The following was originally published in Yale Environment 360. See: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_world_at_7_billion_can_we_stop_growing_now/2426/

The World at 7 Billion: Can We Stop Growing Now?

With global population expected to surpass 7 billion people this year, the staggering impact on an overtaxed planet is becoming more and more evident. A two-pronged response is imperative: empower women to make their own decisions on childbearing and rein in our excessive consumption of resources.

By Bob Engelman

Demographers aren’t known for their sense of humor, but the ones who work for the United Nations recently announced that the world’s human population will hit 7 billion on Halloween this year. Since censuses and other surveys can scarcely justify such a precise calculation, it’s tempting to imagine that the UN Population Division, the data shop that pinpointed the Day of 7 Billion, is hinting that we should all be afraid, be very afraid.

We have reason to be. The 21st century is not yet a dozen years old, and there are already 1 billion more people than in October 1999 – with the outlook for future energy and food supplies looking bleaker than it has for decades. It took humanity until the early 19th century to gain its first billion people; then another 1.5 billion followed over the next century and a half. In just the last 60 years the world’s population has gained yet another 4.5 billion. Never before have so many animals of one species anything like our size inhabited the planet.

And this species interacts with its surroundings far more intensely than any other ever has. Planet Earth has become Planet Humanity, as we co-opt its carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles so completely that no other force can compare. For the first time in life’s 3-billion-plus-year history, one form of life – ours – condemns to extinction significant proportions of the plants and animals that are our only known companions in the universe.

Did someone just remark that these impacts don’t stem from our population, but from our consumption? Probably, as this assertion emerges often from journals, books, and the blogosphere. It’s as though a geometry text were to propound the axiom that it is not length that determines the area of a rectangle, but width. Would we worry about our individual consumption of energy and natural resources if humanity still had the stable population of roughly 300 million people – less than today’s U.S. number – that the species maintained throughout the first millennium of the current era?

It is precisely because our population is so large and growing so fast that we must care, ever more with each generation, how much we as individuals are out of sync with environmental sustainability. Our diets, our modes of moving, and our urge to keep interior temperatures close to 70 degrees Fahrenheit no matter what is happening outside – none of these make us awful people. It’s just that collectively, these behaviors are moving basic planetary systems into danger zones.

Yet another argument often advanced to wave off population is the assertion that all of us could fit into Los Angeles with room to wiggle our shoulders. The image may comfort some. But space, of course, has never been the issue. The impacts of our needs, greeds, and wants are.

To read the full article, please click here: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_world_at_7_billion_can_we_stop_growing_now/2426/

Thanks to Elizabeth Westley of the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception for this article.  See http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/health/policy/20health.html?_r=2&ref=health

Panel Recommends Coverage for Contraception

By Robert Pear

Published: July 19, 2011

WASHINGTON – A leading medical advisory panel recommended on Tuesday that all insurers be required to cover contraceptives for women free of charge as one of several preventive services under the new health care law.

Obama administration officials said that they were inclined to accept the panel’s advice and that the new requirements could take effect for many plans at the beginning of 2013. The administration signaled its intentions in January when Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, unveiled a 10-year program to improve the nation’s health. One goal was to “increase the proportion of health insurance plans that cover contraceptive supplies and services.”

Administration officials, who say they hope to act on the recommendations by Aug. 1, are receptive to the idea of removing cost as a barrier to birth control – a longtime goal of advocates for women’s rights and experts on women’s health.

But the recommendations immediately reignited debate over the government’s role in reproductive health. Women’s groups and medical professionals applauded the recommendations while the Roman Catholic Church raised strenuous objections.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/health/policy/20health.html?_r=2&ref=health

Thanks to Joyce Johnson of Tiroir A Films for this announcement.

New Award-Winning Population Film Available for Grassroots Screenings to Go With the 7 Billion Historic Milestone This Fall

July 12th, 2011 Denver, Colorado – On October 31st the UN will announce the 7 billionth person born on planet Earth.   The award winning film Mother: Caring for 7 Billion is now available for grassroots screening events that surround this historic milestone this fall/winter.  This comprehensive film would be a perfect lead in for panel discussions and workshops surrounding this important event.  A discussion and screening guide is available with the film.  Classrooms around the country as well as the press and television networks around the world are already preparing for this important event.  National Geographic Magazine is devoting an article to population in each issue in 2011.   Mother: Caring for 7 Billion recently won at the Boulder International Film Festival and a packed house gave the film a standing ovation for its uplifting solutions to such a complex problem.

Mother, the film, breaks a 40-year taboo by bringing to light an issue that silently fuels our largest environmental, humanitarian and social crises – population growth. Since the 1960s the world population has nearly doubled, adding more than 3 billion people.  At the same time, talking about population has become politically incorrect because of the sensitivity of the issues surrounding the topic- religion, economics, family planning and gender inequality.  Mother illustrates both the overconsumption and the inequity side of the population issue by following Beth, a mother, a child-rights activist and the last sibling of a large American family of twelve, as she discovers the thorny complexities of the population dilemma and highlights a different path to solve it.

Quotes about Mother: Caring for 7 Billion

“Mother is a loving, thoughtful, visually striking treatment of one of our biggest questions, both personal and planetary. It hooks you, holds you — and leaves you genuinely hoping.”

Alan Weisman, Author, The World Without Us

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Originally from USA Today. See: http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=79373

Predator Loss Can Start Food-Chain Reaction

By Elizabeth Weise

July 15, 2011 11:39AM

A new study is suggesting that humans’ destruction of predators at the top of the food chain creates an unpredictable cascade of effects. The loss of species at the top of the food chain has been happening either because humans believed they harmed livestock, competed for wild game or because ecosystems had become too fragmented.

Take away the predators at the top of the food chain — the lions, tigers, wolves and cougars — and entire ecosystems start to change. A paper in today’s edition of the journal Science suggests that humans’ destruction of these top predators is causing reverberations worldwide in ways not apparent even a decade ago, including changes in the landscape and even increases in wildfires.

Although the idea that there are serious ecosystem consequences to the removal of top predators isn’t new, with this paper, “it’s come of age,” says Aaron Wirsing, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The review was conducted by two dozen scientists in six countries. It was funded by the National Science Foundation in the USA, Canada’s Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and others.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=79373

Thanks to Dave Gardner for this announcement.

SAVE THE DATE:

The much anticipated documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, from filmmaker Dave Gardner, has announced plans for a world premiere in Washington DC in late October – most likely October 24 or 25. This film explores our culture’s obsession with unending economic growth, our avoidance of the overpopulation topic, and – in many cases – our quest for population growth.

GrowthBusters takes a sometimes humorous, frequently irreverent, approach as it uncloaks the powerful forces in our culture that keep us on an unsustainable course. In fact, on the humor side, the GrowthBusters project is currently soliciting votes to determine the best advertising slogan for GrowthBusters Condoms. Slogans can be seen and voted on here:  http://www.growthbusters.org/vote

The film includes perspectives from such luminaries as Paul Ehrlich, Stephanie Mills, Bill Catton, Jane Goodall, Lester Brown, Bill McKibben, Juliet Schor, Bill Ryerson, William Rees, Bonnie Erbe, Gus Speth, Robert Engelman, Leah Durant, Herman Daly, Jerry Mander, Brian Czech, Laurie Mazur, Rex Weyler, Peter Victor, Dick Smith and many others.

If you’re interested in being on the premiere invitation list or organizing a screening in your own community, contact Dave: dave@growthbusters.org

The non-profit film project is in the midst of a final fundraising campaign at www.kickstarter.com. More information about the film and another of Dave’s amusing videos can be found at http://tinyurl.com/kickstartGbusters

Continue Reading »

Thanks to Marna Ehrech for this article.  See http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230950-Elk-and-safety-Zookeepers-stunned-as-elk-rescues-drowning-marmot-from-watery-death where you can see the amazing photos of this rescue.

Elk and Safety: Zookeepers Stunned as Elk Rescues Drowning Marmot from Watery Death

Daily Mail

Fri, 01 Jul2011, 08:07 CDT

Keepers at Pocatello Zoo, Idaho, were worried when they noticed Shooter, a four-year-old elk, acting strangely at his water trough.

Baffled, they watched as the animal – who is so massive some keepers are afraid to even enter his enclosure – tried to dip his hooves into his drinking trough, before attempting to dunk his whole head in the water.

But they were amazed as 10ft tall Shooter lifted his head from the trough clutching a tiny marmot – a kind of large squirrel – between his jaws.

The gentle giant placed the hapless rodent down and nudged it with his hoof, as if checking it for signs of life, before calmly watching it scamper off into the bushes.

Please click here to read the full article: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230950-Elk-and-safety-Zookeepers-stunned-as-elk-rescues-drowning-marmot-from-watery-death

Zoo staff caught the entire rescue on camera. ‘It really was amazing,’ said Kate O’Conner, Pocatello’s education co-ordinator.

Today, I am sending two stories on animal behavior.  The first one is found at http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20110701/HOME05/307010003/What-our-pets-think-us

What Out Pets Think of Us

By Steve Dale

July 1-3, 2011-07-03

Thor nibbled on his owner’s ear. The pit bull worked hard to awaken Kemper Hunter and his girlfriend, Sarah Laughlin. Instantly, they understood Thor’s urgency. They desperately attempted to fight the smoke to get to Shelby, their 3-month-old baby, but couldn’t. The fire department arrived to find the panicked couple screaming outside their home, assuming they had lost their baby and their dog in the still-blazing fire.

Just then, they all witnessed Thor pulling the bassinet out the door to safety. Baby and dog were OK.

Last summer, Hunter, who lives in Bristol, Ind., told me, “I’m convinced if it wasn’t for my dog, we would all be dead.” The firefighters agreed.

At one time, scientists believed that dogs responded this way to save themselves, and in the process, they sometimes happened to save human lives. But in this and many other stories like it, the dog clearly risked his life. It appears as if Thor made a conscious decision to seek out and save the baby. How can this behavior be explained?

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20110701/HOME05/307010003/What-our-pets-think-us

Thanks to Ben Zuckerman for this article.  See http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1420451

Oceans ‘dying very quickly’

July 2, 2011

Derek Hatfield has noticed drastic changes in world’s water bodies during long-distance races

by Chris Morris, Times & Transcript Staff

Derek Hatfield has always known about the loneliness of the long-distance sailor, but he’s never felt as alone as he does these days when racing over the vast, empty expanses of our dying oceans.

Hatfield recently completed his second successful race around the world, sprinting to a third place finish in the grueling VELUX 5 Oceans competition, a solo round-the-world ocean race that is held every four years.

But the last eight months have been an eye-opener for the New Brunswick-born sailor when it comes to the state of the world’s oceans.

Streaking across the open waters in a sleek, 60-foot yacht that affords him a unique, close-up view of marine life, he has been troubled by what he is not seeing.

“You don’t see the fish, you don’t see the turtles, you don’t see the birds,” Hatfield said in an interview from Nova Scotia, where he now lives.

“Along the coast you will see the odd humpback whale but it is getting more and more rare. Last year I did a transatlantic race and I didn’t see one whale in the whole 15 days of racing across the North Atlantic. Not one whale! . . . The oceans are dying and they’re dying very quickly.”

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1420451

Thanks to Fred Stanback for this article. See: http://citiwire.net/post/2798/

Seven Billion Sould and Counting: The Issues We Don’t Discuss

Neal Peirce / Jul 01 2011

For Release Sunday, July 3, 2011
© 2011 Washington Post Writers Group

The population of Planet Earth is now projected to pass the 7 billion mark this October – up from just 2.2 billion in 1950. One study shows that if today’s explosive birthrates in developing nations continues, the African continent alone, by the end of this century, could have 15 billion people – twice the population of the world today.

That won’t happen. As populations age and urbanize, today’s fertility rates – in many poor nations an average of five, even six children for every woman – are bound to recede.

But the speed of the decline depends significantly on whether women have access to family planning and contraception services. Plus legalized abortion. Unwanted pregnancies and abortions are actually declining in countries which have made abortion legal, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Yet it notes that 70,000 women across the world die each year from illegal, often seriously botched abortions.

A closely related issue: food for our expanding billions of people. Popular “Malthusian” concerns – how many people the globe can sustain – were put to rest by the fabled Green Revolution that flowered from the 1960s onward, bringing dramatic gains in new corn, wheat and rice varieties, huge new irrigation systems, synthetic fertilizers and pesticide use.

But more crop gains – especially gains to match the world’s population growth – may be seriously limited. “The great agricultural system that feeds the human race is in trouble,” Justin Gillis reports in a New York Times roundup of global food issues. A special point of concern: demand for four critical staples – wheat, rice, corn and soybeans – has begun to outstrip production. Some grains more than doubled in cost in 2007 and again in the most recent price spikes.

To read the full article, please click here: http://citiwire.net/post/2798/