The following announcement was sent to me by George Plumb.
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New England Coalition for Sustainable Population (NECSP)
Executive Director Position Opening
August 24, 2009

The New England Coalition for a Sustainable Population is accepting applications for a full time Executive Director. The mission of the coalition is, “To gradually bring the New England population to a level that is in sustainable balance with its resources through education, networking, and legislative action.” Further information about the organization may be found on its web site necsp.org. Its office is in Chelmsford, Mass. Emphasis will be given to creative public education and policy initiatives that link population stabilization to sustainability; expose the costs of growth; and provide supporting policy recommendations to help all population/environmental organizations to be more effective. Must be able to coordinate legislative and activist initiatives at both local and state levels. Fundraising experience is required.
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The July issue of Harper’s Magazine has a segment of dialogue from Population Media Center’s radio serial in Ethiopia, Sibrat (“Trauma”). Hearing this segment might give one pause about the idea of having a baby – and/or refusing one’s wife the right to hospital delivery.

I met with our Ethiopian writing team on Friday and emphasized the need to role model small family norms in our upcoming serial drama on Radio Ethiopia. Here’s why (figures from the 2005 Demographic and Health Survey except Total Fertility Rate, which is from Population Reference Bureau’s 2009 World Population Data Sheet):
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The green landscape around Abebech Angelo’s home in Agaza Duge village near Boditi town, 370km south of Addis Ababa, belies the food shortages that southern Ethiopia is facing.

The area was dry and parched only a few weeks ago, but has turned green with the arrival of recent rains. However, “the rain did not come on time”, said Abebech. “Because of that we did not have a good harvest; and this led to the [current] food shortage.”

For full article, visit:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=85666

The Population Reference Bureau has released the 2009 World Population Data Sheet.

PRB World Population Data Sheet 2009 (PDF, 681 KB)

Global population numbers are on track to reach 7 billion in 2011, just 12 years after reaching 6 billion in 1999. Virtually all of the growth is in developing countries. And the growth of the world’s youth population (ages 15 to 24) is shifting into the poorest of those countries.

The Population Reference Bureau’s 2009 World Population Data Sheet and its summary report, to be released on Aug. 12, offer detailed information about country, regional, and global population patterns.

For full article, visit:
http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2009/2009wpds.aspx

Those on this list concerned with population and sustainability issues are aware of corporations with relatively good or bad track records with regard to treatment of the environment or willingness to promote equal rights for women. Some companies play an active role in assisting or blocking efforts to reduce population growth.

An example of a company that falls in the negative camp was described by Mark O’Connor recently. This is a company in Australia that is somewhat rapacious in extracting minerals from underground that is also pushing for population growth in Australia. The motivation, Mark reasons, is to create high unemployment not only to give them cheap laborers, but also to make the government concerned enough about unemployment that they will reduce environmental standards, thus allowing this company to carry out its extraction more quickly and at lower cost.
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Thanks to Marianne Ward for this article from Environmental New Network.
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Aquaculture, revealed in a key UN analysis today to be the basis of all future growth in global seafood production, desperately needs to be put on a more sustainable basis, leading global environment organization WWF said today.

State of the World’s Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008 (SOFIA 2008), released this morning by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said that food supplies from aquaculture now equal those from ocean and freshwater capture fisheries. The report also documents a continuing drop-off in yields from the world’s marine capture fisheries, with FAO saying “more closely controlled approaches to fisheries management” are needed.

For full article, visit:
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/39397

African nations’ fisheries will be hardest hit by climate change, according to a report released yesterday that attempts to determine which countries are most vulnerable to effects ranging from damage to coral reefs to changing river flows and stronger coastal storms.

The report by the WorldFish Center identifies 33 countries whose economies are “highly vulnerable” to climate change because they rely heavily on fisheries to supply food and income.

For full article, visit:
http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=2152

Corrosive waters are showing up off North America’s west coast decades earlier than expected, according to a new study that warns the oceans‘ changing chemistry could endanger corals, shellfish and other sea life.

Earlier research had shown that deep water in the open ocean was growing more acidic. But authors of the new study, published Thursday in Science, said they were shocked at the conditions they found along the Pacific coasts of Canada, the United States and Mexico during a research cruise last spring.

Some areas reached levels of acidity scientists had predicted wouldn’t occur until 2050.

For full article, visit:
http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=1175

The future’s more acid oceans could leave fish without a critical survival skill: their sense of smell.

After being raised in aquarium waters of comparable acidity to what is expected in the oceans of the end of the 21st century, clownfish demonstrated an inability to recognize smells. That could devastate the species, which relies on smell to find its way home.

Most research on acidification has focused on damage to crustaceans and coral, but the latest experiment — published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences — suggests fish are imperiled, as well.

For full article, visit:
http://www.earthportal.org/news/?p=2147

Greetings from Ethiopia, where I am spending a week with our country team developing our sixth radio serial drama project and related activities. Below is a message from Hassan Mansour.
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Dear Colleagues:

There is now ample evidence of the ecological impacts of recent climate change from polar terrestrial to tropical marine environments. So on behalf of the Egyptian Society for Environmental Sciences (ESES) it is our pleasure to welcome you to the fourth international conference on “Impacts of Climate Change on Natural Resources” that will take place in Ismailia, Egypt on November 10-11, 2009.
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