ADDED in MARCH 2024
Map of countries by Fertility rates. See Map.
Credit: Korakys, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Unemployment, insecurity and inequality: Talking population in Nigeria
A report from Population Matters on their Population Conversation roundtable in Abuja in February 2024. The report includes a short video `Nigeria’s Population Explosion – what do people think?’ Read the report here.
ADDED in FEBRUARY 2024
Isaac Asimov on OVERPOPULATION (short film 8 min.)
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University, but is better known to the general public as a science fiction writer. As a writer he wrote over 500 books, not only science fiction, but also on popular science, history, astronomy, mathematics, biblical exegesis and literary criticism. As this video shows, he was an able communicator, expressing his views with clarity and in a very direct way.
You can also find the the film in QCOP Resources under Videos
Added in JANUARY 2024
Florence Blondel — Population Voice
A powerful piece about why we need to talk about population: “If we don’t have the conversation about our growing numbers, we will be doing an injustice not only to nature but to the women who are mostly expected to ‘reproduce and fill the earth”. Read more here.
From Pakistan Today. “No more a myth, the country of 400 million people”. Read more here.
Added in DECEMBER 2023
From the website ‘Center for Biological Diversity‘, a link to this article: How to Bring Anti-racism Into the Population Conversation:
ADDED in JULY 2023
Journeymen Theatre’s performances of ‘Breeding Grounds’, which QCOP commissioned, raised £1293 for CHASE Africa. Thank you to all who made donations!
Are Low Birth Rates the Beginning of Human Extinction? by Amy Tschudin
Are low fertility rates good news or are lack of births the beginning of human extinction? Read this short article (June 28, 2023) by Earth Overshoot here.
ADDED in JUNE 2023
NEWSWEEK, June 13: ‘Saying Out Loud What Others Won’t Even Whisper About Climate Change | Opinion, by Kirsten Stade , conservation biologist
US Climate Envoy John Kerry raised eyebrows recently when he said that continued high birth rates in some parts of the world and a global population of 10 billion would be unsustainable. The problem with his remarks isn’t their accuracy. Kerry is right that a population of 10 billion won’t be sustainable. The problem is…..
You can read the article here
ADDED in APRIL 2023
QCOP’s response to Greenpeace on Population
Population activists have long been puzzled and frustrated at the refusal by many well intentioned NGO’s and charities to include population as part of the picture. Greenpeace is one such body. Recently they issued a statement saying why they disregarded the population issue. This statement is to be found on the Greenpeace website. A response from QCOP can be found here which answers the Greenpeace statement point by point.
ADDED in MARCH 2023
Understanding terms used to describe aspects of a population.
Populations are dynamic and continually changing. There is no single term that describes what is happening to a population and what will happen. However, understanding the different elements helps in responding now and in the future. Click this link to see the document.
Egypt Aya Salah, Tuesday 14 Mar 2023
The Egyptian government will provide an annual incentive of EGP 1,000 to married women with no more than two children as part of its efforts to address the issue of overpopulation.
Please click this link for full article. You can also find it in the ‘Around the World’ section under E.
Human Population Through Time, a 6 min film from the American Museum of Natural History
t took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. But growth has begun slowing, as women have fewer babies on average. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth’s resources, even as we approach 11 billion?
A forward-thinking talk by Chad Frischman of DRAWDOWN.
What if we took out more greenhouse gases than we put into the atmosphere? This hypothetical scenario, known as “DRAWDOWN” is our only hope of averting climate disaster, says strategist Chad Frischmann. In this TED talk, Chad shares solutions to global warming that exist today — conventional tactics like the use of renewable energy and better land management as well as some lesser-known approaches, like changes to food production, better family planning and the education of girls. Learn more about how we can reverse global warming and create a world where regeneration, not destruction, is the rule.
To watch his TED talk (17 min) on Youtube please click here;
{Population growth issues start around 12.32 minute into the talk.)
Added in FEBRUARY 2023
From a website called Church and State:
ISSUES THAT BLOCK DIALOGUE ABOUT POPULATION GROWTH
The following has been extracted from a paper titled “Discussing the Silence and Denial around Population Growth and its Environmental Impact’.
It has some thought provoking headings:
Growthism
Religious and cultural taboos
The confused issue of ‘rights’
Political and social justice aspects
How ‘racist’ claims block dialogue
You will find the full article online here:
http://churchandstate.org.uk/2023/02/issues-that-block-dialogue-about-population-growth/
It ends with a persuasive short video by Sir David Attenborough, who says:
‘I have no doubt that the fundamental source of all our problems, particularly our environmental problem is population growth. I can’t think of a single problem that wouldn’t be easier to solve if there were less people.’