Scientists Call for Population Stabilization—and Gradual Reduction—to Mitigate “Climate Emergency”
Over 11,000 scientists from 153 countries signed on to an article — “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency” — published in BioScience yesterday, declaring that we’re facing a “climate emergency.” Prominent climate scientist James Hansen is among the signatories. It’s a short piece, published in the “Viewpoint” section of the academic journal, and it’s […]
World Population Day 2019
July 11, 2019, marks 30 years of observing World Population Day. Since the first World Population Day, in 1989, a lot has changed. Global population had just reached the 5 billion milestone two years earlier. China’s draconian one-child policy was in full force. The HIV/AIDS crisis was in its early years, and treatments were in […]
Avengers: Endgame and The Snap: Did Thanos Get It Right?
This post contains spoilers for multiple Avengers movies, including Endgame. Seriously, you’ve been warned. We’ve been talking about writing an Avengers: Endgame post for a few weeks now, given the obvious thematic connection to our work on global population growth. We haven’t done it until now because, the internet being what it is, someone will […]
State of World Population, 50 Years Ago and Today
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) turns 50 this year. To mark the occasion, the multilateral agency’s annual State of World Population report includes a timeline of the agency’s work and the of events that shaped it into the organization it is today: an organization the United States isn’t funding under the Trump administration. In […]
Lower Birth Rates Trigger False Alarms
The cover of our current magazine issue notes that lower birth rates alarm economists. As Washington Post economics columnist Robert J. Samuelson wrote last December, “No one can say we weren’t warned. For years, scholars of all shapes and sizes — demographers, economists, political scientists — have cautioned that the populations of most advanced countries […]
“Factfullness” and Understanding Population Impacts
The news these days just objectively feels pretty depressing, doesn’t it? Political polarization, nuclear threats, misguided trade deals, destructive natural disasters, and a rapidly increasing global population might even induce panic or paranoia for those paying close attention. And, let’s face it. Some of this is for good reason! While we are bombarded with the […]
Pollinator Week 2018: Making the Population Connection
June 18-24 marks a weeklong celebration of the hardworking critters that fertilize our planet’s flowering plants! Let’s take this National Pollinator Week to recognize both the indispensable contributions of pollinators in our daily lives—and the major threats they face thanks in part to rapid population growth. Bees may be at the center of the spotlight […]
Celebrate Earth Day 2018 with Population Connection!
This weekend, 116 dedicated members in 24 states will be going to 55 events in their communities to raise awareness about the importance of population stabilization. A calendar of all events can be found here. Population Connection members will be petitioning for the Global HER Act, raising awareness about the danger that runaway population growth […]
Addressing the Global Challenge of Child Marriage
Each year, 15 million girls under the age of 18 are married. That’s more than 41,000 girls each day. 28 girls each minute. One girl every 2 seconds. This summer, the World Bank and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) held a panel discussion to present their research on the Economic Impacts of […]
Are We Slowing Population Growth?
Earlier this week, I wrote about how Population Connection works to slow population growth. This post addresses how we measure the impact of our work. We can’t estimate how many unintended pregnancies we’ve prevented, the way clinics can do, for example. Coming up with metrics for any social movement is difficult, since there are so many […]
