Greetings on Earth Day! Thanks to Jennie Goldie for this article from Science Daily.
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Overpopulation is the world’s top environmental issue, followed closely by climate change and the need to develop renewable energy resources to replace fossil fuels, according to a survey of the faculty at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF).

Just in time for Earth Day (April 22) the faculty at the college, at which environmental issues are the sole focus, was asked to help prioritize the planet’s most pressing environmental problems.

For full article, visit:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090418075752.htm

Thanks to Steven Kotler for this article.
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In 1991, George Bush Sr. was President, something called “grunge” was beginning to ooze out of the Pacific Northwest, and I had just moved to Phoenix, Arizona

Back then, the city was mostly empty space. There was a meager downtown, a few fringe settlements and nearby Scottsdale—which was the real boom town. But mainly the area was open desert: dry and bare and beautiful.

I flew into Phoenix not long ago. Seen from above, I couldn’t believe the change. The long stretches of sand and saguaro were gone, replaced by high-rises and housing developments. They went for miles and miles in every direction. Even at 30,000 feet I couldn’t see the edge.

For full article, visit:
http://www.ecohearth.com/eco-news

Thanks to Eric Rimmer for the item below and the link to the Prosperity without Growth Report. See http://www.jonathonporritt.com/pages/2009/03/prosperity_without_growth.html to read the comments and to post your own. To download the report, go to http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications.php?id=914

Prosperity Without Growth?
Posted by Jonathon Porritt on March 31, 2009 1:34 PM

At last, the Sustainable Development Commission’s magnum opus has landed. Prosperity Without Growth? was launched on Monday, representing the culmination of five year’s work. Tim Jackson, our Economics Commissioner has produced an absolute ‘tour de force’. And there’s a lot riding on this for the Commission.

For full article, visit:
http://www.jonathonporritt.com/pages/2009/03/prosperity_without_growth.html

David Poindexter was awarded the Everett M. Rogers Award for Achievement in Entertainment-Education at Hollywood, Health, Society’s annual Sentinel for Health Awards. The award ceremony was held at the Writers Guild of America, West in Los Angeles, California on October 2, 2008.

Watch video from the awards ceremony

David Poindexter currently serves as Population Media Center’s Honorary Board Chair. Poindexter has four decades of experience in designing and implementing reproductive health communications programs in developing countries, using the entertainment-education methodology created by Miguel Sabido. He has done this work as Director of the Communications Center of the Population Institute, founder and President of Population Communications International, and most recently as a program consultant for Population Media Center.

Thanks to Tim Murray for his response to yesterday’s mailing about “Greens propose steady-state economy for BC.” See Tim’s comments below.

THE INCOHERENT AND CONFUSED VISION OF CANADA’S GREEN PARTY
Greens Propose a Steady State Economy for BC

Forgive me, but this is a joke. An essential ingredient to a steady state economy is population control. Not only do the Greens not evidence any understanding of this, their party is committed to the 1% immigration target of the opposition parties in Ottawa. That is right. The Greens favour an immigration quota that is 25% higher than the present intake of 265,000 immigrants per year. Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May is oblivious to the fact that immigration since 1990 is responsible for 3 to 4 times as much GHG emissions as the Alberta tar sands project, which she claims makes immigration a relatively trivial issue. Immigration is not only responsible for 80% of our 30% overshoot of the 2012 Kyoto emissions target, but it is responsible for sprawl that is 3-4 times the size of Toronto or 3-4 times the size of the tar sands. And that sprawl consumes 60,000 acres of prime farmland per year in Ontario alone. When confronted by the absurdity of taking the “P” out of the IPAT formula, Greens reply with standard clichés.
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Thanks to Brian Czech for this article.
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The Green Party is proposing a steady-state economy for British Columbia, party leader Jane Sterk told The Hook this weekend.

In March, the Greens released their platform without a budget. Sterk asserted that “we would have had to do what the NDP did, which is to create unreal numbers with an unreal statement,” and said her party is proposing a different way of accounting.

For full article, visit:
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/BC-Politics/2009/04/14/SteadyStateBC/

There is a very close relationship between the economic crisis we are facing, the many environmental problems stressing the Earth and population growth. It is time for a new economic model, one that better serves both the needs of people and the Earth.

At the root of the economic crisis is the myth that the economy can grow forever with new housing construction and the mortgage fiasco a major part of this. This myth is even more false in a world where the growth is dependent on cheap fossil fuels that have probably reached their peak production.

For full article, visit:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903090308

Thanks to Brian Czech, Chair of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, for the article below.

Brian Czech Trophic Theory of Money (Word doc., 274 KB)

Thanks to Rob Dietz, Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, for this article from Sustainable Industries.
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When a train derails, the first instinct is to set the wheels back on the tracks and get the train moving again. This instinct often serves people well–it’s the sign of a can-do attitude, and it’s exactly what government agents, Wall Street financiers, and Federal Reserve economists are scrambling to do with the stalled economy and crisis-riddled financial system. Before maneuvering the train back onto the tracks, however, a wise engineer will consider why it derailed in the first place. An even wiser engineer might consult a map and ask whether the train was headed in the right direction in the first place.

For full article, visit:
http://www.sustainableindustries.com/commentary/38728482.html

Thanks to Lester Brown of Earth Policy Institute for this announcement. If you are in the U.S. and receive the Public Broadcasting Service, the following will be of interest to you.

APRIL 17 and 18, 2009
“On Thin Ice”, a one-hour special on PBS
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