Thanks to Joe Bish for this article.  At http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301443 you can hear an interview with Hania Zlotnik, head of the UN Population Division, regarding recent population projections out as far as 2300.  You can download the Population Division’s recent report showing assumptions behind various projections via a link in the article below.

UN’s world population estimates raise questions on sustainability
Dec 14, 2010 by ■ Michael Krebs

With population estimates from the United Nations ranging anywhere from 8 billion to 10.5 billion by 2050, there is a need to understand the numbers and the implications of population growth or decline.

As human population figures worldwide are continuing to reflect widespread growth, the United Nations recently released a 240-page report that examines and projects trends over a wide period of time from 1950 to 2300. By 2050, according the UN Population Division analysis, there could be anywhere from 8 billion of us at the low end of the projection to 10.5 billion at the high end.

The impact of these figures on ecological sustainability is not known.

The United Nations has been assessing global populations since the 1950s. As the world settled into a relative postwar tranquility, populations began to expand – and this expansion prompted the UN to begin implementing family planning measures where appropriate.

“The United Nations has a very long history of leading the discussion of population issues at the world level,” UN Population Division Director Hania Zlotnik said. “It started in the 50′s. It culminated in the 70′s with the first intergovernmental conference on population – the 1974 World Population Conference – where governments got together and for the first time they legitimized at the universal level the fact that governments could make policies regarding population and specifically that they had a responsibility to enable couples and individuals to have the number of children they desired – specifically by the rise in family planning programs. And it’s that movement of family planning that has had a major impact on world population trends.”

Read the full article here: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301443#ixzz1BD7KmqBs

You can view a half-hour interview with PMC President William Ryerson by Fran Stoddard of Vermont Public Television’s Profile at http://video.vpt.org/video/1750675385.  It was taped on January 7, 2011 and broadcast on January 17 and 23 of 2011o.

On January 31, Mr. Ryerson did a five-minute interview on the VT local CBS affiliate.  You can see it here: http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=13942525

NEWS RELEASE

Thursday 13 January 2011 – For immediate release

We must address resource demand as well as supply

The Optimum Population Trust welcomes the recent report by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers “Population: One Planet, Too Many people?”

We endorse the Institute’s view that “Population increase is likely to be the defining challenge of the 21st Century, a global issue that will affect us all whether or not the countries in which we reside become more crowded or not.” We share the Institute’s concern about the need to ensure that resources can meet demand; in particular, food, water, urbanisation and energy; and that “failure to act will place billions of people around the world at risk of hunger, thirst and conflict as capacity tries to keep up with demand”. And we fully support approaches that will develop and spread the sustainable uses of technology.

We have four main criticisms of the report and of how it is being interpreted.

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Thanks to Scott Connolly for this population report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.  See http://www.imeche.org/news/archives/11-01-12/Population_Explosion_Can_the_Planet_Cope.aspx

World pressured by population growth – but Engineering Development Goals hold the key.

NEWS RELEASE

Wednesday 12 January 2011

A groundbreaking Population report (Wed 12 January) by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) has revealed the world is hurtling towards population overload placing billions at risk of hunger, thirst and slum conditions.

Population: One planet, too many people? is the first report of its kind by the engineering profession.  Unless the engineering solutions highlighted in the report are urgently implemented then the projected 2.5 billion more people on earth by the end of this Century (currently there is 6.9 billion) will crush the earth’s resources.

Urbanisation will soar. ‘Mega-cities’ of more than 10 million people will rise to 29 by 2025 and the urban population will increase from 3.3billion (2007) to 6.4 billion (2050).  Food will also become an increasingly precious commodity and developed areas such as the UK will be forced to stamp out its ‘throwaway’ lifestyle. Water consumption will increase by 30% by 2030 and there is projected to be a 50% hike in water extraction for industrial use in Asia. This, the report states, could create civil unrest and land battles for resources  as climate change looms.

For the full article navigate to: http://www.imeche.org/news/archives/11-01-12/Population_Explosion_Can_the_Planet_Cope.aspx

The National – Tuesday, February 22, 2011
http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/16777

Listeners of the family show on FM 100 will have more to live, love and laugh about when the two new serial dramas on social change are aired live for the first time tonight and will continue every Tuesday and Thursday at 8.30pm.

The series would have a two-year run with the Tok Pisin series “Nau em taim” and English series “Echoes of change” would follow in three storyline segments.
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By: Brendon Bosworth
http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/colorado_filmmakers_explore_overpopulation/C37/L37/

A new documentary that debuted at the Boulder International Film Festival calls overpopulation a looming and underreported issue.

Directed and produced by Denver-based Tiroir A Films, “Mother: Caring Our Way Out of the Population Dilemma” confronts what it labels a social, political and religious taboo – rapid population growth – and its role in natural resource depletion and economic inequality.

Pointing to the United Nations’ projection of a world population of 9 billion by 2045, the film calls for a more responsible approach to reproduction and the promotion of a global culture of female empowerment and respect for women’s rights. It features commentary by population scholars, economists, authors and scientists, including the outspoken Paul Ehrlich, author of 1968 book “The Population Bomb,” which has been criticized for its predictions of global famine in the 1970s.
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Thanks to Jennifer Prediger for a link to the “Ask Umbra” column on Grist (http://www.grist.org/column/ask-umbra).  On that page, you will find this lead into an article on population:

Overpopulation is a big theme in Umbra’s latest Book Club selection, Freedom. We’ve got exclusive Grist video of author Jonathan Franzen talking about the issue. Why isn’t everyone else talking about it? Do you worry about 220,000 new people being added to the planet every day? Tell us what you think, whether you’ve read the book or not.

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Make birth control Available at No Cost
By Cheryl Gibson. Wednesday, January 19, 2011

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the approval of the birth control pill. Yet for millions of women in this country, the price is just too high, making birth control simply out of reach.

Fortunately, a provision in the new health care law may allow all FDA-approved prescription contraception to be fully covered by new health plans. Simply put, that means that women may not need to find cash co-pays or out-of-pocket payments for prescription birth control. Under the new health care law, health insurance plans will be required to fully cover women’s preventive health care services without requiring any co-pays. Over the next year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will decide which benefits will be covered at no cost for women.
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To sign a petition on the House action to defund Planned Parenthood, visit https://secure.ppaction.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=pp_ppol_ws_I_Stand_with_PP&s_src=istandwithppfeb2011ppole1

Washington, Feb. 19 – As the Republican majority in the House of Representatives defunded or greatly slashed domestic and international family planning for women in the United States and around the world, they passed an amendment approving the funding of birth control — for horses.

In what House Minority Leader Democrat Nancy Pelosi called, “the most comprehensive and radical assault on women’s health in our lifetime,” the Republican House continuing resolution (CR) passed in a 235 to 189 vote eliminating the domestic Title X program, the only source of federal monies dedicated exclusively to family planning and reproductive health. President Obama’s FY 2012 budget allocates $327 million for Title X family planning programs.
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Thanks to Fred Meyerson for this New York Times article.
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The Obama administration is examining whether the new health care law can be used to require insurance plans to offer contraceptives and other family planning services to women free of charge.

Such a requirement could remove cost as a barrier to birth control, a longtime goal of advocates for women’s rights and experts on women’s health. But it is likely to reignite debate over the federal role in health care, especially reproductive health, at a time when Republicans in Congress have vowed to repeal the law or dismantle it piece by piece. It is also raising objections from the Roman Catholic Church and is expected to generate a robust debate about privacy.

For full article, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/health/policy/03health.html?_r=1&emc=eta1