John Bongaarts and Bob Walker on demographic change, growth & the developing world
Pop Audio from the Woodrow Wilson Center
• “Can the planet handle 9 billion? The answer is probably yes. Is it a desirable trajectory? The answer is no,” says John Bongaarts of the Population Council. [more]
• Robert Walker of the Population Institute calls expanding reproductive health services a “win for women, for their health, for their welfare, the welfare of their families, for their communities, for the environment, and for the planet at large.” [more]
December 31st, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Many too many so-called experts have consciously and willfully chosen NOT to openly discuss the root cause(s)the global predicament resulting from human overpopulation of the Earth because they did not think it would be helpful, I suppose. But look at what silence during the last 60 years has wrought. Elective mutism by many too many experts regarding outstanding empirical research of certain human population issues, particularly human population dynamics, from the likes of Alan D. Thornhill, Albert Bartlett, John Guillebaud, John Rowley, Peter Vitousek, Gretchen Daily, Russell Hopfenberg, David Pimentel, George Mobus and Vivien Ponniah, has effectively and perniciously vanquished science. This outcome could be the most colossal failure of nerve in human history. The consequences of this incredible mistake do not simply threaten a civilization with collapse. That has occurred before. Sometimes on a smaller scale and other times on a larger one. But at no time in history can I find records of the precipitation of a human-driven collapse with such profound implications not only for a civilization, but also for life as we know it and the integrity of Earth as a fit place for human habitation. The ‘brightest and best’, most knowledgeable people, those in positions of much influence and great power, have not spoken out loudly, clearly and often enough.
When scientific knowledge is deludedly regarded as a threat to human wellbeing, and intellectual honesty, moral courage and personal accountability are everywhere eschewed, how on Earth do we ever give ourselves so much as a chance of mitigating damages, much less “solving” problems for which we bear a large share of responsibility?
I do not know what the future holds for the children. I am hoping they will find ways to muddle through. If they manage to do so, it will likely not be the result of the efforts of those in my not-so-great generation of elders. We have failed them so far “on our watch” and will continue to do so as long as we continuously choose to keep doing the same unsustainable overconsumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities we adamantly advocate and relentlessly pursue in our time, I suppose.
Silence will not save anyone from anything, and surely will not save humanity from itself.