Florida’s recent decline in population is making national headlines (NY Times, USA Today) and is being portrayed as a major cause for concern. The truth is that those expressing this alarm are merely clinging to an old, tired, and harmful mode of thinking.

After 63 years of massive population expansion — which changed forever the ecology, economy and society of the state – Florida’s 0.3% decline actually seems like an opportunity to many. It is a chance for America’s Sunshine State to develop a sustainable economy, which it can then model for the rest of the nation.

Ecological economists like Robert Costanza, Director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, have known for a long time what seems to be eluding most mainstream economists: relying on ballooning populations and constant increases in infrastructure is not a sustainable economic model.

What once may have been possible and even desirable in the earlier part of American history is pernicious and unsustainable today.

“The long term solution is to move beyond ‘growth at all costs’,” says Costanza, who was raised and educated in Florida – a state which increased its population by 88% from 1980 to 2008.

“We must break our addiction to the current economic ideology and create a more sustainable and desirable future that focuses on quality of life rather than merely quantity of consumption or population growth. It will not be easy; it will require a new vision, new measures, and new institutions.”

The misguided hope among many is that, once this economic crisis dissipates, Florida will again experience a population expansion and greater consumption. But this would only reset the timer, beginning again the steady countdown to a renewed crisis. For a nation wrestling with high unemployment and a spiraling national debt – not to mention accelerating carbon emissions, climate change, and rapid species extinctions — that’s not an option.

There are ways to do it, says Costanza. “It is not a sacrifice of quality of life to break this addiction. Quite the contrary, it is a sacrifice not to.”

Robert Dietz, Executive Director, Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, adds “The ‘end of an era’ of population growth has many eyes trained on Florida. We need an economy that meets human needs without undermining the life-support systems of the planet. Florida can lead the way toward this vision of economic health. Population stability presents an opportunity to seize – an opportunity to make the economy better instead of bigger.

July 11, 2009 marks the 20th Anniversary of World Population Day. “Investing in Women,” this year’s theme, draws attention to the importance of improving the health and opportunity of women worldwide in order to create a more just and balanced world. By focusing on the plight of women around the world on World Population Day, we are able to understand this issue as both one of human rights and also as vital to global sustainability.

The world population has reached an unprecedented 6.8 billion people, and it continues to grow by approximately 80 million people each year. As a direct result of this growth, the world faces unparalleled challenges, including climate change, food and water shortages, loss of biodiversity, and a severe energy crisis.

Ninety-five percent of this growth is in the poorest countries that are the least equipped to feed, educate or employ these additional people. Such growth is contributing to both poverty and environmental destruction on a widespread basis. These countries are struggling to provide for their existing populations, and even while making strides to improve their infrastructure, they are unable to keep up with the extreme population growth. Developing nations now require about $1 trillion per year in new infrastructure development just to accommodate their population increases – a figure that is very far from being met and is effectively impossible for these countries to generate. Worse, the challenges these countries and their citizens face are exaggerated by tough economic times.

Since World War II, no country has gone from developing status to developed status without first reducing birth rates and population growth rates. The reason is simple. Reduced family size enables couples and nations to save a higher percentage of their income and invest it in education, government, and industry — all of which lead to increased productivity of the economy, greater employment, and higher incomes. Countries with large families tend to spend all of their income on immediate consumption needs of food, housing and clothing and have little left over to invest. As a result, fast-growing countries tend to suffer from economic stagnation, as is evident from many countries in the developing world.

Uplifting women throughout the world by providing girls with the opportunity for an education, delaying the age of marriage and childbearing until adulthood, improving reproductive health, and developing a culture that gives women the ability to make decisions about their future and their families’ future is critical to tackling the numerous challenges we face today. By recognizing and achieving fundamental human rights for all women, they will be freed of the economic reliance on men and therefore have the freedom and ability to improve their own lives.

The countries that have most successfully reduced population growth have emphasized changing attitudes of the people regarding the role of women, ideal family size, age of first pregnancy, and the benefits of using modern contraceptives. In fact, recent Demographic and Health Surveys have found that, among the reasons given for not using contraception by women who are not pregnant and do not want to become pregnant, lack of access to contraceptives is mentioned infrequently. The top reasons generally are lack of knowledge, concern with possible side effects, opposition from the husbands, and religious beliefs.

While access to family planning services clearly plays an important role in stabilizing population numbers, today the heart of the problem lies in attitudes and beliefs that perpetuate male dominance and the desire for large families. To address these cultural and informational barriers, Population Media Center develops long-running serialized dramas on radio and television, in which characters evolve into role-models for the audience to bring about changes in the audience’s attitudes and behaviors.

The mass media is a highly effective vehicle for accelerating acceptance of family planning and small family norms since it reaches large numbers of people at a very low cost per person reached. Serial dramas are especially well-adapted to showing an evolution of key characters from traditional attitudes toward modern attitudes regarding family communications, the role of women, family size decisions, and the use of family planning. Population Media Center has now successfully replicated and adapted its model for behavior change in 24 countries around the world.

Today, on the 20th Anniversary of the first World Population Day, please join Population Media Center in our commitment to create a world where women are educated and empowered to make healthy decisions about their family size; where women have a voice and are heard; where reproductive health services are available and accessible to all; where every family can afford to feed, clothe, and educate their children; where communities live in balance with the earth’s resources — and where together we can protect and share our planet.

- A Message from William N. Ryerson, President of Population Media Center

Population Media Center is a nonprofit, international non-governmental organization working worldwide to promote use of effective communication strategies for promoting behavior change to improve family and reproductive health. The organization’s work is concentrated on entertainment broadcasting, particularly on long-running serial dramas in which characters evolve into role models for adoption of family planning, delayed marriage and childbearing, elevation of women’s status, avoidance of HIV/AIDS, and related social and health goals.

The major killers of humanity throughout our history — smallpox, flu, tuberculosis, malaria, plague, measles, and cholera — were acute infectious diseases that evolved from animals. To sustain themselves, however, they need a human population that is sufficiently numerous and densely packed. Only then will numerous crops of new victims be available for infection by the time the disease would otherwise be waning. (In smaller populations, victims either develop resistance and survive — or they die. This makes the microbes die as well).

But, on a planet that is adding a quarter million more humans every day (225,000) and 82 million more per year – on our way to a bloated 9 billion by 2050 — can anyone really be surprised that nature is reminding us of her nasty side? Indeed, human over-population of the planet provides a tragic opportunity for infectious diseases to easily sweep across the surface with fearful speed. This, combined with jet travel, are the ingredients that make serious pandemics even more likely.

Most serious ecologists have been saying for decades that the planet is over-populated by billions. Recent studies of the carrying capacity of the United States indicate that our sustainable population is far less than our current 306 million. To scientists like this, it’s a no-brainer that both global and U.S. populations must be stabilized to have a shot at sustainable development. Others remain in ignorance about our population problems.

The calamity of Swine Flu is unfolding in the context of unbridled, exponential human population growth. It’s front and center – and terrifying. Yet, looming catastrophes of climate instability, ecological impoverishment and resource shortages like oil, food, and fresh water are happening on that same population battle ground.

No matter how this tragedy unfolds, it’s more urgent than ever to have a conversation about planetary and national sustainability — and the fundamental role population stabilization must play in achieving them both. If we don’t get a handle on our population, death and disease will become more the norm than the exception.

And that won’t be good at all.

“If we don’t halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be
done for us by nature, brutally and without pity — and we will leave a
ravaged world.” — Nobel Laureate Dr. Henry W. Kendall

Today as we commemorate World Population Day, Population Media Center and Population Institute pledge their commitment to help bring population numbers into balance with natural resources, so humanity can live in harmony with the earth.

We vow to help create a world where people are educated and empowered to make healthy decisions about their family size; where women have a voice and are heard; where reproductive health services are available and accessible to all; where every family can afford to feed, clothe, and educate their children; where communities live in balance with the earth’s resources; and where together we can protect and share our planet.

The world population has reached an unprecedented 6.7 billion people, and it continues to grow by 80 million people each year. As a result of this growth, the world faces unparalleled challenges, including climate change, food and water shortages, and a severe energy crisis.

Ninety-nine percent of the world’s population growth is in the world’s poorest countries where people are commonly afflicted by poverty, civil unrest, and scarce resources. These countries are struggling to provide for their existing populations, and even while making strides to improve their infrastructure, they are unable to keep up with the extreme population growth. Developing nations now require about $1 trillion per year in new infrastructure development just to accommodate their population growth – a figure that is very far from being met and is effectively impossible for these countries to generate.

One of our main challenges is improving the status of women. This is vital to stabilizing population numbers and improving the health and well-being of all humankind. By improving a woman’s standing in society, she will have the opportunity to educate herself and her children, gain access to reproductive health services, and make economic strides to improve her life and that of her family. It is imperative that men play an active role in the expansion of women’s rights and unrestricted access to reproductive health services in developing countries. When men and women are equally valued, it is more likely that population numbers will stabilize, resulting in improved living standards and an increasingly brighter outlook for the future of our environment. Increasing family planning education and access to services also helps to reduce poverty, by allowing families to devote more of their resources to the education and health of each child.

Globalization and the interconnectedness of the biosphere, forces us to look at the issue of population with a global lens. Half of the world’s population is under the age of 24, yet family planning information and services remain out of reach for many, particularly for those who often have the most difficulty acquiring the information and services they require to plan their families, such as the poor, the marginalized, and young people. It is critical that we provide them with the education and services necessary to stabilize population numbers and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. It is our responsibility as inhabitants who share this planet to ensure a healthy future.

Today, on World Population Day, Population Media Center and Population Institute pledge their commitment to continue to pursue the goal of bringing population numbers into balance with natural resources, to improve the health and well-being of all people and of the planet.

-A Message from William N. Ryerson, President of Population Media Center and Population Institute

Population Media Center (www.populationmedia.org) is a nonprofit, international non-governmental organization working worldwide to promote use of effective communication strategies for promoting behavior change to improve family and reproductive health. The organization’s work is concentrated on entertainment broadcasting, particularly on long-running serial dramas in which characters evolve into role models for adoption of family planning, delayed marriage and childbearing, elevation of women’s status, avoidance of HIV/AIDS, and related social and health goals.

The Population Institute (www.populationinstitute.org) is an international, educational nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce rapid population growth and achieve a world population in balance with a healthy global environment.

Shelburne, VT - On April 22nd, Population Media Center (PMC) will celebrate Earth Day. PMC is an international nonprofit organization that strives to bring about the stabilization of human population numbers at a level that can be sustained by the world’s natural resources, in order to improve the well-being of people around the world and lessen the harmful impact of humanity on the earth’s environment. PMC uses entertainment-education strategies, like serialized dramas on radio and television that encourage positive social and health behaviors, such as the use of family planning and the empowerment of women.

Please join us in celebrating Earth Day on April 22nd. William Ryerson, President and Founder of Population Media Center will be available for interviews.

Population and Environment
Currently, there is a great deal of concern in the media, government, business, and general public regarding the issue of global warming. However, the impact of rapid human population growth on global warming is often overlooked. Decreasing consumption levels will not be enough if the human population continues to rise. The United Nations Population Division estimates that by the year 2050 the world population will reach 9.2 billion, with most of this increase occurring in the developing world. It is estimated that by 2050 over 50% of carbon emissions will come from developing nations. Not only does population growth significantly contribute to an increase in carbon emissions, but it creates a strain on other resources such as water, food, and energy.

Make the Link Between Population and Environment
For more information about population and environmental issues, PMC’s founder and president, William Ryerson, will be available for interviews. Mr. Ryerson has a four decade history of working in the fields of population and reproductive health. As a graduate student, he was Founder and first Chairperson of the Yale Chapter of Zero Population Growth (ZPG). He also served on the Executive Committee of ZPG, as Eastern Vice President and Secretary of the national organization. In 1970, he was featured in Life Magazine’s Earth Day issue organizing student activities on the Yale campus for the first Earth Day.

During the last two decades, he has been working to adapt the Sabido methodology of entertainment-education for behavior change on family planning and family size issues to various cultural settings worldwide. He has also been involved in the design of research to measure the effects of such projects in a number of countries, one of which has led to a series of publications regarding a serialized radio drama in Tanzania and its effects on HIV/AIDS avoidance and family planning use. He received a B.A. in Biology (Magna Cum Laude) from Amherst College and an M.Phil. in Biology from Yale University (with specialization in Ecology and Evolution). He served as Director of the Population Institute’s Youth and Student Division, Development Director of Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania, Associate Director of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and Executive Vice President of Population Communications International before founding Population Media Center. Mr. Ryerson is listed in several editions of Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the East. In 2006, he was awarded the Nafis Sadik Prize for Courage from the Rotarian Action Group on Population and Development.

This year PMC celebrates its 10th Anniversary. We are very excited about reaching this milestone and would like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to everyone that has helped to make this happen.

Since we opened our doors in 1998, we have had programs in more than 15 countries around the world; have reached over 100 million people with our serial dramas; and measured substantial impact on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors with regard to issues as diverse as family planning, HIV/AIDS, women’s empowerment, child rights, and environmental preservation.

To celebrate this success and in an effort to better define who we are and connect with PMC supporters worldwide, we have updated our logo and look, in coordination with launching this new website. Our new site boasts an array of interactive features including both audio and video from PMC’s programs around the world, in order to better represent the depth and importance of PMC’s work.

To achieve this, PMC participated in a re-branding process. We were taken on as pro-bono client by the highly regarded design and marketing firm, Kelliher Samets Volk, who aided us in the re-branding process and created our new logo. Because of the scale of PMC’s work, we decided to use a symbol that would capture the feeling of our work, rather than a literal translation. With the logo’s organic style; ying/yang quality; warm, earthy features; hopeful and energetic feeling; and circular design, that is symbolic of the world – we are hoping to represent all of PMC’s strengths, and create a lasting memorable brand that will promote PMC’s achievements and goals for the future.

We are very excited to launch this new site, and would like to thank Shawna Gibbs of Gibbs Studios, who helped us make our vision a reality. On our new website you can learn more about each of PMC’s programs, get in-depth background information on the issues we address, listen to interviews with PMC personnel, and participate in our new population and health communications blog. We are very excited to celebrate PMC’s decade of success and look forward to celebrating many more.

In Ethiopia, it can be dangerous for a girl to leave the house. Not because of war, or weather, but “weddings”—specifically the long-standing cultural tradition of marriage by abduction.

Girls as young as 11 are surrounded by a gang of men or boys and then raped, beaten and forced to marry one. The girls cannot look to their families for help—they are fallen women now, and there is great social pressure to accept their fate.

Although marriage by abduction is illegal in Ethiopia, the United Nations Children’s Fund says that about 70 percent of marriages in that country are the result of kidnapping and rape.

But what if a group of villagers said, “We will not allow this to happen anymore!”

Thanks to a serialized radio program, that’s exactly what happened in Ethopia’s Amhara region. A radio serial drama brought these girls’ plight to life in a way that no simple educational announcement could, and villagers came together to demand that local authorities enforce the law.

For full article, visit:

http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec07/worldturns.html

Shelburne, VT – On Saturday, November 18th William Ryerson, President of the Population Media Center (PMC) will participate on a panel at the International Emmy World® Television Festival in New York City. The panel will focus on socially responsible television. Ryerson will speak on the panel along with other industry leaders.

William Ryerson, PMC’s founder and president has a 35-year history of working in the field of reproductive health, including 20 years of experience adapting the Sabido methodology for behavior change communications to various cultural settings worldwide. He has also been involved in the design of research to measure the effects of such projects in a number of countries, one of which has led to a series of publications regarding a serialized radio drama in Tanzania and its effects on HIV/AIDS avoidance and family planning use.

Other panelists include:

Nusrat Durrani is General Manager/SVP of MTV World, a division of MTV created in 2004 to launch new MTV-branded channels that super-serve emerging bi-cultural audiences in the U.S.: MTV Desi for South Asian-Americans, launched in July 2005; MTV Chi for Chinese-Americans launched in December 2005; and MTV K for Korean-Americans planned for 2006. Nusrat is considered a pioneer in bringing global pop culture to America and has been instrumental in the emergence of the Asian-American pop music scene. He is also chairperson of the MTV Networks Diversity Council.

Dana Kuperman is Regional Director of International for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind the Emmy-award winning preschool series, Sesame Street. The Workshop’s programs and localized initiatives reach children in more than 120 countries. Kuperman is responsible for providing vision and strategic direction for the Workshop’s work in Latin America, the Caribbean, France and Germany. She initiates and manages relationships with external partners, including broadcasters, governmental agencies, NGOs, and corporate sponsors.

Albert Alcouloumbre Jr. from Brazil is the Director of Planning and Social Projects of TV Globo’s Communications Department. He is also a member of the Council of different Corporate Social Responsibility and Third Sector organizations in Brazil.

Irwin Sonny Fox, Population Media Center’s West Coast Representative will moderate the panel. Fox brings more than forty years of experience in television. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He serves on the Past Presidents Committee of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and on the Advisory Board for the Norman Lear Entertainment Center Hollywood, Health and Society project at the Annenberg School for Communication.

WASHINGTON – A U.S. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, a television news reporter from the Philippines and a radio show host from Cameroon are among the 12 recipients of the Population Institute’s 2007 Global Media Awards for Excellence in Population Reporting.

The awards will be presented December 5 at a ceremony in the Rayburn House of Representatives Office Building here.

Joel Pett, an editorial cartoonist who has been with the Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader since 1984, will be recognized for a number of his cartoons on population issues that have appeared in hundreds of U.S. newspapers and magazines

MelClaire Sy Delfin, a television reporter with the Philippines’ GMA Network, Inc., has won in the Best Individual Reporting category, for two in-depth investigative reports, “The Forbidden Games Filipino Children Play” and “When Wells Run Dry: A Tragedy Looming Large.”

Enie Cecile of Cameroon will receive the Best Electronic Commentary award for her show, “Social Forum,” which raises awareness of a wide range of population and environmental issues including protecting the rights of indigenous people, exploration for potable water and ozone depletion.

Newsweek magazine science columnist Sharon Begley will be honored for Best Population/Environmental Reporting Effort for her article, “Global Warming Deniers: A Well-Funded Machine,” which appeared in the August 6, 2007 edition of the magazine. Her report underscores the preponderance of scientific evidence that human activity is the primary catalyst behind global warming.

“Youth Alert! Real Man/Real Woman,” a music video special produced by the Behavior Change Communication (BCC) program of Malawi, is the winner in the Best Combined Media Effort category. The winning entry was launched as a mass media and interpersonal communications campaign to encourage Malawian youth to delay their sexual debut. BCC is operated by Population Services International and core funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Jim Motavalli, editor of the national environmental bimonthly, E Magazine, will receive the Best Magazine Article award for his comprehensive report showing that falling birth rates are not universal and that, while declining in industrialized countries, they remain high in many countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Inter Press Service (IPS), headquartered in Rome, Italy, will be cited as the Most Conscientious News Service for its news and analyses of events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of people and nations, including the consequences of high fertility in the world’s poorest countries.

RH Reality Check will receive the Best Electronic Forum award for its commitment to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights. The web site is an easily accessible online resource for evidence-based information, provocative commentary and interactive dialogue on these issues.

Ben Merens, host of the Wisconsin Public Radio Ideas Network program, “At Issue with Ben Merens,” will be recognized for the Best Radio Talk Show. The program is dedicated to in-depth examinations of current events and hard news through interviews with expert guests, policymakers, commentators and authors.

The Best Editorial Support award will be presented to The Sun of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for its support of population, environmental and development issues. An example is the April 18, 2007 editorial, “War against poverty shows some successes,” which convincingly links overwhelming poverty in the southern hemisphere with rapid population.

Dr. Richard Grossman, a Colorado gynecologist and columnist for the Durango Herald, has been named Best Columnist for his provocative long-running “Population Matters” columns. His column, “Effects of poverty create the most haunting images of India,” recounting his personal realization of the connection between leprosy and poverty is illustrative of his efforts to bring development and population issues to the attention of his readers.

The Population Media Center of Shelburne, Vermont, will be recognized as the Best Electronic Communications Service for its original entertainment-education television and radio dramas, featuring family planning, gender equality and reproductive health issues.

“These Global Media Award recipients have helped to create public awareness of population issues through their dedicated efforts,” said Lawrence Smith, Jr., president of the Population Institute. “We are hoping that these awards will direct much-needed attention to the importance of reducing rapid human growth and achieving a world population in balance with a healthy global environment.”

For further information contact:
Jillian Spiciarich
Media Coordinator
Population Institute
Phone: (202) 544-3300
FAX: (202) 544-0068
E-mail: media@populationinstitute.org

The Population Institute (www.populationinstitute.org) is an international, educational, non-profit organization that seeks to voluntarily reduce excessive population growth, through universal access to family planning information, education and services. Established in 1969, the Institute, with members in 172 countries is headquartered on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Funding for the Population Institute comes from foundations, corporations and individual gifts. The Institute does not seek or receive financial support from the U.S. government.

Shelburne, VT – On October 1, 2007 Population Media Center (PMC) acquired Rare Radio. Population Media Center is the leading practitioner of the Sabido methodology, a unique form of entertainment education, which is also employed by Rare Radio.

Rare Radio works in a number of island nations in both the Caribbean and the Western Pacific. Using the Sabido methodology, Rare creates long running dramas on the radio to educate people about social and economic issues that affect conservation. The dramas are locally written, produced, and acted, and they use recognizable characters and contexts to engage people and motivate change.

The acquisition of Rare Radio by Population Media Center will provide Rare Radio with access to expert trainers and technical staff. PMC has successfully adapted the Sabido methodology in fifteen countries worldwide. Previously, Rare Radio was a branch of Rare, a U.S.-based conservation organization that works globally to equip people in the world’s most threatened natural areas with the tools and motivation they need to care for their natural resources. To date, Rare has aired programs in the Caribbean islands of Saint Lucia, Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Vincent. Rare Radio also produced and broadcast a regional program in the Micronesian island nations of the Western Pacific.

The acquisition will provide PMC with greater worldwide coverage, including fully established programming, trained personnel, and writers. The projects Rare has carried out have been highly successful in changing attitudes and behavior, with regard to reproductive health and environmental conservation. Acquiring Rare Radio will provide PMC with the opportunity to expand into more populous areas and problem sites, such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.