What would living in the U.S. look and feel like if it was populated by one billion people? That is the question that Edward C. Hartman, the author of The Population Fix: Breaking America’s Addiction to Population Growth, will be asking when he discusses the implications of rapid and continuing population growth.

Ed Hartman’s talk will be held on Monday, October 8th at 5:00 PM at the University of Vermont’s new University Heights North building in the N1-MULTIPURPOSE ROOM. The address is 30 University Heights Road, just off of Main Street. The best parking for University Heights is at Patrick Gym (easiest entrance is off of Spear Street). A campus map can be found at www.uvm.edu/map/campus_map07.pdf.

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DISCUSSION: Fresh Water Scarcity – A Potential Cause for Warfare

by Kevin L. Chapman

“Water, thou hast no taste, no colour, no odour; canst be defined, art relished while ever mysterious. Not necessary to life, but rather life itself (…) Of the riches that exist in the world, thou art the rarest…” Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Less than 1% of the world’s water supply consists of readily available freshwater. Due to its scarcity and increased usage, there is an increased chance of low-level armed conflicts regarding freshwater resources. In water scarce environments, nations believe that water is of a strategic importance and the loss of any water supplies endangers its ability to survive. Due to this mentality, the development of a riparian policy that several countries will agree to is nearly impossible.

For full article, visit:

http://www.alt3.co.uk/DISCUSSION_files/Water.htm

Earth Policy Institute
Plan B 2.0 Book Byte
For Immediate Release
July 24, 2007

WATER TABLES FALLING AND RIVERS RUNNING DRY

As the world’s demand for water has tripled over the last half-century and as the demand for hydroelectric power has grown even faster, dams and diversions of river water have drained many rivers dry. As water tables fall, the springs that feed rivers go dry, reducing river flows.

Scores of countries are overpumping aquifers as they struggle to satisfy their growing water needs, including each of the big three grain producers–China, India, and the United States. More than half the world’s people live in countries where water tables are falling.

For full article, visit:

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch03_ss2.htm

Thanks to Earl Babbie for this article.
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GRAIN has just published a special issue of Seedling which focuses on biofuels, or as we like to call them, agrofuels – over 30,000 words of in-depth analysis from around the world.

In the process of gathering material from colleagues and social movements around the world, we have discovered that the stampede into agrofuels is causing enormous environmental and social damage, much more than we realised earlier. Precious ecosystems are being destroyed and hundreds of thousands of indigenous and peasant communities are being thrown off their land.

Worse lies ahead: the Indian government is committed to planting 14 million hectares of land with jatropha (an exotic bush from which biodiesel can be manufactured), the Inter-American Development Bank says

For full article, visit:

http://www.grain.org/nfg/?id=502

Thanks to Tim Black for recommending this article.
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The Olduvai theory has been called unthinkable, preposterous, absurd, dangerous, self-fulfilling, and self-defeating. I offer it, however, as an inductive theory based on world energy and population data and on what I’ve seen during the past 30 years in some 50 nations on all continents except Antarctica. It is also based on my experience in electrical engineering and energy management systems, my hobbies of anthropology and archaeology, and a lifetime of reading in various fields.

The theory is defined by the ratio of world energy production (use) and world population. The details are worked out. The theory is easy. It states that the life expectancy of Industrial Civilization is less than or equal to 100 years: 1930-2030.

For full article, visit:

http://dieoff.org/page224.htm

The letter below by Katie Elmore was sent in response to an article in the Canada National Post on female genital mutilation

Letter to the Editor of the Canada National Post (Word doc., 42 KB)

Thanks to Don Weeden for this article that he and Norm Weeden wrote for the Environmental Grantmakers Journal (Spring 2007 issue).

Immigration Population and the Environment EGA Perspectives

Thanks to John Feeney for this editorial and to Bob Engelman for bringing it to my attention.
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Something’s missing in today’s environmental discussion. When talking about causes and proposed solutions for our ecological plight, few environmental writers are telling us more than half the story. Al Bartlett, physics professor emeritus at the University of Colorado and long time sustainability activist calls it “the silent lie.” It’s the near universal tendency to focus on the importance of cutting fossil fuel use while staying mum on the topic of population growth.

For full article, visit:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_john_fee_070710_when_environmental_w.htm

Many thanks to Donald Mann of NPG for this article by John Holdren. The paper is preceded by a commentary from NPG. Although John wrote this 34 years ago, it is as important and relevant now as it was then. It is one of the best papers on population issues that I have seen in quite a while.

John Holdren Population and American Complacency (Word doc., 87 KB)

Thanks to George Plumb for this notice.
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Ed Hartman, the author of the book The Population Fix: Breaking America’s Addiction to Population Growth, will be on the Thom Hartmann (no connection) show tomorrow Tuesday about 2 pm. His show is broadcast daily from 1-3.

This is a major coup. If you have never listened to Thom, he is a liberal talk radio host and is carried on stations across the U.S. He has also written about the environment and talked about overpopulation in his book Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. If he is not on a local station you can downstream him at www.airamerica.com/listen/.