Thanks to Carter Dillard, Westerfield Fellow at Loyola University New Orleans, for this link to his interview by Fox News on population issues. He did an admirable job under somewhat difficult circumstances. Watch the interview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOM9bT-FqRE

Many thanks to Mark Powell for sending me a copy of his letter to Senator Leahy.
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September 29, 2009

Dear Senator Leahy,

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my earlier e-mail about immigration policy and U.S. population growth. My friends at Vermonters for Sustainable Population told me to expect a form letter, so I was pleased to find that you had given my questions such careful consideration. Still, I would like to follow up that exchange (June 30, 2009) with a few more in-depth questions regarding your views on population growth.
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Thanks to Karen Shragg for the following letter she sent to newly confirmed Senator Al Franken. It’s a great example of population activism. Attached is a photo of Karen holding a photo of her handing the letter (on the back of a photo) to Senator Franken.

Dear Al, Frannie, Thomasin and Joe,

Congratulations to all of you on surviving the grueling months of challenges to your election as our senator. I am so excited. It has truly been a pleasure being a district and state delegate for you as well as a canvasser. I wish I could have done more.
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Many thanks to Fred Meyerson for his editorial, “Population, Biodiversity and Human Well-being.” It was published on December 1, 2009 by Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Letters in response can be sent to WriteBack@esa.org. Instructions for letters (600 words maximum) can be found at: http://www.frontiersinecology.org/letters_write_back.php

Population Biodiversity and Human Well-being – Editorial by Fred Meyerson (PDF, 49 KB)

In follow up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s January 8th talk on the ICPD process, I checked the U.S. State Department’s position statement on population. You can find it below and at http://www.state.gov/g/prm/c25925.htm. It must have been written during the Bush Administration, since it refers to the current world population as being 6.5 billion, while it is now 6.8 billion. It is time for the statement I put in bold to be removed from U.S. policy.

You can write to Eric Schwartz, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, care of SchlachterEN@state.gov, to let him know your views. You might want to copy your representatives in Congress.
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Population

What are the issues?
Demographers at the United Nations estimate that the world’s population of 6.5 billion people is growing by roughly 1.2% annually, and will pass the nine billion mark by 2050. The largest generation of youth in human history is on the way. In many parts of the world, people living in the countryside have moved to the cities, pushing urban areas far beyond their capacity.
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The Population Institute is pleased to announce that the 2010 Global Population Speak Out (GPSO) will commence on February 1st and run through the whole month.

GPSO is designed to promote a new and responsible global discussion — one that recognizes a healthy and stable population is a prerequisite of global sustainability.

Endorsed by high profile scientists and celebrities such as Paul Ehrlich, Dennis Meadows and Alexandra Paul, the Global Population Speak Out specifically challenges the taboo against discussing population.

I strongly encourage you to make a pledge to participate, which you can do by clicking through the following secure link:

http://tiny.cc/GPSO_2010_Pledge

When February arrives, you can write a blog post, submit an LTE or Op-Ed, create a poster, give a speech — whatever you feel comfortable doing to “Speak Out.” Over 220 other people – and counting – from around the world have already pledged. Together, all our small actions will add up to one big month for the cause of sustainability.

Last year, the Global Population Speak Out was covered in Science Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor and the London Times Online, among others. For more information, visit the website: http://gpso.wordpress.com/

This article from the December 17 Economist concludes, “Relying on the import of money, workers, and brains,” writes Mr Lind, America is “a Ponzi scheme that works.” The Economist seems to have no clue that endless growth in the U.S. is not sustainable.
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At one of the many Korean restaurants in Annandale, Virginia, a waitress cracks a raw egg into a sizzling tofu-and-oyster stew. Tables buckle under heaps of chili-, garlic- and cabbage-themed side dishes. Every customer is of Korean origin. Is this a sign that Korean immigrants are failing to assimilate in America?

Far from it. A mother addresses her college-age daughter in Korean; the daughter replies in English. A muscular man with a buzz cut reads a Korean newspaper; his T-shirt proclaims, in English: “Support our Troops”.

For full article, visit:
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory

Thanks to Joyce Tarnow of Floridians for Sustainable Population for sending this commentary from the Orlando Sentinel.
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They’re like two characters out of a Carl Hiaasen book, two eco-heroes embroiled in a sometimes nasty, sometimes comical, page-turning brawl with dastardly villains who pave Florida for profit.

Lesley Blackner and Ross Burnaman grew frustrated fighting developers, literally house by house, in local zoning battles.

So they concocted Florida Hometown Democracy, a proposed amendment that asks people this simple question: Before turning the bulldozers loose on Bambi, wouldn’t you like to vote on it?

For full article, visit:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local

Thanks to Gene Nelson for this Bloomberg report on India’s huge problem of human waste.

India Failing to Control Open Defecation Blunts Nations Growth (PDF, 166 KB)

Thanks to Joe Bish for this article. Below is a summary followed by the link for the full article.
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A set of proposed international sex education guidelines aimed at reducing H.I.V. infections among young people has provoked criticism from conservative groups that say the program would be too explicit for young children and promote access to legal abortion as a right…

…But the conservative criticism has already caused one of the key participating and donor agencies, the United Nations Population Fund, to pull back from the project and ask that its name be edited out of the published material, United Nations officials said.
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