Thanks to Ed Barry for this proposed insertion for the first draft of the document being prepared for the Earth Summit in Rio next June.

Sustainability Evaluation and Reporting (SER)

Recommendation to fully incorporate SER into the “Zero Draft” of the Secretary General’s Compilation Document for Rio 2012, and for its incorporation into the final ‘plan of action’ at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)

Background: The nations of the world have already clearly acknowledged and endorsed our common responsibility to operate human civilization in harmony with the natural environment, so as to maximize human development potential, advance human well-being, and preserve all life on planet Earth.  More specifically, as provided in Agenda 21, the relationships between population size, human societal activity, and environmental resources and between environmental degradation and the components of demographic change should be analyzed.[1] Moreover, assessments should be made of national population carrying capacities in the context of satisfaction of human needs, sustainable development and human rights, and special attention should be given to critical resources, such as water and land, and environmental factors, such as ecosystem health and biodiversity.[2]

In developing the final plan of action for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, it’s important to reaffirm and build upon Agenda 21 by explicitly recognizing that:

1.      All life on planet Earth is dependent on a highly complex and ubiquitous set of biological and geophysical resource systems;

2.      Human life and all of our economic and societal activities require and rely on the goods and services of Earth’s natural resource systems;

3.      Economic and social development are dependent on adequate and healthy resource systems;

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Thanks to Steve Kurtz for this article. See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/31/stemming-population-growth-climate-change

Stemming population growth is a cheap way to limit climate change

There’s no one way to suddenly cut carbon emissions, but better family planning where it’s most needed is a cost-effective start

Thomas Lovejoy

guardian.co.uk, Monday 31 October 2011 04.00 EDT

On October 31, according to forecasts, the 7 billionth person will be born. A few weeks before this milestone, Adnan Mevic, whom the United Nations declared Baby 6 Billion in 1999, celebrated one of his own. He turned 12.

More than 200,000 people are added to the population each day, and we’re expected to keep growing for years to come, reaching anywhere from 8 billion to 11 billion mid-century.

The idea of living sustainably, of “going green”, has recently become a buzzword when talking about everything from energy to water to agriculture. We certify energy-efficient LEED buildings. We build electric cars. We invest in solar power. But in terms of our own numbers, we are anything but sustainable.

Of course, consumption is a big part of the problem. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the US consumes about one-fifth of the world’s energy. We’re among the top countries in the world in terms of per-capita emissions, and the average American is responsible for about 200 times as much carbon as the average Ethiopian.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/31/stemming-population-growth-climate-change

Congratulations to Bob Walker for the citation Nicholas Kristof gives to his report on the world of 7 billion.  See: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/opinion/kristof-the-birth-control-solution.html?_r=1

The Birth Control Solution

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF November 2, 2011

What if there were a solution to many of the global problems that confront us, from climate change to poverty to civil wars? There is, but it is starved of resources. It’s called family planning, and it has been a victim of America’s religious wars.

Partly for that reason, the world’s population just raced past the seven billion mark this week, at least according to the fuzzy calculations of United Nations demographers. It took humans hundreds of thousands of years, until the year 1804, to reach the first billion. It took another 123 years to reach two billion, in 1927. Since then, we’ve been passing these milestones like billboards along a highway. The latest billion took just a dozen years.

In 1999, the United Nations’ best projection was that the world wouldn’t pass seven billion until 2013, but we reached it two years early. Likewise, in 1999, the U.N. estimated that the world population in 2050 would be 8.9 billion, but now it projects 9.3 billion.

What’s the impact of overpopulation? One is that youth bulges in rapidly growing countries like Afghanistan and Yemen makes them more prone to conflict and terrorism. Booming populations also contribute to global poverty and make it impossible to protect virgin forests or fend off climate change. Some studies have suggested that a simple way to reduce carbon emissions in the year 2100 is to curb population growth today.

Moreover, we’ve seen that family planning works. Women in India average 2.6 children, down from 6 in 1950. As recently as 1965, Mexican women averaged more than seven children, but that has now dropped to 2.2.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/opinion/kristof-the-birth-control-solution.html?_r=2

Thanks to Joe Bish for this article. Please see: http://opinion.inquirer.net/10769/rwanda-in-the-pacific

Rwanda in the Pacific?

Population Pressure, Development, and Conflict in the Philippines

By:Walden Bello
INQUIRER.net

Saturday, August 27th, 2011

Along with its neighbors, the Philippines was burdened with a high poverty rate and faced the same challenge of overcoming underdevelopment four decades ago. Today, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand have drastically reduced poverty and possess vigorous economies. In contrast, over 26 per cent of the population of the Philippines is trapped in poverty and the economy languishes in a state of underdevelopment.

Explaining the Divergence

What accounts for the difference?

Economic policy? Hardly, since all four countries followed export-oriented economic strategies over the last four decades.

Structural adjustment? Not really, since all four economies were subjected to some variety of market-oriented reform, though it is arguable that adjustment was milder in our neighbors than in our country.

Asset and income redistribution? No, since as in the Philippines, state-promoted asset and income redistribution programs in Thailand and Indonesia were either weak or nonexistent.

Corruption? Again, all four countries have been marked by high levels of corruption, with Indonesia being a consistent topnotcher in annual surveys.

There is, in fact, one very distinctive feature that separates the Philippines from its neighbors: unlike our country, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand managed to rein in the growth of their populations through effective state-sponsored family planning programs. And while successful family planning is not the whole story, economists and demographers have a consensus that it is an essential element in the narrative of economic advance in our neighboring countries.

To read the full article, please click here: http://opinion.inquirer.net/10769/rwanda-in-the-pacific

Thanks to Bob Murphy for this article.

Are we outgrowing our planet?

By The Rev. Robert F. Murphy

October 29, 2011

In the Book of Genesis, God says repeatedly, “Be fruitful and multiply.” The same instructions are delivered to humans and to others. The Bible tells us that God is concerned about the whole of nature. Many years later, after God had rescued Noah and his animal companions, God placed a rainbow in the sky as a sign of the Deity’s covenant with all living creatures. Men and women were reminded that they’re never alone in the world. And we’ve been reminded, from time to time, since then, that the world doesn’t exist for the sole benefit of one race, one nation, one gender, or even one species.

Should human beings question the covenant? Are there too many people in the world?

On Sunday, the human population of the world will reach seven billion, according to United Nations estimates. It’s a day when religious reflection on population issues will be appropriate. Please encourage individuals who are concerned about social responsibility to address the issue. Religious leaders have discussed family planning and sex education programs, marriage and adoption rights, the prevention of teenage pregnancies, and a long list of other concerns. And all of these matters are relevant, important and need immediate attention. However, the fact that the human population is still growing – well, for some reason, that fact is seldom mentioned. So ask for a new conversation. Think about the moral guidelines that are appropriate for today’s multicultural world.

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Thanks to Daniel Stein for this article, please see: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110302-solar-flares-sun-storms-earth-danger-carrington-event-science/

What If the Biggest Solar Storm on Record Happened Today?

Repeat of 1859 Carrington Event would devastate modern world, experts say.

Richard A. Lovett

for National Geographic News

Published March 2, 2011

On February 14 the sun erupted with the largest solar flare seen in four years-big enough to interfere with radio communications and GPS signals for airplanes on long-distance flights.

As solar storms go, the Valentine’s Day flare was actually modest. But the burst of activity is only the start of the upcoming solar maximum, due to peak in the next couple of years.

“The sun has an activity cycle, much like hurricane season,” Tom Bogdan, director of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said earlier this month at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.

“It’s been hibernating for four or five years, not doing much of anything.” Now the sun is waking up, and even though the upcoming solar maximum may see a record low in the overall amount of activity, the individual events could be very powerful.

In fact, the biggest solar storm on record happened in 1859, during a solar maximum about the same size as the one we’re entering, according to NASA.

To read the full article, please click here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110302-solar-flares-sun-storms-earth-danger-carrington-event-science/

Thanks to Don Collins for this article. Please see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/01/the-men-behind-the-war-on_n_1069406.html

Laura Bassett Huffington Reporter

11/2/11

The men behind the war on women
A group of men with no real background in law or medicine, but blessed with a strong personal interest in women’s bodies, have quietly influenced all of the major anti-abortion legislation over the past several years. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops may be one of the quietest, yet most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill, with political allies that have enabled them to roll back decades of law and precedent.

1. Over the past two years the GOP-controlled House of Representatives has launched one of the most extreme assaults on women’s choice the U.S. has seen in decades. Republicans voted twice to slash federal family planning funds for low-income women, moved to prevent women from using their own money to buy insurance plans that cover abortion, introduced legislation that would force women to have ultrasounds before receiving an abortion and, most recently, passed a bill that will allow hospitals to refuse to perform emergency abortions for women with life-threatening pregnancy complications.

But the erosion of women’s rights didn’t begin with the GOP takeover. President Barack Obama’s health care reform law contained some of the most restrictive abortion language seen in decades.

Lift the curtain, and behind the assault was the conference of bishops.

“It is a very effective lobby, unfortunately, and now they have an ally in the Republican majority because both groups find this a means by which to fight women’s health issues in general,” said Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), a member of the House Pro-Choice Caucus. “The bishops carry a lot of clout.”

“We consider the two biggest opponents on the other side the Catholic bishops and National Right to Life,” said Donna Crane, policy director of NARAL Pro-Choice America. “They are extremely heavy-handed on this issue.”

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/01/the-men-behind-the-war-on_n_1069406.html

Thanks to George Mobus, Assoc. Professor Computer Science & Systems at University of Washington Tacoma’s Institute of Technology for this article by him.  See http://questioneverything.typepad.com/question_everything/2011/10/seven-billion-and-counting.html

Seven Billion and Counting

October 31, 2011

Today, demographers estimate, the seven billionth individual will come into the world. There seems to be a growing consensus among ecological footprint analysts that the Earth is incapable of supporting more than two billion people if everyone were to live a lifestyle equivalent to a northern European (using about half of the energy that the average American uses). A few researchers have factored in the already accrued damage to the Earth ecosystems from human overpopulation and over consumption and concluded that we have long passed the point at which the planet has even this level of carrying capacity. We have so damaged the Earth’s systems already, and there is high momentum in causing further damage due to the long-term lags in the kinds of impacts we have had, that some estimates for the future carrying capacity of the planet may be in the tens of millions. That is three orders of magnitude below where we are today. I count myself in this latter group. The Earth is on the brink of drastic geophysical chaos as it seeks a new climate and geochemical regimen owing to the rapid release of carbon into the atmosphere and oceans. We are already seeing the beginnings of this chaos in the dramatic weather pattern shifts over the last decade. Every year it seems to get more bizarre. We can expect even more bizarre weather as the climate gets more unstable. And this will have excruciating effects on this population of seven billion.

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From the Global Health Council.  See http://www.globalhealth.org/news/article/13954

CapacityPlus Launches Technical Brief Series with Population Growth and the Global Health Workforce Crisis

Nov. 11, 2011

CapacityPlus announces its first technical brief, Population growth and the global health workforce crisis, by Sara Pacqué-Margolis, Carie Muntifering, Crystal Ng, and Shaun Noronha. This data-rich brief examines the potential impact of population growth on countries’ efforts to improve access to health workers, and recommends an approach that will help meet families’ health needs while mitigating the health workforce crisis.

In 2006, the WHO determined that 2.3 doctors, nurses, and midwives per 1,000 people is the minimum threshold needed to provide essential health services. This is commonly referred to as the health worker density ratio. In this technical brief, the authors point out that countries’ efforts to improve this ratio have disproportionately focused on increasing the numerator (health workers). They have paid little attention to the denominator (population size).

A country’s rate of population growth is the critical variable in health workforce planning, the authors assert. The birth of the world’s seven-billionth person on October 31st brought a renewed focus on the implications of the world’s rapidly expanding population. Growing populations will require additional health workers to provide the minimum coverage. However, if countries are able to implement policies and programs that result in smaller population growth rates, the authors demonstrate that the total number of health workers needed could be significantly reduced.

USAID

Thanks to Joe Bish for this article from the New York Times.  See:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/science/earth/bringing-up-the-issue-of-population-growth.html?pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Breaking a Long Silence on Population Control

By MIREYA NAVARRO

Published: October 31, 2011

Major American environmental groups have dodged the subject of population control for decades, wary of getting caught up in the bruising politics of reproductive health.

Yet, virtually alone, the Center for Biological Diversity is breaking the taboo by directly tying population growth to environmental problems through efforts like giving away condoms in colorful packages depicting endangered animals. The idea is to start a debate about how overpopulation crowds out species and hastens climate change – just when the world is welcoming Baby No. 7 Billion.

“Wrap with care, save the polar bear,” reads one of the packages. “Wear a condom now, save the spotted owl,” says another.

Kierán Suckling, executive director of the center, a membership-based nonprofit organization in Tucson, said he had an aha moment a few years ago. “All the species that we save from extinction will eventually be gobbled up if the human population keeps growing,” he said.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/science/earth/bringing-up-the-issue-of-population-growth.html?pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss