9.5 Billion?
by Robert J. Walker, Executive Vice President

Officially, World Population Day occurs every year on July 11. But for those who track the world’s changing demographics, another population day occurs a few weeks later when the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) publishes its annual World Population Data Sheet, which is widely considered to be the most accurate source of information on population. And today’s the day.

So let’s look at the latest numbers, and let’s start with the global numbers. PRB estimates world population for mid-2010 is now 6.9 billion (6,892,319,000 to be exact) and that it will reach the 7.0 billion mark next year, just twelve years after the 6.0 billion mark was reached. PRB’s population clock estimates that world population is increasing at just over 83 million people per year.
Continue Reading »

You can download a copy of the 2010 World Population Data Sheet from the Population Reference Bureau at http://www.prb.org/Articles/2010/worldpopulationclock2010.aspx.

Thanks to Joe Bish for this article. Personally, I don’t think it’s time to throw in the towel, but this warning is an attempt to get leaders to take our predicament seriously.
———————–

As the scientist who helped eradicate smallpox he certainly know a thing or two about extinction.

And now Professor Frank Fenner, emeritus professor of microbiology at the Australian National University, has predicted that the human race will be extinct within the next 100 years.

He has claimed that the human race will be unable to survive a population explosion and ‘unbridled consumption.’

Fenner told The Australian newspaper that ‘homo sapiens will become extinct, perhaps within 100 years.’

For full article, visit:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech

I urge you to read this paper by Clive Hamilton, which you can download at
https://docs.google.com/a/populationmedia.org/leaf?id=0B5F-idWfw7TeZWQ1YjAyZGEtOTQ0OS00MzMzLTlmMDktZTExNWE2MjMyYjJi&hl=en&authkey=CMXn1i8

It is one of the most important – and terrifying – papers I have read in some time. Not only will it make you an expert on the various schemes for engineering the climate and their prospects for impact on climate trends, but it will help you understand the level of arrogance going into planning global climate engineering using such schemes as spraying sulphur dioxide gas into the stratosphere to create sulphate aerosol particles to reflect solar radiation. This idea is being pursued by wealthy individuals and possibly governments as actions they could take unilaterally without input from the world’s people or the other nations of the world, in order to allow continued escalation of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The paper also gives a look into some of the sources of funding for such schemes. Some of the players are among the major climate deniers. Many thanks to Eric Rimmer for sending the paper to me.
Continue Reading »

Global prices of food could climb by as much as 40 percent in the coming decade, as the global population continues to surge, a new United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report released today says.

The Agriculture Outlook 2010-19 anticipates that wheat and coarse grain prices could jump to levels of between 15 and 40 percent higher than they were between 1997 and 2006, while vegetable oil and dairy prices are also projected to rise by more than 40 percent.

Spikes in livestock prices are not expected to be as marked, even in the face of rising global demand for meat which is set to outpace demand for other commodities as some segments of the population in emerging economies alter their dietary habits due to increased wealth.

For full article, visit:
http://www.unicwash.org/Media.aspx?date=2010-06-15#item445

Nearly 60 million people living around the Himalayas will suffer food shortages in the coming decades as glaciers shrink and the water sources for crops dry up, a study said Thursday.

But Dutch scientists writing in the journal Science concluded the impact would be much less than previously estimated a few years ago by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The U.N. report in 2007 warned that hundred of millions of people were at risk from disappearing glaciers.

The reason for the discrepancy, scientists said, is that some basins surrounding the Himalayas depend more on rainfall than melting glaciers for their water sources.

For full article, visit:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article

Below is a chapter on PMC’s program in the Philippines, Sa Pagsikat Ng Araw, that appeared in the book The Interrelationship of Business and Communication. The Participatory Assessment of was written by Arvind Singhal, Elizabeth Rattine-Flaherty and Molly A. Mayer.

Can Communication Be Socially Responsible & Commercially Viable? (PDF, 822 KB)

Below is an article from Investigacion y Desarrollo featuring a participatory assessment of PMC’s program in Sudan, Ahreat Al Amal. The participatory assessment was written by Karen Greiner, Arvind Singhal and Sarah Hurlburt.

With an antenna we can stop the practice of female genital cutting (PDF, 1.45 MB)

Below is a video from MiND TV

The growing world population affects food and water supplies, ecological balance and the overall quality of life for everyone. This animation presents a variety of facts and projected statistics to reveal the severity of our growing population.

To very little fanfare, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its Draft FY 2011-2015 Strategic Plan (PDF) (57pp, 282K) for public review and comment. Thanks to Joyce Tarnow for alerting me to the public comment period, which ends this Friday, July 30th. As of now, there are very few public remarks, so it will be advantageous even at this late date for as many people as possible to comment.

You can download and review the draft here:
http://www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/2011/draft_strategic_plan_june_16_2010.pdf

Comments on the Draft Strategic Plan may be submitted, prior to midnight on Friday, July 30th at:
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480b054e6
Continue Reading »