Thanks to Dierk von Behrens for this article.
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The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, fuelling a global culture of excess that is emerging as the biggest threat to the planet, according to a new report.

In its annual report, Worldwatch Institute says the cult of consumption and greed could wipe out any gains from government action on climate change or a shift to a clean energy economy.

”Until we recognise that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilisation,” Worldwatch project director Erik Assadourian said.

For full article, visit:
http://www.theage.com.au

Many thanks to Mary Frost for this article.
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Last year, every person in the United States needed more than 21 tons of minerals and energy fuels to maintain their standard of living, according to statistics compiled by the Mineral Information Institute, an Affiliate of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Foundation.

With the life expectancy in the U.S. now averaging 77.8 years, this means that the average American will need to have 3.3 million pounds of resources to be mined to provide the products and materials they will depend upon in their lifetime. The population of the U.S. is over 304 million people, so this means that last year, nearly 6
billion tons of different rocks and minerals had to be mined somewhere, to make the things we use in our everyday lives.

For full article, visit:
http://www.mii.org/pdfs/2009miiMineralsBaby.pdf

Moboid – Heather Kelley blog

http://www.rapport.moboid.com/?p=236

As World Cup 2010 approaches, let me direct your attention to Breakaway, a game sponsored by the United Nations with the goal to end violence against women by reaching out to young men around the world. Through exciting football (soccer) gameplay and intriguing character and story, the game reveals issues of gender discrimination and violence, and offer alternatives. The hope is to end violent and discriminatory acts against women and girls before they even start.
Continue Reading »

Child marriage is a human rights violation. Several international human rights agreements protect children from child marriage, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Convention of Eradication of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990). All call for the free and full consent of both parties to marriage, a minimum age of marriage of 18, designation of child marriage as a harmful practice, and protection for the rights of children from all forms of exploitation

Early marriage compromises girls’ development and often results in early pregnancy and social isolation. Child marriage also reinforces the vicious cycle of early marriage, low education, high fertility, and poverty. Setting and enforcing a minimum legal age for marriage is necessary to protect girls, who are more affected than boys by the practice of child marriage. Most countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have laws on the minimum age for marriage, ranging from age 13 in Iran to age 20 in Tunisia for females, and from age 15 in Yemen to age 21 in Algeria for males.

For full article, visit:
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2010/menachildmarriage.aspx

EarthSky has a series of radio interviews on population: “Population Challenges To The Year 2050.” EarthSky won a first place award in the Population Institute’s 30th Annual Global Media Awards, for Excellence in Population Reporting.

Interviews

01-04-2010 – MALCOLMPOTTS ON EMPOWERING AFGHANISTAN’S WOMEN: HTTP://EARTHSKY.ORG/HUMAN-WORLD/MALCOLM-POTTS-ON-EMPOWERING-AFGHANISTANS-WOMEN

Potts said he agrees with the many studies which suggest that empowering women through increased access to education and contraceptives – plus delaying marriage – is key to 21st century peace and stability
Continue Reading »

Thanks to Joe Bish for this Times of India story
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According to Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, “We are not in favour of controlling population growth through any kind of legislation, but by way of generating awareness and persuading people to have a small family size for betterment of the health of the mother and child.”

He said, “Population is a major concern. India is the world’s second most populous country. Urgent steps need to be taken to stabilise the population for sustainable development.”

According to Azad, India is following the demographic transition pattern of developing countries, from the initial levels of “high birth rate-high death rate” to the intermediate transition stage of “high birth rate-low death rate” which manifests in high rates of population growth, before attaining “low birth rate-low death rate”.

For full article, visit:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India

How many people have said there is plenty of food and fuel to go around and not to worry about population issues?
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Flights, rail services and road traffic in parts of India were badly affected Tuesday and some schools and businesses shut down by a strike called by the country’s opposition communist parties and their allies to protest rising food and fuel prices.

Food prices have jumped nearly 20 percent from last year amid shortages caused by weak monsoon rains that led to a drought while the costs of fuel and power have risen nearly 13 percent in March from a year ago, according to government data.

The sharp rises have pushed India’s headline inflation to 9.9 percent in March and become a political issue with the opposition parties attacking the ruling Congress party for not doing enough, holding up business in Parliament.

For full article, visit:
http://www.660news.com/news

Nicholas Kristof wrote a column pointing to high desired family size in countries he was visiting in Africa, which you can read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/opinion

Below is his blog on this subject.
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BLOG: Is Consensus Possible on Birth Control?
Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010
Source: The New York Times (U.S.)
Author: NICHOLAS KRISTOF

My column today is about the need for birth control as a key to fighting poverty. In short: let’s make contraception as available as sex. Here are a few extra thoughts I didn’t have space to address.
First, all the numbers on a subject like this are dubious. The U.N. or research groups put out nice reports with figures for all kinds of things, and I sometimes worry that they imply a false precision. The truth is we have very little idea of some of these numbers. For example, the WHO studies have suggested that well over half a million women die each year from pregnancy complications, while a new Lancet study put the number at about 350,000. We don’t know which is right, because nobody really keeps track of women who die in poor parts of the world.
Continue Reading »

Thanks to Bob Walker for letting me know about a new paper by Charles Westoff on the Desired Number of Children 2000-2008. You can download the paper at http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pub_details.cfm?id=987&srchTp=home

This report is a review of reproductive preferences in 60 countries based on data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted between 1998 and 2008. Several measures of preferences are used: the number of children considered ideal, the proportion of women who want no more children, the planning status of recent births, and the Wanted Total Fertility Rate. For those countries that have conducted more than one survey, trends in reproductive preferences have been documented. For a subset of mostly sub-Saharan African countries, men’s reproductive attitudes are also described. Continue Reading »

Thanks to Bob Walker for this story.
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Some mullahs in Afghanistan are distributing condoms. Others are quoting the Quran to encourage longer breaks between births. Health experts say contraception is starting to catch on in a country with the world’s second highest maternal death rate.

Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest fertility rates, averaging more than six babies per woman despite years of war and a severe lack of medical care. Awareness of, and access to, contraceptives remains low among many couples, with UNICEF estimating 10 percent of women use some form of birth control.

But use of the pill, condoms and injected forms of birth control rose to 27 percent over eight months in three rural areas – up to half the women in one area – once the benefits were explained one-on-one by health workers, according to the report published Monday in Bulletin, the World Health Organization’s journal.

For full article, visit:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com