Bob Walker of the Population Institute has compiled a landmark report on how the world of 7 billion is dramatically different from the world of 6 billion only 12 years ago.  It’s one of the most important population reports I have seen in a long time.  In it, Bob outlines how various trends in food production, energy prices, biodiversity and other issues have reversed from the positive directions they were headed in a decade ago and how the current worrisome trends run counter to the many projections made by “expert” agencies and optimists in 1999.  I urge you to read it in its entirety.  Here is the press release about the report and links to download the full report and a summary.

To download a copy of the full length report click here: From 6 to 7 Billion: How population growth is changing and challenging our world. To download a two page summary of the report click here: Two page summary of From 6 Billion to 7 Billion.

From 6 Billion to 7 Billion: How Population Growth is Changing and Challenging our World

September 29, 2011

With world population on the verge of crossing the 7 billion mark, the Population Institute is releasing a report today outlining the critical challenges posed by population growth…and the correspondingly urgent need to ensure universal access to family planning and reproductive health services.

The report, which looks back at how the world has changed in the 12 years since the 6 billion mark was crossed, warns that while notable progress has been made in making immunizations, safe drinking water, and education more available to children in the developing world, those young people “are inheriting a world in which arable land and water are in increasingly short supply, food and fuel prices are steadily increasing, rivers and lakes are shrinking, water levels are falling, temperatures are rising, drought and flooding are intensifying, biodiversity is declining, the number of failing states is expanding, and the very future of ocean habitats is threatened.”

Continue Reading »

Thanks to Madeline Weld for this article from Science Daily. See: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110824091146.htm

Global Warming May Cause Higher Loss of Biodiversity Than Previously Thought

ScienceDaily (Aug. 24, 2011) – If global warming continues as expected, it is estimated that almost a third of all flora and fauna species worldwide could become extinct. Scientists from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum, BiK-F) and the SENCKENBERG Gesellschaft für Naturkunde discovered that the proportion of actual biodiversity loss should quite clearly be revised upwards: by 2080, more than 80 % of genetic diversity within species may disappear in certain groups of organisms, according to researchers in the title story of the journal Nature Climate Change. The study is the first world-wide to quantify the loss of biological diversity on the basis of genetic diversity.

White branches show lost genetic lineages (no climatically suitable areas projected) in 2080 if global temperature increases by four degrees. (Credit: Copyright Miklos Bálint et al)

Most common models on the effects of climate change on flora and fauna concentrate on “classically” described species, in other words groups of organisms that are clearly separate from each other morphologically. Until now, however, so-called cryptic diversity has not been taken into account. It encompasses the diversity of genetic variations and deviations within described species, and can only be researched fully since the development of molecular-genetic methods. As well as the diversity of ecosystems and species, these genetic variations are a central part of global biodiversity.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110824091146.htm

Thanks to Jenny Goldie of Sustainable Population Australia for this article from the Canberra Times.  See http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/homo-sapiens-are-wise-in-name-only/2263875.aspx.  Be sure to read Jenny’s letter to the editor that follows the article.

Homo sapiens are wise in name only

BY JULIAN CRIBB

19 Aug, 2011 04:00 AM

Humans can no longer lay claim to be ‘Homo sapiens’. We have not acted wisely for a long, long time.

It is time the human race had a new name. The old one, Homo sapiens – wise or thinking man – has been around since 1758 and is no longer a fitting description for the creature we have become.

When the Swedish father of taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus, first bestowed it, humanity no doubt seemed wise when compared with what scientists of the day knew about both humans and other animals. We have since learned our behaviour is not as wise as we like to imagine – while some animals are quite intelligent. In short it is a name which is both inaccurate and which promotes a dangerous self-delusion.

In a letter to the scientific journal Nature (August 18, 2011) I have proposed there should be a worldwide discussion about the formal reclassification of humanity. The new name should reflect more truthfully the attributes and characteristics of the 21st century human – which are markedly different from those of 18th century ”man”.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/homo-sapiens-are-wise-in-name-only/2263875.aspx

Jenny Goldie, LTE, published by the Canberra Times on August 23:

Stupid Man

Julian Cribb argues that we should not be called Homo sapiens sapiens or wise, wise man because we have been responsible for species extinction, carbon emissions and global warming, ocean acidification, food insecurity, the manufacture and release of toxic chemicals and the illnesses they cause, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution of rivers and oceans, loss of fisheries, soil erosion and degradation, pollution and depletion of groundwater and surface water, peak oil, scarcity of mineral nutrients, energy shortages, the nuclear threat, concentration on military science rather than life science, and continued human population growth (‘We are wise in name only’, Opinion, 19 August).

I think Cribb makes his case. Given that the last point, namely, continued population growth, is a contributing cause of all the other problems, may I suggest that Homo sapiens sapiens be renamed Homo fecundus stultus (fecund, stupid man).

Jenny Goldie
Michelago  NSW  2620

Thanks to Fred Stanback for this article. See: http://www.earth-policy.org/book_bytes/2011/wotech6_ss2

Expanding Deserts, Falling Water Tables, and Toxic Pollutants Driving People from Their Homes
By Lester R. Brown

People do not normally leave their homes, their families, and their communities unless they have no other option. Yet as environmental stresses mount, we can expect to see a growing number of environmental refugees. Rising seas and increasingly devastating storms grab headlines, but expanding deserts, falling water tables, and toxic waste and radiation are also forcing people from their homes.

Advancing deserts are now on the move almost everywhere. The Sahara desert, for example, is expanding in every direction. As it advances northward, it is squeezing the populations of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria against the Mediterranean coast. The Sahelian region of Africa—the vast swath of savannah that separates the southern Sahara desert from the tropical rainforests of central Africa—is shrinking as the desert moves southward. As the desert invades Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, from the north, farmers and herders are forced southward, squeezed into a shrinking area of productive land. A 2006 U.N. conference on desertification in Tunisia projected that by 2020 up to 60 million people could migrate from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa and Europe.

In Iran, villages abandoned because of spreading deserts or a lack of water number in the thousands. In Brazil, some 250,000 square miles of land are affected by desertification, much of it concentrated in the country’s northeast. In Mexico, many of the migrants who leave rural communities in arid and semiarid regions of the country each year are doing so because of desertification. Some of these environmental refugees end up in Mexican cities, others cross the northern border into the United States. U.S. analysts estimate that Mexico is forced to abandon 400 square miles of farmland to desertification each year.

In China, desert expansion has accelerated in each successive decade since 1950. Desert scholar Wang Tao reports that over the last half-century or so some 24,000 villages in northern and western China have been abandoned either entirely or partly because of desert expansion.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.earth-policy.org/book_bytes/2011/wotech6_ss2

Economics has failed us . . . but there is life after growth!

Economists insist that recovery is at hand, yet unemployment remains high, real estate values continue to sink, and governments stagger under record deficits. The End of Growth proposes a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history. The expansionary trajectory of industrial civilization is colliding with non-negotiable natural limits.

Heinberg’s latest landmark work goes to the heart of the ongoing financial crisis, explaining how and why it occurred, and what we must do to avert the worst potential outcomes. Written in an engaging, highly readable style, it shows why growth is being blocked by three factors:

·       Resource depletion,
·       Environmental impacts, and
·       Crushing levels of debt.
Continue Reading »

Thanks to Suzy Sacher of JSI for this article regarding the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Countries Slow to Use Global Fund Grants to Fund Contraceptives: A Call-to-Action for Family Planning and HIV/AIDS Advocates

Family planning programs are often chronically underfunded, and countries should take advantage of Global Fund grants to procure not only condoms but other contraceptives as well. Ensuring a steady supply of contraceptives plays an important role in HIV prevention by reducing HIV transmission via unintended pregnancies. In addition, comprehensive reproductive health services that include family planning are a vital entry point for women for a range of HIV services including counseling and testing.

Continue Reading »

Interesting that reducing population growth does not enter the discussion:

Water crisis, population surge prompt rethink on food: UN

Date: Monday, August 22, 2011
Source: Agence France Presse

Population growth and water stress are driving Earth to a food and environmental crunch that only better farming techniques and smarter use of the ecosystem will avert, a UN report issued on Monday said.

The number of humans is expected to rise from seven billion in 2011 to at least nine billion by 2050, boosting demands for water that are already extreme in many countries and set to worsen through global warming.

“Currently, 1.6 billion people live in areas of physical water scarcity and this could easily grow to two billion soon if we stay on the present course,” according to the report.

“With the same (farming) practices, increased urbanisation and dietary patterns, the amount of water required for agriculture in terms of evapotranspiration would increase from 7,130 cubic kilometres (1,711 cubic miles) today to 70-90 percent more to feed nine billion people by 2050.”

Continue Reading »

Thanks to Nick Rust for this article. Please see: http://e360.yale.edu/digest/growth_of_urban_areas_poses_long-term_threats_study_says/3095/

e360 digest

22 Aug 2011

Growth of Urban Areas Poses Long-Term Threats, Study Says

A new study says the explosive growth of urban areas worldwide over the next two decades poses significant risks to human populations and the global environment, from the loss of agricultural land and wildlife habitat to increased vulnerability to the effects of climate change. Using satellite data on urban growth, the study calculates that the world’s total urban area quadrupled in size from 1970 to 2000 – an increase of about 22,400 square miles. By 2030, that urban footprint will expand by another 590,000 square miles to accommodate the more than 1.47 billion additional people expected to be living in the world’s cities, according to the study, conducted by researchers from four U.S universities – Yale, Arizona State, Texas A&M, and Stanford. “[Cities are] going to be growing and expanding into forests, biological hotspots, savannas, coastlines – sensitive and vulnerable places,” said Karen Seto, an associate professor of urban development at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and lead author of the study, published in the online journal PLoS ONE. According to the study, urban areas have been developing most rapidly along coasts, where people and infrastructure are vulnerable to flooding, tsunamis, and other natural disasters.

Thanks to Dave Gardner for this link to the Post Growth Institute’s submission to the Australian government when it was formulating its new population “policy.” It’s a thorough collection of reasons to stop pursuing both population and economic growth.

http://www.environment.gov.au/sustainability/population/consultation/submissions/pubs/0194.pdf

Thanks to Allan Hendry for this information about his new book.

Seeds of Destruction

This new eco-thriller, although a page-turning read aimed at the popular market, nevertheless carries powerful messages about ecology and population.

Very readable, complex, high in action and set internationally, it still manages to present stark facts to those who might have had little awareness of these issues.

The deliberately ambiguous ending will inevitably leave thoughts in any reader’s mind.

Some early excerpts from people who share concerns about our future:

Niel Bowerman sat on Obama’s Environment Policy Team . ”A true page-turner.  I read it cover-to-cover in one go. Touches on fundamental questions about over-population and extinction, and I hope it will bring these important issues to a wider audience.”

Paige Andrews, Worldwide Director of US based Climatico. “A complex, tightly woven story and irresistible page-turner. Will challenge your beliefs about humanity, leaving you wondering just how far is too far. Both gripping and thought-provoking.”

Continue Reading »