Overpopulation

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Future road pricing 'inevitable' -- Charging motorists for each mile they travel is "inevitable" if future traffic gridlock is to be avoided. ^{(5. July 2010)}
We need a global debate on population -- A growing number of scientists are going where politicians fear to tread by calling for a wider public debate on the sensitive issue of the global human population, which is set to rise from the present 6.8 billion to perhaps 9 billion by 2050. ^{(14. June 2010)}
The Reproductive Revolution: How Women Are Changing the Planet's Future -- Round the world, women today are having half as many children as their mothers did. And often it is the poorest and least educated women who are in the vanguard. ^{(11. June 2010)}
New Eco-Friendly Cigarettes Kill Destructive Human Beings Over Time -- According to a press release from Philip Morris, the new environmentally friendly cigarettes work by employing powerful carcinogens that accumulate in the lungs of smokers, slowly breaking down their vital organs and eliminating the danger posed to the overpopulated planet by the human race. ^{(1. June 2010)}
50 years of a sometimes bitter pill -- It is 50 years since the pill was first approved as a contraceptive, finally divorcing sex from pregnancy. ^{(7. May 2010)}
Why beer needs watering down -- It’s enough to make beer drinkers cry into their pints. A combination of factors, including rapid population growth, expanding food needs and unpredictable weather patterns, is heralding a global water crisis. Chronic water shortages are already hitting many regions, particularly in developing countries. Industry, which accounts for about 22 per cent of global fresh water consumption, is increasingly concerned about what will happen when the taps run dry. Brewers are among the most vulnerable: a pint of beer is up to 95 per cent water. ^{(4. March 2010)}
Yitta Schwartz, Who Died at 93, Had 2,000 Living Descendants -- When Yitta Schwartz died last month at 93, she left behind 15 children, more than 200 grandchildren and so many great- and great-great-grandchildren that, by her family’s count, she could claim perhaps 2,000 living descendants. ^{(18. February 2010)}
Copenhagen - the Munich of our times? -- Climate negotiations will never be the same after the Copenhagen climate summit, and the accord reached in the Danish capital may very well prove to be the Munich Agreement of modern times. The document was an appeasement to major polluters that condemns the world to runaway climate change and declares war on our children. The conference in December ended with an "accord", with no legal status and dubious value, as one of its key outcomes. ^{(2. February 2010)}
The Futures of Evolution and Our Problems -- Marvin Minsky started by talking about the fact that the root of our problems is that there are "too many big people" around and further he suggested that "one solution would be to reduce the size of people from six feet to six inches. That way you could get a trillion people on the planet with less pollution." ^{(19. January 2010)}
People evolving to be shorter & stouter ^{(18. January 2010)}
The inconvenient truth? Overpopulation -- The “inconvenient truth” overhanging the UN’s Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling, but that humans are overpopulating the world. A planetary law, such as China’s one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently of one million births every four days. The world’s other species, vegetation, resources, oceans, arable land, water supplies and atmosphere are being destroyed and pushed out of existence as a result of humanity’s soaring reproduction rate. Ironically, China, despite its dirty coal plants, is the world’s leader in terms of fashioning policy to combat environmental degradation, thanks to its one-child-only edict. ^{(7. December 2009)}
Website appeal to fund family planning 'to cut CO2' -- Meeting the demand for family planning in poor nations is a cheap and effective way to cut CO2 emissions, a new website initiative claims. ^{(3. December 2009)}
Overpopulation Debate as a Psychosocial Hazard -- Any discussion of the challenge of overpopulation has come to be considered such a political "hot potato" that the question of how to discuss it merits consideration in the light of well-developed ability to handle radioactive hazards and biohazards. The argument here focuses on how issues deemed politically hazardous can be discussed without endangering the discussants. The approach taken is to use the handling of hazardous materials, if only as a metaphor, through which to identify viable procedures appropriate to the perceived level of threat to psychosocial health from any such topic. ^{(21. November 2009)}
Can you trust life expectancy predictions? -- Half the babies born this year will live to 100, it has been reported. But how does that square with predictions about the health effects of obesity and other modern-day perils. ^{(9. October 2009)}
WWIII Population Wars: A 12-bomb equation -- The world's biggest time-bomb? Overpopulation, say the billionaires. ^{(29. September 2009)}
Natural selection in a contemporary human population -- e found that natural selection is acting to cause slow, gradual evolutionary change. The descendants of these women are predicted to be on average slightly shorter and stouter, to have lower total cholesterol levels and systolic blood pressure, to have their first child earlier, and to reach menopause later than they would in the absence of evolution. Selection is tending to lengthen the reproductive period at both ends. ^{(16. September 2009)}
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Hijacked by climate change? -- Habitat loss, not climate change, is the biggest cause of extinction. ^{(27. August 2009)}
India extends rewards for childless couples -- Thousands of couples in India who agreed to put off having babies for at least two years after their wedding will collect cash payments this month as health officials attempt to curb the country's rapidly growing population. ^{(2. August 2009)}
Family planning a major environmental impact -- Some people who are serious about wanting to reduce their "carbon footprint" on the Earth have one choice available to them that may yield a large long-term benefit - have one less child. ^{(31. July 2009)}
Earth 2100: the Final Century of Civilization? -- Experts have a stark warning: that unless we change course, the "perfect storm" of population growth, dwindling resources and climate change has the potential to converge in the next century with catastrophic results. ^{(29. May 2009)}
Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation -- Some of America’s leading billionaires have met secretly to consider how their wealth could be used to slow the growth of the world’s population and speed up improvements in health and education. ^{(24. May 2009)}
Die, Humans! Is Mother Nature Sick of Us? -- James Lovelock says humanity is "Earth's infection." Nice. We are the viruses. ... Lovelock's thinking is that our increasing presence is getting things so out of whack that, in the manner of a human immune system, the planet has no choice but to respond. ^{(7. May 2009)}
Worst Environmental Problem? Overpopulation, Experts Say -- Overpopulation is the only problem. If we had 100 million people on Earth — or better, 10 million — no others would be a problem. (Current estimates put the planet’s population at more than six billion.) ... Overpopulation means that we are putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than we should, just because more people are doing it and this is related to overconsumption by people in general, especially in the ‘developed’ world. ^{(20. April 2009)}
Earth population 'exceeds limits' -- There are already too many people living on Planet Earth, according to one of most influential science advisors in the US government. ^{(31. March 2009)}
Are we making too many Americans? -- They don't work, they don't pay taxes, and they don't speak English. And according to federal data released Wednesday, some 4.3 million of them entered the United States in 2007, more than in any other year in the nation's history. We're talking of course about babies. ^{(20. March 2009)}
Pope tells Africa 'condoms wrong' -- Pope Benedict XVI, who is making his first papal visit to Africa, has said that handing out condoms is not the answer in the fight against HIV/Aids. The pontiff, who preaches marital fidelity and abstinence, said the practice only increased the problem. ^{(17. March 2009)}
Is it selfish to have more than two children? -- Parents who have more than two children are "irresponsible" for placing an intolerable burden on resources and increasing damage to eco-systems. ^{(18. February 2009)}
Gaza population 'rising rapidly' -- The population of the Gaza Strip increased by almost 40% between 1997 and 2007, according to the results of a Palestinian census. ^{(15. February 2009)}
Solution for the world's water woes ^{(10. February 2009)}
Population: The elephant in the room -- It's the great taboo of environmentalism: the size and growth of the human population. It has a profound impact on all life on Earth, yet for decades it has been conspicuously absent from public debate. ^{(2. February 2009)}
Moving to a Stable World Population -- Some 43 countries around the world now have populations that are either essentially stable or declining slowly. In countries with the lowest fertility rates, including Japan, Russia, Germany, and Italy, populations will likely decline somewhat over the next half-century. A larger group of countries has reduced fertility to the replacement level or just below. They are headed for population stability after large numbers of young people move through their reproductive years. Included in this group are China and the United States. A third group of countries is projected to more than double their populations by 2050, including Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda. ^{(21. January 2009)}
Save the planet by cutting down on meat? That's just a load of bull. -- It is time the United Nations remembered its historic role in campaigning against global overpopulation. There was a time when the UN used to champion female emancipation, education, family planning and all the real solutions to the world's excessive and intolerable population boom. It is time the world's leaders had the wisdom and courage once again to talk the fundamental issue, rather than babbling about our diet. It's not eating meat that does the damage. It's the huge and remorselessly growing number of people who want to eat it. ^{(22. December 2008)}
The Problem Is Simple: Too Many People, Too Much Stuff ^{(7. August 2008)}
Population bomb 'ticks louder than climate' -- Global population growth is looming as a bigger threat to the world's food production and water supplies than climate change, a leading scientist says. ^{(22. July 2008)}
Challenge of Nonviolent Population Decimation: Reducing effects of overpopulation on resources and climate change by major reduction in the height of people ^{(28. December 2007)}
Humankind's viability Is Preceded by Rapid Population Decline ^{(5. December 2007)}
Root Irresponsibility for Major World Problems: the unexamined role of Abrahamic faiths in sustaining unrestrained population growth ^{(20. November 2007)}
Contraception vital in climate change fight: expert -- Contraception advice is crucial to poor countries' battle with climate change, and policy makers are failing their people if they continue to shy away from the issue, a leading family planning expert said on Friday. Leo Bryant, a lead researcher on a World Health Organisation study on population growth and climate change, said the stigma attached to birth control in both developing and developed countries was hindering vital progress. ^{(18. September 2007)}
Begetting: challenges and responsibilities of overpopulation -- The focus is rather on the attitude promoted by religion to the unconstrained increase in the human population -- and its fairly direct exacerbation of many major problems. Deliberate efforts by organized religion to associate spiritual aspiration with this agenda is part of the problem. ^{(17. September 2007)}
Birth rate 'harms poverty goals' -- The UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are "difficult or impossible to meet" without curbing population growth, a UK parliamentary group says. It concludes that a high birth rate in poor nations contributes to poor health and education and environmental damage. The global population is forecast to reach about nine billion by 2050. ^{(8. December 2006)}
Thousands Feared Born In Nigerian Population Explosion -- Emergency-management personnel are calling the population explosion that ripped through this already densely populated coastal city last week "an unparalleled natural disaster" and fear the mounting life toll will only grow as tiny bodies are discovered among the human wreckage. ^{(7. June 2006)}
Babies Win Wars -- Dying nations are usually defined as those with fertility rates of 1.5 or lower. By that measure, 30 European countries are either dying today or -- like France -- seeing their cultures and populations transformed by growing ethnic and religious minorities. Europe is shrinking just as the population in Islamic, African and Asian countries is exploding. ^{(6. March 2006)}
Earth is too crowded for Utopia -- The global population is higher than the Earth can sustain, argues the Director of the British Antarctic Survey in the first of a series of environmental opinion pieces on the BBC News website entitled The Green Room. Solving environmental problems such as climate change is going to be impossible without tackling the issue, he says. ^{(6. January 2006)}
Vatican cleric fuels condom row ^{(1. February 2005)}
Developing world births 'falling' -- Women in the developing world now give birth to fewer than four children on average, according to a major United Nations study on fertility. The average number of births has fallen from 5.9 children in the 1970s to 3.9 in the 1990s, it says. In 20 countries, births have now fallen beneath the number needed to maintain current population levels. The UN Population Division's World Fertility Report says improved contraception is behind the fall. ^{(26. January 2005)}
India's population: A problem for all? -- By 2050, India is predicted to have overtaken China as the world's most populous nation. In an already overcrowded world, richer countries are being asked to share responsibility for the problem of this population explosion, which to a large extent is due to poverty. ^{(28. August 2004)}
India population 'to be biggest' -- India is set to overtake China as the world's most populous nation by 2050, while some countries will shrink by nearly 40%, according to new research. The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) says the next half century will see wild swings in population sizes. It predicts that the number of people on Earth will reach 9.3bn by 2050, compared with 6.3bn today. Britain's population is likely to overtake that of France, while the US will grow by nearly 50%, it says. ^{(18. August 2004)}
Two kids are enough -- Why large families don't deserve tax breaks. ^{(29. March 2004)}
UN warns of population surge -- The United Nations has published new predictions on the size and age of the world's population 300 years from now. Its medium-case scenario forecasts a rise from the current 6.3 billion people to around 9 billion in 2300. One startling projection based on present fertility levels is for 134 trillion inhabitants - although the UN concedes this is an impossible outcome. ^{(9. December 2003)}
The Last Taboo -- What unites the Vatican, lefties, conservatives, environmentalists, and scientists in a conspiracy of silence? Population.
World Clock
The Club of Ten Million -- More humanity with fewer humans. ... The Club of Ten Million wishes slowly but with certainty to return to Ten Million inhabitants in the Netherlands.
Optimum Population Trust
George Carlin - Saving the Planet
Idiocracy
The Real Perils of Human Population Growth
Population Media Center - Acting for Change
The Return of Thomas Malthus
People-powered maps -- Conventional maps show the shape of a country according to its land mass. But what if you drew a map according to where people lived?
Negative Population Growth
GrowthBusters.com
The Tragedy of the Commons, by Garrett Hardin -- In a welfare state, how shall we deal with the family, the religion, the race, or the class (or indeed any distinguishable and cohesive group) that adopts over breeding as a policy to secure its own aggrandizement? To couple the concept of freedom to breed with the belief that everyone born has an equal right to the commons is to lock the world into a tragic course of action.
National Optimum Population Commission -- The raging monster upon the land is population growth. In its presence, sustainability is but a fragile theoretical construct. To say, as many do, that the difficulties of nations are not due to people but to poor ideology or land-use management is sophistic.
The Population Debate
Overpopulation
Population - Greenpeace International
Overpopulation
Doug Stanhope on overpopulation
Woody Allen on Population: Speech to the Graduates -- Overpopulation will exacerbate problems to the breaking point. Figures tell us there are already more people on earth than we need to move even the heaviest piano. If we do not call a halt to breeding, by the year 2000 there will be no room to serve dinner unless one is willing to set the table on the heads of strangers. Then they must not move for an hour while we eat. Of course energy will be in short supply and each car owner will be allowed only enough gasoline to back up a few inches.

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Overpopulation