Need to Know PBS Show on Population
Thanks to Betsy Rate of WNET News for this link to the TV show they developed for World Population Day. See http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/video-standing-room-only/10477/to watch the video. Also see http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/culture/video-phillip-longman-and-julia-whitty-on-the-population-conversation/10478/ for a discussion with Julia Whitty of Mother Jones and Phillip Longman of the New America Foundation.
Standing Room Only
July 15th
This week marked the annual World Population Day, so we at Need to Know hope it was a good one for all the 6,948,915,000 of you out there – and the approximately 266 of you who were born in the time it took to read this. This is a momentous year to be born.
2011, after all, is the year demographers predict the world population will grow to seven billion people – just a little over two hundred years after hitting the 1 billion mark.
The United States is contributing its share; at 312 million people, this country is the fastest growing of the industrialized world and the globe’s third-most populous, behind India and China. Even though the U.S. rate of growth has slowed over the past decade, the Census Bureau predicts we’ll still reach 439 million by 2050.
Given the jumbo-sized reality show families, baby bumps on tabloid covers and headlines proclaiming “Four Kids is the New Two,” it’s hard to believe there was ever a time in our history when people worried about the size of their families and whether the world would have enough resources to support them.
But there was a moment when average Americans – Democrat and Republican alike – were engaged in a conversation about the “overpopulation problem” and what could be done about it. While the era didn’t last all that long, it’s still worth revisiting it today.
September 2nd, 2011 at 10:02 am
I may be wrong but I would imagine that the profile of a person who believes that a world population of 7 billion or even 10 billion people is acceptable will be a little different from mine and quite a few others. This person, I would guess believes humans to be superior to all other living things and will happily sacrifice thousands of species of flora, fauna and their habitat to the selfish needs of his or her species. This person clearly believes that quantity of human life is far more desirable to quality and is prepared to see many risk misery, freedom and starvation to achieve this aim. This person will also have great faith in miracles that have either an omnipotent mystical being or the equally shadowy presence of “mother nature” rescuing us from our own greed and stupidity. Otherwise they will believe (like many politicians seem to) that some “technology waiting in the wings” will miraculously appear at the 11th hour producing enough clean energy, food and resources to satisfy all humans – if not the animals. N.B. To buy into this profile successfully, never live for even a few weeks amongst the poorest in a 3rd world country!