Radio host and author Thom Hartmann talks about Threshold

Thom Hartmann, a former Air America radio host, currently hosts The Thom Hartmann Program, which claims to have more listeners than any other progressive talk show in the nation. Hartmann’s book, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, inspired Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie The 11th Hour. I talked to Hartmann about his most recent book, Threshold: The Crisis of Western Culture (Viking, $22.95).

…I think sustainable is fine, I just think we just need to broaden the frame. For example, we try to conserve water, but…the vast majority of water used is not used for bathing and washing

It took all of human history to reach the first billion people in 1800; the second billion took only 130 years, and the fifth billion took just 14 years. We tell ourselves that this explosion of population is simply the way it is for human beings, but there are many cultures in the world that have been population-stable for, in some cases, tens of thousands of years. What we find that the most consistent factor that will stabilize a population, even within a single generation, is when women have power equal to men, and that’s a huge cultural issue.

SF Chronicle