From the Boston area’s NPR news station, 90.9 WBUR, comes this “Here And Now” program segment. To hear audio interviews and watch a slide show, go to: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/12/01/where-population-pressures-have-deadly-consequences

Where Population Pressures Have Deadly Consequences

By Alex Ashlock

“The competition for finite resources has led to power grabs, the shredding of the bio-diversity… and the pitting of one ethnic group against another.”

-Robert Draper, reporter

With the world population now topping 7 billion, the November issue of National Geographic opens a window on a place where population pressures are having deadly consequences.

Africa’s Albertine Rift is a 920-mile crease or rift formed by shifting plate tectonics, where the countries of Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Burundi all meet.

It’s the continent’s most bio-diverse region, with highland forests, snow-capped mountains, savannas, great lakes and wetlands, populated with rare birds and fish not to mention lions, hippos and gorillas. Reporter Robert Draper wrote the piece and he told Here and Now the very richness of the area has led to scarcity.

“Plentiful rainfall, fertile volcanic soil. The fact that it is mainly at a high altitude, which has made it less susceptible to the spread of diseases. All of this has resulted in a lot of people showing up and a dense population. It now has the highest fertility rate on the continent and thus in the world. This has produced a strain on the land that is enormous. The competition for finite resources has led to power grabs, the shredding of the bio-diversity of the area and of course most notoriously…the formation of militias, the pitting of one ethnic group against another [through] mass rapes and genocides,” he said.

To read the full article, please click here: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/12/01/where-population-pressures-have-deadly-consequences

Thanks to Bill Ryerson for suggesting this article, originally sent in by Jim McDonald. Arguably, the people living on the island of Japan have achieved at least one aspect of what many seek for the whole planet: a generally stable, gradually declining population. See The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/21538745

Whose lost decade?

Japan’s economy works better than pessimists think-at least for the elderly

Nov 19th 2011 | TOKYO | from the print edition

THE Japanese say they suffer from an economic disease called “structural pessimism”. Overseas too, there is a tendency to see Japan as a harbinger of all that is doomed in the economies of the euro zone and America-even though figures released on November 14th show its economy grew by an annualised 6% in the third quarter, rebounding quickly from the March tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Look dispassionately at Japan’s economic performance over the past ten years, though, and “the second lost decade”, if not the first, is a misnomer. Much of what tarnishes Japan’s image is the result of demography-more than half its population is over 45-as well as its poor policy in dealing with it. Even so, most Japanese have grown richer over the decade.

In aggregate, Japan’s economy grew at half the pace of America’s between 2001 and 2010. Yet if judged by growth in GDP per person over the same period, then Japan has outperformed America and the euro zone (see chart 1). In part this is because its population has shrunk whereas America’s population has increased.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.economist.com/node/21538745

In addition to distributing daily articles to this mailing list, Population Media Center (PMC) has been hard at work trying to solve the population problem, one country at a time.  Here is a summary of our work over the last year.  100% of the board and staff have donated this year to help this work move forward.  If you have not yet taken the opportunity to support this work, you can do so at http://www.populationmedia.org/learn/donate/.

Thank you for your participation in this list and for the fascinating articles submitted by many members of the list.  I wish you a very good new year in 2012 and thank Joe Bish for agreeing to coordinate the Poplist in 2012.

PMC Program Summary

Brazil – Social Merchandizing

PMC partners with Comunicarte and through them works with TV Globo in Brazil on analyzing the content and impact of the social content of the network’s telenovelas and other programming. TV Globo’s telenovelas are followed, on average, by 70 million viewers and address an array of issues, including family planning, contraception, HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, human trafficking, exploitation of natural resources, and maternal and child health, among others. In 2011, Comunicarte monitored seven TV Globo productions.

For more information on PMC’s work in Brazil, visit http://www.populationmedia.org/where/brazil/

Burkina Faso

PMC’s program, Cesiri Tono, is being re-broadcast over six stations throughout Burkina Faso.

Read the rest of this entry »

From Population Media Center.  See http://www.populationmedia.org/who/job-openings/.

Title: Communications Manager
Reports to: Vice President of Communications and Programs
Beginning: Immediately
Send resume and references to (no phone calls): admin [at] populationmedia [dot] org

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Communications Manager will work closely with the Vice President of Communications and Programs and other staff to carry out various communications activities for PMC. These will include overseeing PMC’s and affiliate websites, creating and/or developing promotional videos and materials on PMC’s work, assisting country directors with design and outreach materials related to PMC’s in country programs, working in coordination with staff on online outreach, writing and designing of all of PMC’s communications materials, assisting with media outreach, and working with PMC’s Director of Development to align our communications and fundraising strategies.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

* Research, write, and edit annual report, quarterly newsletters, monthly enewsletters, progress reports, brochures, promotional videos, and web site content (in collaboration with program staff and the Director of Communications). Coordinate and lead publication and distribution.

Read the rest of this entry »

From the Muslim Women’s Newsletter.

Pakistani girls defy Taliban school bombings

Instead of listening to lectures at their old wooden desks, the girls will be forced to sit on the grass in a courtyard until workers clean the rubble and shattered glass from classrooms pulverized by the bombs

SWABI: Seven-year-old Marwa cried and shook uncontrollably at the sight of the rubble and shattered glass remnants of her classroom. The Taliban had bombed yet another girls’ school in Pakistan.

“I had to pick her up and hold her close to my chest. My worry is that we will spend our time helping the girls deal with fear instead of teaching them math and science,” said head teacher Razia Begum.

“I hope the parents keep sending their children to school.”

Pakistan’s Taliban movement, which is close to al Qaeda, has bombed hundreds of schools since launching a campaign to topple the US-backed government in 2007.

Like Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban want girls barred from education.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Al Bartlett for this article.  See http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/dec/14/rush-for-land-gobal-south

Rush for land a wake-up call for poorer countries, report says

Increasing investor demand for land in the global south could spur small farmers to secure control over their land, says a study published by the International Land Coalition

Claire Provost

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 December 2011 08.55 EST

Population growth, the increasing consumption of a global elite, and an international legal system skewed in favour of largescale investors are fuelling a worldwide rush for land that is unfolding faster than previously thought and is likely to continue, according to the largest study of international land deals to date.

Researchers estimate that more than 200m hectares of land – over eight times the size of the UK – have been sold or leased between 2000 and 2010. But although the food price crisis of 2007-08 may have triggered a boom in international land deals, the study argues that a much broader set of factors – linked to population growth and the rise of emerging economies – is raising the prospect of “a new era in the struggle for, and control over, land in many areas of the global south”.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/dec/14/rush-for-land-gobal-south

Thanks to Lester Brown for this article.  See  www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2011/highlights22

Rising Meat Consumption Takes Big Bite out of Grain Harvest

Earth Policy Release
Data Highlight
November 22, 2011

World consumption of animal protein is everywhere on the rise. Meat consumption increased from 44 million tons in 1950 to 284 million tons in 2009, more than doubling annual consumption per person to over 90 pounds. The rise in consumption of milk and eggs is equally dramatic. Wherever incomes rise, so does meat consumption.

As the oceanic fish catch and rangeland beef production have both leveled off, the world has shifted to grain-based production of animal protein to expand output. With some 35 percent of the world grain harvest (760 million tons) used to produce animal protein, meat consumption has a large impact on grain consumption, and therefore global food security.

The efficiency with which various animals convert grain into protein varies widely. Grain-fed beef is one of the least efficient forms of animal protein, taking roughly 7 pounds of grain to produce a 1-pound gain in live weight. Global beef production, most of which comes from rangelands, has grown by about 1 percent a year since 1990.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2011/highlights22

Thanks to Sandra Kanck for this article.  See http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2011/11/food-security-looming-crisis?utm_source=Pro+Bono+Australia+-+email+updates&utm_campaign=1254f5e7db-Tuesday_News_Service_22_November_201111_22_2011&utm_medium=email

Food Security a Looming Crisis

Posted: Friday, November 18, 2011 – 14:50

With the global population pushing past 7 billion people recently, the global food chain is approaching a tipping point, according to Alison Watkins, CEO of GrainCorp Limited.

Speaking at the Creative Innovation conference in Melbourne, Watkins said increasing affluence amongst the growing global population means the world is consuming more protein in the form of meat – for which corn is a major food source.

Corn is also now being widely used in the creation of ethanol as nations try to limit their dependence on foreign oil.

Watkins the use of corn in the creation of ethanol, as well as a major source of feed for animals, has led to food security becoming a major concern.

Watkins said with the global population growing by one percent per annum (that’s the equivalent of adding a Germany – or an Ethiopia – every year) “the global food chain is approaching a tipping point”.

She said the rate of improvements in crop yields has reduced dramatically over recent years, and we are going to see a halving of the arable land per head of population over the next 30 years.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2011/11/food-security-looming-crisis?utm_source=Pro+Bono+Australia+-+email+updates&utm_campaign=1254f5e7db-Tuesday_News_Service_22_November_201111_22_2011&utm_medium=email

Thanks to Mark O’Conner for this article.  See http://www.thespec.com/print/article/575310

The food bubble is going to pop

Gwynne Dyer

August 8, 2011

There are all kinds of bubbles. We had the financial bubble that burst in 2008, causing economic devastation that we are still paying for. There is the Chinese real estate bubble, the biggest in history, which may take the whole world economy down with it when it bursts. But nothing compares with the food bubble.

Back in 2008, the OECD published a report on world food supply predicting that the price surge of that year would quickly revert to normal: “Barring any underlying climate change or water constraints that could lead to permanent reductions in yield, normal higher output can be expected in the very short term.” And barring age, disease and accidents, we will all live forever.

Between April 2010 and April 2011, the average world price of grain soared by 71 per cent: not a very big deal for people in rich countries who spend less than 10 per cent of their incomes on food, but a catastrophe for poor people who already spend more than half their money just to keep their families fed. And that is before “climate change and water constraints” get really serious. But they will.

To read the full article, please click here: http://www.thespec.com/print/article/575310

Thanks to Harriett Stinson for this article.  See http://news.yahoo.com/skeptic-finds-now-agrees-global-warming-real-142616605.html

Skeptic finds he now agrees global warming is real

Associated Press

By SETH BORENSTEIN – AP Science Writer | AP – Mon, Oct 31, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) – A prominent physicist and skeptic of global warming spent two years trying to find out if mainstream climate scientists were wrong. In the end, he determined they were right: Temperatures really are rising rapidly.

The study of the world’s surface temperatures by Richard Muller was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers. He pursued long-held skeptic theories in analyzing the data. He was spurred to action because of “Climategate,” a British scandal involving hacked emails of scientists.

Yet he found that the land is 1.6 degrees warmer than in the 1950s. Those numbers from Muller, who works at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, match those by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.

He said he went even further back, studying readings from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. His ultimate finding of a warming world, to be presented at a conference Monday, is no different from what mainstream climate scientists have been saying for decades.

To read the full article, please click here: http://news.yahoo.com/skeptic-finds-now-agrees-global-warming-real-142616605.html