Everyone agrees: our economy is sick. The inescapable symptoms include declines in consumer spending and consumer confidence, together with a contraction of international trade and available credit. Add a collapse in real estate values and carnage in the automotive and airline industries and the picture looks grim indeed.

But why are both the U.S. economy and the larger global economy ailing? Among the mainstream media, world leaders, and America’s economists-in-chief (Treasury Secretary Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke) there is near-unanimity of opinion: these recent troubles are primarily due to a combination of bad real estate loans and poor regulation of financial derivatives.

For full article, visit:
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/49798

The Population Media Center, the Population Institute, and the Wallace Global Fund Invite you to a Public Forum:

“Population Growth and Rising Consumption: What’s Sustainable?”
October 6, 2009
9:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m.
The Barbara Jordan Conference Center
Kaiser Family Foundation
1330 G St. NW
Washington, DC 20005-3004

Speakers include:
Laurie Mazur, editor of A Pivotal Moment: Human Population, the Environmental Crisis and the Justice Solution (2009)
William Catton Jr., author of Bottleneck: the Human Impasse (2009)
Peter Victor, York University, author of Managing without Growth (2008)
Dennis Meadows, co-author of Limits to Growth (1972) and Limits to Growth: the 30 Year Update (2002).
Robert Engelman, WorldWatch Institute, author of More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want (2008)
Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute, author of Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines (2007)

Space is limited; please RSVP to Jennie Wetter at jwetter@populationinstitute.org

Thanks to Donnie Maclurcan for alerting me to this article. I have not had time to read the article, but I did post the article in a PDF format below. Also below are the related figures, which I obtained from the International Institute for Environment and Development. I am pasting the press release about this report below. It is clear that there is a major push back happening with regard to the increased media coverage of population issues. There are email addresses below for the author and the Press Officer of IIED, in case you wish to respond to them.

Climate Change and Population Counter Argument EandU 21 2 Satterthwaite pages 545-567 (PDF, 258 KB)

Climate change and population figures Satterthwaite (Excel doc., 31 KB)

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Thanks to Eric Rimmer for this piece from the Catholic Herald. I could not find any place to post an opposing view. I won’t keep posting negative articles like this one, but I do think it’s important for us to know what is being said by various media. You can see a sampling of the wonderful letters of protest regarding one of these articles at http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com.
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The Optimum Population Trust, an organisation which promotes the radical reduction in human population primarily for the sake of the environment, believes it has come up with a cheap solution to global warming: more contraception. On the face of it there is some plausibility in its argument. But scratch beneath the surface and one soon finds that it is the OPT’s research which is based on a serious dose of hot air.

Ever since Malthus argued that without war, pestilence and famine human numbers would always outstrip food production, there has been an intense debate on the relationship between population and development. The debating ground has shifted over the years: is there enough space, food, resources, energy, water and so on…

For full article, visit:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/opinion/o0000326.shtml

The Emergent Media Center (EMC) is using the world’s favorite sport to help impact attitudes surrounding the treatment of women.

Empowering Play, a virtual soccer game created by EMC, is geared toward young boys, who earn points based on how they treat each other and the women in their lives.

“It’s built on FIFA fair-play rules,” says Ann DeMarle, director of EMC, which is based at Champlain College in South Burlington, VT. You show respect on the field, and respect to the females in one’s life—not just your teammates.”

For full article, visit:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6699062.html?industryid=47061

Thanks to Gene Nelson for sending me this article from the New York Times.
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A recent study reiterated the conclusion that population growth ought to be controlled in order to combat global warming, and other world problems. I beg to differ. The authors of studies like these have exaggerated the benefits of population control, because they ignore some of the significant economic benefits of large populations.

The director-general of Unicef has been quoted as saying, “Family planning could bring more benefits to more people at less cost than any other single technology now available to the human race.” And one of the benefits of reduced population, it is claimed, is reduced carbon emissions and therefore mitigation of climate change.

For full article, visit:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com

Thanks to Roger Plenty for bringing to my attention the current issue of the New Scientist attacking the “population delusion.” Most of the edition can be seen online at http://www.newscientist.com/special/population. Also see http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327272.700-the-real-problem-with-overpopulation.html.

Apart from one article by Paul and Anne Ehrlich, the issue entirely downplays the population issue.

Fred Pearce, who is on the editorial staff, is on record as referring to population activists as “green fascists.”

Thanks to Marilyn Hempel for this article from Mother Jones.
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The birds can no longer be trusted. Our government suspects a duck or a goose, perhaps that rare swan, will bring plague to our shores. The ice is melting, also. The polar bears are fated to die, the seas are guaranteed to rise and flood our coasts. The skies have mutinied and new monster winds whip off the ocean. We’ve already lost one city and there is concern about future storms. We worry about nuclear weapons that are not controlled by white people. The government eavesdrops on many people and says this is necessary for our protection. The enemies can be anywhere and appear as almost anything.

For full article, visit:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics

Thanks to Gretchen Pfaff of CAPS for this editorial by Mark Cromer.
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OP-ED FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:
Rick Oltman
Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS)
415- 215-9550, 805-564-6626
www.CAPSweb.org

Still Waters, Flooded State

As the drought worsens, California continues a policy of ‘growth-as-usual’

By Mark Cromer

Twenty-five million beleaguered Southern Californians can look forward to the arrival of autumn this year with the relief of knowing that while the worst is hardly over in the long-term—the region will cool down and stop burning at least for a little while.
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Dan Kildee wants to save the city where he was raised by shrinking it. The city is Flint, Mich., in Genesee County, where Kildee is treasurer.

“There’s an obsession with growth and expansion,” Kildee says. “I’m not against growth, but what we really have to recognize is that we have already shrunk. And because we are not growing does not mean we can’t be a good city.”

The concept of “shrinking cities” is not new. The idea is to bulldoze entire neighborhoods. The smaller city would then be cheaper to run and help pave the way for better times ahead, advocates say.

For full article, visit:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106492824