort Collins, Colorado. He discusses the population-environment link and our the clear choice in front of us. To Quote: “We can ignore the problem, accepting high death rates through starvation and pandemic diseases, or we can accept responsibility and simply reduce the birth rate.”
Feb. 4 – 5: Jason Brent, Attorney and Municipal Judge (Retired): Sent a letter to a number of major US newspapers and publications demonstrating the huge and unsustainable numbers involved in continued population growth. Jason is sending the letter to other publications as well. (We’ll link to it if it’s printed, or provide it as a document.)
Feb. 4: Bruce Howard, Writer and Activist: Wrote a letter to the Hood River News using humor and rhyme to make a point about contraception options. (Scroll down to the fourth letter from the bottom titled “Population Options.”)
Feb. 3: Kirsten Stade, Science Reporter; Conservation Biologist: Wrote a letter to the Washington Post in response to this article and in support of President Obama’s reversal of the “Global Gag Rule.” (We’ll post or link to the letter in the near future.) As an extra, during January Kirsten helped spread the word about GPSO in in the Tacoma Voice by commenting under an article about people’s “green resolutions.”
Feb. 2: Yeh Ling-Ling, Executive Director, Alliance for a Sustainable USA: Wrote letters to newspapers in California, Texas, and Virginia. She also sent an email to the Larry King show on CNN. (We’ll post any links which become available.)
Feb. 2: Leon Kolankiewicz, Consulting Environmental Scientist; Wildlife Ecologist; Natural Resources Planner: Wrote a letter to the Christian Science Monitor in support of their recent coverage of the population issue.
Feb. 1: Michael Healey, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada: Wrote this letter to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). (If it is published on their website we will link to it.) Michael also wrote a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and a letter to Michael Ignatieff, leader of the opposition. (Note that while the latter two letters may not constitute speaking out publicly, Michael satisfied that requirement with the first letter above and is going beyond the call to take other actions.)
Feb. 1: Arthur H. Westing, M.F., Ph.D., Author; Environmental Consultant; Former Senior Researcher, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: Submitted this this letter to Science. (It was not printed.) This letter to the International Herald Tribune was published (with an odd change of title which obscures the topic). Arthur has submitted an opinion piece to to another major publication and is waiting for a response.
Articles
Apr. 10: Kelpie Wilson, Author; Environmental Writer; Former Environmental editor at Truthout: Wrote an article, published on Alternet, titled Have We Hit the Limits of Human Population? To quote: “It was the warrior cry of the radical environmental movement in the 1980s: ‘Malthus Was Right!’ But Malthus, a mumbling country parson with intellectual ambitions, had been transmogrified by capitalists and communists alike into a fearsome bogeyman possessed of “dangerous” ideas.”
Feb. 28: Jane Addison, Environmental Scientist, Consultant, and PhD Student, University of South Australia: Contributed several news articles to the website Sustainable Population Australia, including GPSO promotion. Jane also Acknowledged population growth as a factor in rangeland degradation in a draft manuscript to be published.
Feb. 25: GPSO Signer/Endorser Jack Alpert, Ph.D., Director-SKIL Stanford Knowledge Integration Laboratory: Posted on his website his “SKIL Note 61: The Path forward – What do we do to resolve the human predicament.” He also sent it to his mailing list of 1500 recipients and submitted it to the New York Times as an opinion piece. It steps through his argument that to avert a collapse of civilization we must democratically implement one-child laws as well as policies which reward people who elect to have no children. It details arguments which might help persuade people to embrace this approach. To quote: “If we know an increasing total human footprint takes us closer to these tripping points, then we also know behaviors that reduce total human footprint pull us back. For example, we know a large rapid and ongoing population decline will reduce total footprint and provide breathing room for civilization. If population remained constant, so does a decline in per capita footprint, however, this decline is accompanied by a scarcity that produces social conflict that results in civilization collapse.”
Feb 23: Carlo Consiglio, Former Professor of Zoology, Sapienza University of Rome (Retired), Italy: Has written an article on the need to address population growth. It now appears on his website (scroll down to “FERMARE LA CRESCITA DEMOGRAFICA”), and he has received notice that it will appear in the next issue of Re Nudo and possibly in another publication. Here’s a quote from the article translated via Google Translate: “According to a study by the University of Catania, about 12,000 years ago when he began the cultivation of the earth, the global human population did not exceed the 5-10 million individuals. At the beginning of the Christian era, around 2000 years ago, world population had reached 250 million people. In 1650 the world population had reached 500 million people, and in 1750 the 728 (or 791) million. In 1850 it had reached one billion and 262 million in 1900 one billion and 650 million in 1950 2518629000, 1990 5263593000, 2000 6070581000.”
Feb. 21: Richard Grossman MD, Author; MPH Obstetrician-gynecologist; Population Activist: Has written an article titled Speak Out on Population. It is posted on his website and will appear as his column in the Feb. 22 edition of the Durango Herald newspaper. To quote: “So [the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development] was a turning point away from concern about population. But how successful has the focus on ["reproductive health"] been? In the fifteen years since ICPD the world’s population has increased by more than one billion people and atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased from 358 to 386 parts per million. Furthermore, we are now using the resources of about 1.3 planet earths, whereas in 1994 we only used about 10% more than was sustainable. We have not done well! I feel that attention has been distracted from the real issue.”
Feb. 20: John Rowley, Founder, Editor-in-Chief of Publications, Films, and Internet Operations, Planet 21: Posted an editorial on the People & the Planet website. It went out as well to subscribers to the People & the Planet newsletter. To quote: “In his latest book, The Vanishing Face of Gaia, A Final Warning, James Lovelock is quite clear that the underlying cause of our environmental predicament is the huge growth of the human population, whose activities and wastes are polluting and heating up the earth and destroying its rich biodiversity.”
Feb. 20: George Mobus, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Institute of Technology, Computing & Software Systems, University of Washington, Tacoma: Wrote an article which he has posted both on his blog and his academic website. Titled “The End of Growth: The Beginning of Contraction,” it examines “the consequences resulting from an overextended population made possible during an era of abundantly available energy (fossil fuels) and what happens when that energy availability begins to contract.” To quote: “[T]here is no escaping the laws of ecology either. The more energy and physical resources people use up, the less is available to sustain the Ecos. Ultimately human life depends on the ecological services that the Ecos provides. These are incontrovertible and inconvenient truths. We humans do not have a choice any more… Short of a technological miracle, a completely new source of energy, which would only really put the problem off for a few more years, we are now faced with something completely new. And it is understandable that some continue to rail against (most probably ignore) the reality — the downstream consequences are almost unthinkable.”
Feb. 18: Jane Roberts, Cofounder, 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund ; Author, 34 MILLION FRIENDS of the Women of the World: Had an article published on the website of the United Nations Association of the United States of America. To quote: “There is a huge unmet demand for family planning. In fact, at www.un.org/millenniumgoals, it says, ‘an unmet need for family planning undermines the achievement of several other goals.’”
Feb. 16: Jane E. Powell, Author; Historic Home Preservation Consultant; Columnist, The Berkeley Daily Planet: Sent an Opinion piece to the Berkeley Daily Planet as well as the San Fransisco Chronicle. To quote: “If population were stabilized or reduced, there would be no need for sprawl. There would be no need to line every arterial with multi-story condos. There would be no need for water rationing in a drought. There might even be enough jobs to go around.” Update: Jane’s piece was published in the Berkeley Daily Planet.
Feb. 15: Madeline Weld, President, Population Institute of Canada: Has submitted for publication an article titled “Data vs. dogma: what happens to development when you ignore POPULATION?” To quote from the article: “I am taking on the misguided notion that population control policies are ipso facto antithetical to the rights of poor people in developing countries, in particular those of poor women.”
Feb. 14: Jane Roberts, Cofounder, 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund; Author, 34 MILLION FRIENDS of the Women of the World: Wrote an article for MaximsNews (News Newtwork for the United Nations and the International Community). She reports on GPSO, describing its mission and comparing it with the emphases of 1994’s International Conference on Population and Development at Cairo. She sees the two as compatible: “Population and the fate of the women and girls of the world is crucial. But we ignore both at our peril.”
Feb. 14: Nicole Rosmarino, Ph.D., Wildlife Program Director, WildEarth Guardians: Wrote a guest commentary for the Denver Post. In it she discusses our actions which endanger other species, including the growth of our numbers. To quote: “[W]e make choices every day that deliver blows to species and their habitat: we drive gas-guzzling cars, we have too many children…”
Feb. 14: GPSO Signer/Endorser, Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: Is waiting for the publication of her article “Global warming and the Population connection” in a Swiss/corporate Journal. (Update, Feb. 22: The article is now in print in Swiss Style magazine.) To quote: “But when it comes to Global Warming, numbers of consumers are just as important than number of consumption for person. The Earth doesn’t care about per-capita greenhouse-gas production. It’s the total amount of CO2 in the air that matters.”
Feb. 14: Carlo Consiglio, Former Professor of Zoology, Sapienza University of Rome (Retired), Italy: Has written an article slated for publication in March in the Review L’Ateo ( The Atheist), the voice of the Union degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti.
Feb. 12: Yuji Ishiguro, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Institute of Adavanced Studies (Instituto de Estudos Avançados-IEAv), Sao Jose dos Campos, SP, Brazil: Posted an article, Part 7. Natural Selection and Demographic Imbalance (PDF), in his series, One-Billion World, on the site of the Institute of Advanced Studies. To quote: “If the current trend in industrialized countries towards less-than-replacement fertility rates is considered as desirable, as it should be, then these countries should help others to achieve the same…” Yugi has also distributed his Framework for Sustainability which emphasizes Earth’s limits and the consequent implications for human population size.
Feb. 10: Dale Allen Pfeiffer, Novelist, Geologist, Musician, The Mountain Sentinel: Wrote an article, Overpopulation, Overconsumption and the Balance of Power. It is posted on his website and will go out in his newsletter as well as to other venues where it will likely be posted. To quote: “Only when everyone is empowered with a quality existence will we solve the problem of overpopulation in a humane manner.”
Feb. 9: Geoff Garver, Sustainability Author; Adjunct Professor of Law, Laval University and University of Montreal, Canada (http://www.moraleconomy.org/): Co-authored (with Peter Brown) and article in the Huffington Post. Titled It Is Time to Order a New Economic Order, It contains strong statements on overpopulation. To quote: “Free access to family planning must be part of health care reform, and a foundation stone of foreign policy. The America projected by the census bureau for mid-century of around 440 million people is a global disaster.”
Feb. 8: George Plumb, Co-Founder, President, Vermonters for a Sustainable Population: Had an article published in the Times Argus newspaper in Montpelier, Vermont. Titled Environment, economics, and population, it focuses on the link between population growth and economic growth, calling for a move toward a steady state economy.
Feb. 6: Jan P. Juffermans, De Kleine Aarde/The Small Earth (dekleineaarde.nl), Boxtel, Netherlands: Had an article containing an announcement about GPSO published this week in the magazine of Groenlinks (Green Party of the Netherlands). (Jan will be giving two lectures later this month on overpopulation and global footprints. Those will be documented elsewhere on the page.)
Feb. 3: Garry Egger, M.P.H., Ph.D., Director, Centre for Health Promotion and Research, Sydney, Australia; Professor, Lifestyle Medicine and Applied Health Promotion, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW Australia: Is waiting on final acceptance of two articles in peer reviewed professional journals. (We’ll post any links which become available.)
Feb. 1: Barbara Herbstman, Ph.D., Civic and Social Activist: Wrote an article for the newsletter of her local chapter of the Sierra Club. It is slated to be published in the February edition. (We’ll link to it as soon as it’s available.)
Websites
Feb. 1: August Anson, Science Writer; Author, What Every Citizen Should Know About Our Planet: Created the Population Growth and the Open-Space Delusion website, clearing away some common misconceptions about human population growth, including the popular and absurd, “There’s no population problem; you could fit everyone on Earth into Texas!”
Feb 1: Kurt Dahl, Amateur Futurist and Author of The Eden Proposition (a thriller about a billionaire’s response to our population crisis – highly recommended): Launched a website, The Population Elephant, containing solid, uncompromising information on the population problem. Included are several “top ten” lists of useful items.
Talks, presentations, etc.
Mar. 1: John R. Coulter, Ph.D., President, Sustainable Population Australia: Was instrumental in arranging a talk by Bill Ryerson of the Population Media Center. Interviews with Bill were also arranged on national radio programs.
Feb. 28: Bruce Wright, Executive Director, Conservation Science Institute: Bruce was involved this month with two seminars in which discussion centered around a paper by Thomas Deitz and Eugene Rosa. The paper is titled “Rethinking the Environmental Impacts of Population, Affluence and Technology.”
Feb. 28: Marco Cappato, Member, European Parliament, Transnational Radical Party; Member, Foreign Affairs, Civil Liberties, and Human Rights Committees, Italy: Has pledged this month to speak out at the next plenary session of the Eurpoean Parliament concerning population matters. In December, 2008, he took part in discussions on demography. His comments included this statement: “I invite the Presidency to activate the proves for the convocation of the New UN Coinference on Population, which has been boycotted by years of interferences from the Vatican and from who fears the implementation of responsible family programmes for information and family planning.”
Feb. 27: William H. Schlesinger, Ph.D., Biogeochemist; President, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York: Spoke at the Cary Institute with the title, “More than a Beast, but much less than an Angel,” covering a range of topics on the human condition (population growth, resource use and technology), and what we must do about them.
Feb. 24: Melvin Bolton, Author, The Face in the Smaller Picture; Retired Ecologist, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Member, Sustainable Population Australia: Wrote a talk for national radio in Australia. It will be recorded in late February, and should air sometime after that.
Feb. 19: The Bridge, Community Newspaper of Montpelier, Vermont; and George Plumb, Co-Founder, President, Vermonters for a Sustainable Population: Organized a forum on population issues. Held at the Unitarian church in Montpelier, it drew about 60 attendees including representatives of the Vermont Earth Institute and Vermont Peak Oil Awareness.
Feb. 18: David Bickford, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University Scholars Programme, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore: David just returned from the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation’s Asian Chapter meeting in Chiang Mai. There he gave “an impassioned appeal to the audience about climate change and GPSO. The audience is an excellent group of concerned scientists who are arguably already on-board with the goals and ideas behind the GPSO, but it never hurts to re-ignite some activism in professors, students, and conservation professionals – especially in Asia where the population issue is massive.” He also “[spoke to] many people in Chiang Mai about what they thought about the global human population and the future and most people were surprised to learn how much of an impact human populations are having and how important Asia’s role is in the global total.”
Feb. 17: Luca Pardi, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council, Pisa, Italy; Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas, Italy: Made a presentation in connection with his book La vita dopo il petrolio which contains a chapter on population.
Feb. 14: Jane Roberts, Cofounder, 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund; Author, 34 MILLION FRIENDS of the Women of the World: Jane has been taking action in many ways this month. Among her recent efforts, she spoke at Church Women United in Redlands, CA. She informed the audience of GPSO, passing out the URL for the website.
Jane plans to pass out information at USC at an International Social Work Fair on the 17th.
Feb. 13: Wallace “J.” Nichols, Ph.D., Research Associate, California Academy of Sciences; Co-Director, Ocean Revolution: Made a presentation and participated in a panel on conflict and the envir0nment at Duke University. In both, he and the participants discussed population.
Feb. 10: Navjot S. Sodhi, Ph.D., Professor, Conservation Biology, Environmental Management and Ecology, Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore: Gave a public lecture in Concord (MA) about tropical deforestation and climate change. In the talk, he discussed the effects of human population on resource depletion.
Feb. 4: Tom Horton, Author; Former Environmental Reporter, The Baltimore Sun; Professor, Salisbury University: Spoke at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland to a crowd of about 230 people. The talk was based on his paper, Growing Growing Gone: The Chesapeake Bay and the Myth of Endless Growth (PDF) which contains strong content on population growth. To quote from the paper: “[I]t seems questioning the expansion of the economy and the population are off the table, either because they are considered sacred cows, or they are just too hard to deal with. It is assumed we can cure the symptoms while vigorously expanding their root causes.”
Feb. 4: Jelle Reumer, Ph.D., Director, Rotterdam Natural History Museum; Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at Utrecht University, Netherlands: Gave a talk to an audience of about 300 at Utrecht University. He discussed the population explosion and possible remedies, including in his images these two slides.
Books
Feb. 16: Geoff Garver, Sustainability Author; Adjunct Professor of Law, Laval University and University of Montreal, Canada (http://www.moraleconomy.org/): Co-authored (with Peter Brown) a book which was published this month. Titled Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy, it contains clear statements about the need to address human overpopulation.
Feb 1: David Robinson, D.Phil., Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University: Dr. Robinson’s book, Brain, Mind and Behaviour: A New Perspective on Human Nature (Second Edition), will be published in February, 2009. It contains insightful information on the problem of population growth from a historical perspective. Here is an excerpt.
Interviews
Feb. 28: Jack Marshall, Ph.D., Anthropologist; President, Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP): Contacted a Charlottesville-based reporter for National Public Radio. She interviewed him in early March and has indicated that at least some of the interview will air in the coming weeks.
Feb 28: Jack Santa Barbara, Director, The Sustainable Scale Project; Director, Sustainable Villages Limited: Earlier this month Jack did an interview on population and sustainability issues with host Duncan Eddy on New Zealand radio station Fresh FM. Here’s the audio file.
Feb. 24: Kathleen Evans, RN, Concerned Earth Citizen: Tried to call into local public radio station during a program on reducing carbon footprint but they didn’t get to her call.
Feb. 23: Madeline Weld, President, Population Institute of Canada: Madeline did an interview with Sarah Veale for View Magazine in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. View will feature an article on overpopulation in an upcoming issue. Madeline discussed several issues including a confidential 1991 Canadian government document which indicates the government knows how bad things are globally and recognizes that Canada has its own problems.
Feb. 16: Rosamund McDougall, Policy Director, Optimum Population Trust, UK: This month Rosamund has spoken out in interviews on three BBC radio stations and took part in a brief debate on ITV with Ann Widdecome MP, all on the theme of family size and the idea of stopping at no more than two children.
Feb. 16: Simon Ross, Business Consultant; Activist: Called in to the George Galloway show on the UK Talk Sport radio station to argue for the benefits of population limitation.
Feb. 16, 17: Madeline Weld, President, Population Institute of Canada: Took part in an interview to be aired on the 16th and 17th at chinradio.com (CHIN Radio Ottowa). The theme is “Human Population Growth: Do We Ignore it at Our Peril?”
Feb 14: Jorge Gutierrez, Ph.D., President, Grupo de Investigación y Educación en Temas Ambientales (GrIETA), Mar del Plata, Argentina; Visiting Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York: Jorge recently did an interview for the TV program, “Intelexias.” It appears on a cable TV channel of national reach (Canal Metro). He talked about environmental issues, with particular emphasis on the population problem as the root of these issues. The interview will air aired in March. (We’ll provide it if possible.)
Feb. 7: Gaetano Dentamaro, Member, Transnational Radical Party, Italy (http://www.intervisteperstrada.com/): Has been conducting Web radio-style interviews on the road in Italy. He mentions the Global Population Speak Out and asks people about their views on overpopulation. Click here for the piece on GPSO and the audio. Though you may not speak Italian, you will recognize a few key phrases. For those in the US, Canada, etc., listening to a couple of minutes of these interviews makes clear that GPSO is prompting discussion internationally!
Feb. 6: GPSO Signer/Endorser and Biodiversity First President Brishen Hoff: Called the Points North radio talk show on the CBC. He responded to the question, “How is the economic downturn affecting you?” with observations about the conflict between economic and population growth and environmental health. Listen here (WMA format).
Feb. 3: Les U. Knight, Editor, These EXIT Times: Was the guest on the Curtis Sliwa radio talk show on WABC Radio in New York. He commented that the octuplets situation is a microcosm of what we are doing globally. She has two breasts and eight mouths to feed.
Feb. 2: Les U. Knight, Editor, These EXIT Times: Was the guest on Alan Colmes’ radio talk show on Fox News. He talked about ecological footprints and human breeding. He stated that the creation of one more of us by anyone anywhere can’t be justified today.
Feb. 1: Dr. Pip Hayes, G.P., Exeter, UK: Spoke with The Times health editor Sarah-Kate Templeton, providing information for this article about her decision not to provide fertility treatment to parents who already have large families.
Feb 1: John Guillebaud, Emeritus Professor of Family Planning & Reproductive Health, University College London: Spoke with The Times health editor Sarah-Kate Templeton, providing information for this article about population issues and Dr. Pip Hayes’s decision not to provide fertility treatment to parents who already have large families.
Blog articles
Mar. 19: Corey Bradshaw, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Aquatic Sciences, University of Adelaide and South Australian Research and Development Institute; Research Director of Marine Impacts, Research Institute for Climate Change and Sustainability, University of Adelaide, Australia (Blog – ConservationBytes.com): Wrote an article titled Too many mouths to feed. To quote: “The venerable Professor John Beddington has some stern warnings about over-population in the next few decades. In essence, we cannot ignore the human over-population problem any longer. There are simply too many people for the finite resources available and the consumption rates that do not appear to be declining…”
Mar. 3: GPSO Signer/Endorser Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: At the blog of the Assissi Nature Council, Maria wrote a blog post titled ADERITE AL MALTHUS DAY. It concerns efforts to establish a Malthus Day in Italy as described here.
Feb. 28: Coby Beck, Environmental and Climate Change Writer, ScienceBlogs.com, Grist.org: Wrote a blog article on the difficulty of grappling with the population issue. To quote: “What is the right path when the choices are between the immoral and the impossible? It is hard to feel comfortable with child quotas, mandatory sterilization or any other similar policy that visits that kind of governmental control on such a personal and private aspect of everyone’s life. But it is ludicrous to simply hope that humanity suddenly comes to its senses…”
Feb. 28: Victoria Serda, Municipal Councillor, Saugeen Shores, Ontario; Climate Project Canada, Lead Mentor & Presenter: Wrote an article which she has posted on three different blogs. To quote: “[M]uch of the population growth is in the poorer nations of the world, and their standard of living is increasing, meaning more of the population will have cars, electricity, computers, etc., and this all will increase their GHG emissions individually and collectively.”
Feb. 27: Robert Nevin B.ENG., M.D., Environmental Health Peer Presenter, Ontario College of Family Physicians, Lead Physician, Bay College Family Health Group, Toronto, Canada: Wrote a blog post on the Green Party of Canada website. He followed it up with a detailed reply to a somewhat dismissive comment from a reader. To quote: “This is an attempt to create a false dichotomy. Can we not walk and chew gum? Can we not be concerned about our eco-systems *and* the rights of humans?”
Feb. 26: GPSO Signer/Endorser Tim Murray, Vice President, Biodiversity First: Wrote a blog article titled Being a Two-Way Player on Team IPAT. He points to the environmental movement’s tendency to emphasize consumption while ignoring population. To quote: “I came upon an orchestration, the environmental movement, and all the musicians were playing violins to the tune of ‘Overconsumption, overconsumption, overconsumption.’ They refused to play any other tune or use any other instrument to compliment that narrow repertoire. Apparently some corporate donors were paying them to be a one-trick pony.”
Feb. 24: Bruce Howard, Writer and Activist: Launched a blog and posted an article titled Underpopulation is not a word, but its time has come. To quote: “One indication we are believers is that overpopulation, a word in popular use for forty years, has no opposite; underpoulation is not in the dictionary. Underpopulation (having plenty for all) is a nightmare for economists and their clients; underpopulation breaks their profit machine of growing demand for declining supply.”
Feb. 21: GPSO Signer/Endorser Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: At the blog of the Assissi Nature Council, Maria wrote a blog post titled PLEDGER’S EFFORTS FOR GLOBAL POPULATION SPEAK OUT. It provides a look at GPSO pledgers’ efforts as of the 21st.
Feb. 20: GPSO Signer/Endorser Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: At the blog of the Assissi Nature Council, Maria wrote a blog post titled PERCHE’ I MEDIA IGNORANO L’IMPATTO DELL’INCREMENTO DELLA POPOLAZIONE? To quote (with the aid of Google Translate): “[Huxley] sensed that we strive through more technology to increase the carrying capacity of ecosystems to feed a surplus number of the hungry… [requiring] new technological inputs, ignoring the obvious solution: reduce the number of mouths to feed. And ‘This is the real reason why poverty is always with us, because we continually chasing the ever-growing multitude of the poor.”
Feb. 19: Maurizio Morabito, Senior Consultant, Investment Banking; Social Policy and Science Commentator, Italy: Wrote an article titled Speaking Out About (Over-)Population. To quote: “This ability for making full use of all resources within reach is something we should be very proud of; and wary, as there is little indication for when limits are actually reached. It always looks like there is more space in the trunk… But there is a limit.”
Feb. 18: Robert Negut, Concerned Citizen, Romania: Wrote an article titled Suffocating the World. It emphasizes the global nature of overpopulation and recommends strict policies to reduce birth rates. To Quote: “You need a license to drive a car or to own a weapon, but anyone with a functional reproductive system can freely perform the one action which has the highest potential to harm the entire world, namely having a child. That can’t be right!”
Feb. 14: Jim Just, Land Use Activist; Executive Director, Goal One Coalition: Wrote an article posted to the blogs of the Goal One Coalition and Post Carbon Oregon. It discusses James Lovelock’s new book, The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning. Lovelock identifies human overpopulation as the root cause of the environmental crisis. To quote Jim: “She will return to equilibrium without any regard for human interests or plans. At the root of the environmental crisis is the level of human population. The future will see far fewer people.”
Feb. 14: Hans Tammemagi, Ph.D., School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, British Columbia; Environment Columnist, Vancouver Sun, Canada: Wrote a blog article about the silence on population and the role of GPSO in trying to break through it. To Quote: “Twenty years ago everyone worried about, and talked about, the exploding human population… Since then, the population has increased by two billion, a whopping 40% growth. So are we panicking? Just the opposite. Population has fallen off the map.”
Feb. 14: Martin Rundkvist, Ph.D., Archeologist, Managing Editor, Fornvännen Archaeological Journal, Stockholm, Sweden; Science Writer, ScienceBlogs.com: Wrote a blog article at Aardvarchaeology titled Let’s Turn the Population Trend. To quote: “Woman or man — thy loins must never issue more than two children, preferably less! That’s the replacement rate. But by all means have a whole gerbil-like clutch of children, a full quiver, a soccer team — through adoption. Empty the world’s orphanages!”
Feb. 13: Rick MacPherson, Director, Conservation Programs, Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL): Wrote a blog post alerting readers to American Samoa Governor Togiola Tulafono’s message today to the American Samoa Population Summit. To quote: “Governor Togiola told participants that although the issue is complex in many ways, it is also as simple as, ‘too many people, on too little land’.”
Feb. 13: GPSO Signer/Endorser and Biodiversity First President Brishen Hoff: Posted a blog article calling on TVO’s The Agenda TV show to cover the problem of biodiversity loss and its link to human overpopulation. Brishen offered to appear on the show to debate other environmentalists who avoid the population issue.
Brishen also Copied to his blog a letter he wrote to Canada’s minister of immigration, Jason Kenney and CC’d to Minister of The Environment, Jim Prentice and Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper. Out of concern for the link between biodiversity loss and human population growth, it supports Kenney in his consideration of the possibility of reducing Canada’s immigration intake.
Brishen also posted a letter he had written to the magazine, Canadian Dimension. It urged the magazine to consider a story on the idea that a recession is good news for the environment. He subsequently updated the post to include an email exchange with an editor who dismissed his idea.
Feb. 11: Robert Negut, Concerned Citizen, Romania: Wrote a blog post titled The Future of Contraception. To quote: “[S]afe, reliable and easily accessible contraception is of crucial importance if we are to ever solve the overpopulation problem…”
Feb. 11: Rick MacPherson, Director, Conservation Programs, Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL): Wrote a blog post titled Suffering in Silence at his blog, Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, & Sunsets. It highlights the reluctance of those in the coral reef scientific community to address overpopulation and calls on scientists and those at NGOs to begin speaking out. To quote: “But if we in the NGO world are afraid to talk about the smoking gun of overpopulation, precisely who is going to take the lead?”
Feb. 11: GPSO Signer/Endorser J. Emmett Duffy, Ph.D., Professor of Marine Science at The College of William and Mary’s Virginian Institute of Marine Science: Wrote a blog post at The Natural Patriot calling attention to the problem of ongoing population growth on a finite earth and summarizing GPSO’s role in addressing the issue. He includes a link to his recent radio interview for KRFC Radio (Fort Collins, Colorado) interview concerning GPSO and population impacts on marine systems.
Feb. 10: Evelyn Haaheim, Concerned Citizen: At her blog, What About Human Population?, Evelyn wrote a post titled Possible motivators for encouraging smaller families. It draws from and expands on a paper by Dr. John Weeks, listing a range of incentives and disincentives.
Feb. 10: Megan Argo, Astronomer, Australia: Wrote a blog post, The elephant in the room: overpopulation in the environment debate. To quote, “[O]ur planet (which is a closed system) can only support a finite number of people. . . . the population has been increasing at quite a rate thanks to the industrial revolution, developments in medicine and general healthcare, and so on. But, at some point, the population will pass the point at which there isn’t enough available land to support it. Has this already happened?”
Feb. 8: Jim Just, Land Use Activist; Executive Director, Goal One Coalition: Published an article titled “End to population growth: a question of when and how, not whether” on the blogs of the Goal One Coalition and Post Carbon Oregon. It contains this key statement: Each individual life is indeed precious. That’s why it is so important to take steps to stop and then reverse population growth, lest the uncontrolled explosion of life leads to the collapse of societies and ecosystems and thus to the death of untold billions due to war, famine, and disease.
Feb. 6: GPSO Signer/Endorser Maria Luisa Cohen, Environmental activist; Founder and President of the Assisi Nature Council, Association for Environmental Education and Ethics, Italy: At the blog of the Assissi Nature Council, Maria wrote a blog post titled Evento importante: Global Population Speak Out GPSO. It introduces and details GPSO.
Feb. 6: Richard Kaziny, Political Activist: At his blog, Chronicles of the Fourth Reich (A Political Blog about the Bush Administration and the Neocons), Richard wrote a post titled More children for a mother who already has 6 hurts us all. To quote: “In a perfect world, anyone should be free to do anything. But, when the freedom of one affects the freedom of another, we have to compromise… [W]e must recognize the need to curb population growth for the good of all.”
Feb. 3: Luca Pardi, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes, National Research Council, Pisa, Italy; Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas, Italy: Wrote a blog article titled Crescita demografica e ambiente. “Non mettete al mondo più di due figli”
Feb 2: Evelyn Haaheim, Concerned Citizen: At her blog, What About Human Population?, Evelyn wrote a post titled Diachronic competition (stealing resources from the future generations). To quote: “People talk more about the right to have babies than they do about the babies’ rights! It is the right of each of those babies to be raised in a world free of famine, free of water wars and resource struggles.”
Feb. 1: GPSO Signer/Endorser and Biodiversity First president Brishen Hoff: At his blog, The Foolish Pursuit of Economic Growth, Brishen wrote a post titled, The Average Person is Doomed. Brishen is one of the least compromising population and biodiversity activists in North America and is true to form here. This one will rankle some readers, but rather than try to squelch an activist such as Brishen, we need to consider that his analyses push the limits, nudging us to consider all options and to examine our own ethical priorities. Would a solution as radical as his seems, for example, save more lives than the more accepted approaches? Let’s put it on the table for discussion!
