Population Growth

Population Policy for a Depression

Updated: 2009-10-19 15:39:38

Many thanks to Lindsey Grant for this paper he published through NPG. See http://www.npg.org/. Lindsey Grant Population Policy for a Depression Forum Paper (PDF, 138 KB) ShareThis

UN calls for action and investment to eradicate global poverty

Updated: 2009-10-17 18:17:38

Conflict, chronic poverty and high food prices threaten children’s well-being in the eastern DRC 17 October 2009 – The United Nations today marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declaring that the fight against a scourge that afflicts over a billion people around the world is at a critical juncture. “At [...]

Key Issues for Attention by Ecological Economists by Paul Ehrlich

Updated: 2009-10-17 15:03:27

Thanks to Paul Ehrlich for the attached paper. Also see the comments on his paper at the end of the document. Paul Ehrlich Key Issues for Attention by Ecological Economists 2008 (PDF, 401 KB) ShareThis

Green spaces ‘improve health’

Updated: 2009-10-17 06:03:40

The best health benefits come from living less than a kilometre (0.62miles) from a green space There is more evidence that living near a ‘green space’ has health benefits. Research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health says the impact is particularly noticeable in reducing rates of mental ill health. The annual rates of [...]

Feed the world

Updated: 2009-10-17 06:02:30

The End of Food: The Coming Crisis in the World Food Industry By Paul Roberts Bloomsbury £12.99, 390 pages FT Bookshop price: £11.99 The Food Wars By Walden Bello Verso £7.99, 186 pages FT Bookshop price: £6.39 The Constant Economy: How to Create a Stable Society By Zac Goldsmith Atlantic £16.99, 200 pages FT Bookshop price: £13.59 The Environmental Food Crisis: The Environment’s Role in Averting Future [...]

Australia: Unwanted teen sex tied to binge drinking

Updated: 2009-10-16 17:40:35

An explosion in binge drinking among high school girls is driving an increase in unwanted teen sex, a nationwide survey, which will be outlined in Brisbane today, says. A massive 60 per cent of year 12 girls – and nearly one in three year 10 females – admitted to binge drinking three or more times in [...]

World Food Day - Achieving food security in times of crisis

Updated: 2009-10-16 08:20:19

At a time when the global economic crisis dominates the news, the world needs to be reminded that not everyone works in offices and factories. The crisis is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70 percent of the world’s hungry live and work. With an estimated increase of 105 million hungry [...]

Massive African lake could dry up, U.N. agency says

Updated: 2009-10-15 22:59:34

Up to 30 million people are facing “a humanitarian disaster” as one of Africa’s biggest lakes shrinks, a United Nations agency warned Thursday. Porters remove goods from a boat on Lake Chad in 2007. Lake Chad was about the size of Maryland — bigger than Israel or Kuwait — in 1963, satellite images show. [...]

Greener Grass

Updated: 2009-10-15 22:40:49

By Fred Westmark There is an old saying: “The grass is always greener on the other side.” The story of humans is the story of looking for greener pastures. Throughout history and prehistory, humans have left one place and travelled to another. Migration has been forced by overpopulation and depletion of resources and wanderlust. Even today [...]

Contraception is An Economic Issue

Updated: 2009-10-15 20:03:24

Every dollar spent on family planning saves taxpayers $4 dollars, according to a new report by the Guttmacher Institute. “The national family planning program is smart government at its best,” said Rachel Benson Gold, lead author of the study, Next Steps for America’s Family Planning Program. The report comes after Republicans ridiculed the inclusion of what [...]

Economic crisis exposes fragile global food system, new UN report says

Updated: 2009-10-14 19:29:59

The economic turmoil sweeping the globe has lead to a sharp spike in hunger affecting the world’s poorest, uncovering a fragile global food system requiring urgent reform, according to a report issued today by two United Nations agencies.The combination of the food and economic crises have pushed more people into hunger, with the number of [...]

Sex for food in Nyeri slums

Updated: 2009-10-14 19:23:46

Nyeri may be considered the land of plenty, but in these times of famine, that label means nothing in Witemere slums, where girls trade their bodies for food. The slum on the banks of River Chania is barely two kilometres from Muringato, which was recently in the news for all the wrong reasons - hungry villagers [...]

Teenage sex study shock for parents

Updated: 2009-10-14 19:21:52

Girls as young as 12 are selling their bodies for petty things such as mobile phone airtime, chips and even sanitary pads. And many are opting not to use protection, even though they are fully aware of the dangers of unsafe sex. They are also sleeping with different partners: Some admitted having as many as six sexual [...]

Sexonomics

Updated: 2009-10-14 14:57:56

Over the past two weeks there has been lots of public huffing and puffing over the inclusion (and then exclusion) in the stimulus package of a provision for contraception. Much of the discussion was little more than media hot air, unanchored by anything as weighty as facts. The media discussion was notable for among other [...]

Running out of Resources

Updated: 2009-10-13 14:32:35

Thanks to Fred Stanback for sending this copy of Jeremy Grantham’s latest stock market letter. In the second part, he makes interesting comments about population growth and running out of resources. Running out of Resources (PDF, 67 KB) ShareThis

Motherhood and Human Rights: Do all pregnant women have the right to live?

Updated: 2009-10-12 16:37:33

If all pregnant women have the right to live, why are so many dying in childbirth? Share your opinion and join Conversations for a Better World http://www.conversationsforabetterworld.com, a blog, where you can discuss gender and health issues. ShareThis

Covering Climate: What’s Population Got to Do With It?

Updated: 2009-10-12 15:56:32

For online viewing, see the instructions below. Please join the Environmental Change and Security Program, the International Reporting Project, and the Society of Environmental Journalists for a Journalist Roundtable discussion of Covering Climate: What’s Population Got to Do With It? Featuring: Dennis Dimick, Executive Editor, National Geographic Magazine Emily Douglas, Web Editor, The Nation Andrew Revkin, Environmental Reporter, The New York [...]

Behavior, Energy and Climate Change (BECC) Conference: Nov 15-18, Washington, DC – Register now: Rates increase Oct. 14

Updated: 2009-10-11 15:43:26

Thanks to Linda Schuck of the Stanford Precourt Institute for this announcement. —————————— Behavior, Energy and Climate Change (BECC) Conference: Nov 15-18, Washington, DC Register now: Rates increase Oct. 14 The 2009 Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference is an international conference focused on accelerating our transition to an energy-efficient and low carbon economy through an improved understanding and [...]