Playing Whack-a-Mole with Pro-Growth Bias

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Dropping birth rates are good news, not a “slump” we should hope is temporary. Yet news reports, headlines and commentaries about this are consistently displaying a pro-growth bias. We have your back. The Overpopulation Podcast team has mallets in hand. In this episode we continue playing whack-a-mole with instances of overpopulation disinformation.

NPR, the Wall Street Journal, Grist, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, and Facebook’s Undivided Attention video series all get a whacking in this episode. On the good news front, syndicated columnist Froma Harrop, Miley Cyrus, Prince Harry and the BirthStrike movement get nods of (modest) approval from the team. On Prince Harry’s declaration that he and Meghan will have no more than two children, podcast host Dave Gardner advises Harry to stop at one child – particularly to set an example.

We just have to share this quote from Froma Harrop’s column in the show notes:

“What makes for a strong society is healthy people, prosperous people and happy people — not more people. Americans can put low birthrates at the bottom of their worry list.”

– Froma Harrop

The team also briefly discusses the UN IPCC report, Climate and Land, which joins the growing list of dire warnings about our destruction of life support systems. In response, Dave suggests we “rally” the public to stop growing the population, rather than rallying technologists to try to feed 10.9 billion people in 2100.

LINKS:

Sustainable Population Australia

Less Sex, Fewer Babies: Blame It on the Internet and Career Priorities piece by Sam Sanders on NPR’s All Things Considered

America’s Millennial Baby Bust: Profound Cultural Shifts Can’t be Overcome by Pro-Natalist Subsidies The Wall Street Journal editorial

A Declining Population Need Not Cause Angst column by Froma Harrop, May 28, 2019

Having Kids asks Grist to Address Sustainable Family Planning

The Royal Baby is Cute and All, but Hello, the Planet is on Fire Commentary by Lisa Hymas and Ted MacDonald published in Grist

Humans Cause Climate Change. Do We Just Need Fewer Humans? Grist’s Ask Umbra column discussed in this episode, and in our episode 23: Getting Overpopulation Right in the Media

Miley Cyrus Has Finally Found Herself Molly Lambert interviews Miley Cyrus in Elle

HRH The Duke of Sussex Interviews Dr. Jane Goodall for the September Issue of Vogue

Climate Change and Land UN IPCC Study

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