Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on July 3, 2014
Starting a Family? Think Small
As we approach World Population Day 2014 (July 11), it’s well past time we seriously consider the role of human population level in the sustainability of our civilization.
Over the last century the scale of the human enterprise has mushroomed, eventually surpassing the capacity of the Earth to sustainably support us. Scientists at the Global Footprint Network estimate we crossed that threshold about 40 years ago. Every year we get an update from WWF revealing how far into overshoot we have ventured.
The path we’ve taken closely mirrors a scenario run by a group of scientists at MIT that shows our life-support systems failing this century, under the heavy load of human activity. Evidence of overshoot, while seldom characterized as such, is in the news every day.
Business-as-Usual scenario from The Limits to Growth
If we wish to leave future generations a planet worth inheriting, we need to scale back. We need to “Think Small.” Contracting our economic activity is challenging, though it must be done. We have a hard time imagining how to run our world without economic growth.
Population growth, on the other hand, has a very simple solution. It’s possible to fix, and we know how to do it. Returning world population to a sustainable level is mathematically achievable within a century. Fertility rates have been declining; we just need to accelerate that process. To do that, yes, we need to empower women. We need to make family planning affordable and accessible. We need to arm couples making family-size decisions with good information about overshoot and sustainability. We need to make small families cool, and large families,…well, NOT.
You’ve probably seen some people brag about their large family. I’m sure you’ve seen the window stickers.
I’ve come up with the antidote to big stick-figure families. It’s explained in this video:
Please do your part. Get your sticker here. Share a photo of video with your story of why you have chosen to have a small family. I’ll post your story on our special Think Small page. Share this video and our Think Small page. Also, take the Sustainable Population Pledge over at World Population Balance. Let’s make “Think Small” more popular than “Where’s the Beef?”
– See more at: http://www.growthbusters.org/2014/07/starting-a-family-think-small-world-population-day-2014/#sthash.nBc7tsLH.dpuf
As we approach World Population Day 2014 (July 11), it’s well past time we seriously consider the role of human population level in the sustainability of our civilization.
Over the last century the scale of the human enterprise has mushroomed, eventually surpassing the capacity of the Earth to sustainably support us. Scientists at the Global Footprint Network estimate we crossed that threshold about 40 years ago. Every year we get an update from WWF revealing how far into overshoot we have ventured.
The path we’ve taken closely mirrors a scenario run by a group of scientists at MIT that shows our life-support systems failing this century, under the heavy load of human activity. Evidence of overshoot, while seldom characterized as such, is in the news every day.
Business-as-Usual scenario from The Limits to Growth
If we wish to leave future generations a planet worth inheriting, we need to scale back. We need to “Think Small.” Contracting our economic activity is challenging, though it must be done. We have a hard time imagining how to run our world without economic growth.
Population growth, on the other hand, has a very simple solution. It’s possible to fix, and we know how to do it. Returning world population to a sustainable level is mathematically achievable within a century. Fertility rates have been declining; we just need to accelerate that process. To do that, yes, we need to empower women. We need to make family planning affordable and accessible. We need to arm couples making family-size decisions with good information about overshoot and sustainability. We need to make small families cool, and large families,…well, NOT.
You’ve probably seen some people brag about their large family. I’m sure you’ve seen the window stickers.
I’ve come up with the antidote to big stick-figure families. It’s explained in this video:
Please do your part. Get your sticker here. Share a photo of video with your story of why you have chosen to have a small family. I’ll post your story on our special Think Small page. Share this video and our Think Small page. Also, take the Sustainable Population Pledge over at World Population Balance. Let’s make “Think Small” more popular than “Where’s the Beef?”
– See more at: http://www.growthbusters.org/2014/07/starting-a-family-think-small-world-population-day-2014/#sthash.nBc7tsLH.dpuf
As we approach World Population Day 2014 (July 11), it’s well past time we seriously consider the role of human population level in the sustainability of our civilization.
Over the last century the scale of the human enterprise has mushroomed, eventually surpassing the capacity of the Earth to sustainably support us. Scientists at the Global Footprint Network estimate we crossed that threshold about 40 years ago. Every year we get an update from WWF revealing how far into overshoot we have ventured.
The path we’ve taken closely mirrors a scenario run by a group of scientists at MIT that shows our life-support systems failing this century, under the heavy load of human activity. Evidence of overshoot, while seldom characterized as such, is in the news every day.
Business-as-Usual scenario from The Limits to Growth
If we wish to leave future generations a planet worth inheriting, we need to scale back. We need to “Think Small.” Contracting our economic activity is challenging, though it must be done. We have a hard time imagining how to run our world without economic growth.
Population growth, on the other hand, has a very simple solution. It’s possible to fix, and we know how to do it. Returning world population to a sustainable level is mathematically achievable within a century. Fertility rates have been declining; we just need to accelerate that process. To do that, yes, we need to empower women. We need to make family planning affordable and accessible. We need to arm couples making family-size decisions with good information about overshoot and sustainability. We need to make small families cool, and large families,…well, NOT.
You’ve probably seen some people brag about their large family. I’m sure you’ve seen the window stickers.
I’ve come up with the antidote to big stick-figure families. It’s explained in this video:
Please do your part. Get your sticker here. Share a photo of video with your story of why you have chosen to have a small family. I’ll post your story on our special Think Small page. Share this video and our Think Small page. Also, take the Sustainable Population Pledge over at World Population Balance. Let’s make “Think Small” more popular than “Where’s the Beef?”
14 Comments on "Starting a Family? Think Small"
Davy on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 7:29 am
I really hate smooooth graphs. Looking back on previous history in any area of study do we generally see smooth graphs or jagged graphs? The nature of non-linear systems is not smooth. I imagine this whole population thing will not be like the happy good looking couple above with their new minivan but more attune to 19 century with high infant and old mortality. We certainly are not going to sell the above message sell in the third world.
KingM on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 9:02 am
Smart people should have more kids. If not, then whole system will collapse in the ugliest way possible.
penury on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 9:26 am
I wish to thank “KingM” for starting my day right. That has got to be the funniest comment ever.
JuanP on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 9:50 am
Preaching to the choir, as far as I am concerned. My wife and I chose to live childfree, and I had a Vasectomy instead of children.
King, exactly the opposite of what you want is happening. There is an inverse relationship between IQ, education, money, and number of children. The smarter, better educated, rich people are the ones having less kids.
We have reached Peak Intelligence!
Davy on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 10:13 am
KM, many of the so called “smart” people are inbred university wonks and quacks that have no idea of reality or a real world. They are also the inbred 1%ers that dominate the best schools cause daddy’s got money or political industrial revolving door folks who are only smart at corruption and manipulation. WTF do we need these parasites breeding for. What we need is simple people with good values and dispositions to raise kids modestly and with a care for their community. We don’t need more scumbags worshipping greed and lust of power.
Plantagenet on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 10:26 am
We don’t need dumb people having a lot of kids either. Zero Population Growth ZPG will only happen if all demographic groups attain ZPG together.
GregT on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 10:27 am
Starting a family, think small? Think again.
A child born now, will face a world without almost everything that we take for granted today. At best, they will get to experience the extinction of half of all species on the planet, hunger and/or starvation, climate chaos, mass human migrations, and the death of billions. At worst, they will experience first hand, their own species’ extinction.
JuanP on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 10:55 am
GregT, I couldn’t have put it better myself. I just can’t understand people who know what’s coming and decide to bring a child into this world at this time. How can you do that to someone you will love? I wouldn’t wish they were born today on my worst enemy.
Having a child in the bliss of complete ignorance, I can understand.
Sharpie on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 11:25 am
No worries…because a correction in global population is already in the making:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaJi3JJaAmE
Are YOU prepared?
Plantagenet on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 12:57 pm
Peak human population?
Unfortunately, we’re not at that point yet.
MSN Fanboy on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 2:51 pm
Lol, it shall be quite enjoyable watching this idea turn into a dismal failure.
Famine however should bring the system back into balance.
frankthetank on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 6:22 pm
We’ll burn everything. The forests, all the coal, the furniture, garbage…
Makati1 on Thu, 3rd Jul 2014 10:01 pm
Muslims: 1,200,000,000+
Catholics: 1,200,000,000+
And to a lessor extent, Mormons and minor religions/
ALL preach large families. The Catholic Church here in the Ps, fights every family planning idea that the government wants to support, to include threatened excommunication of the members who vote for such change. THAT is why there are so many people today. That, and poverty, where a large birthrate is necessary to guarantee at least one child survives to take care of it’s parent(s) when they get old. A similar thing was in the US, until the last 50 years or so, when large families were needed to run the farm.
No, we are locked into this numerical progression as we fast approach the precipice.
JuanP on Fri, 4th Jul 2014 11:27 am
Mak, I was born a Catholic and I couldn’t agree more on your point regarding Islam and Catholicism as the two principal obstacles to dealing intelligently with the population problem. If we could get rid of monotheistic religions we might have a chance, but, alas, we don’t.