TOP – Research and Outreach
Too many people consuming too much
The views and opinions expressed in guest blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of The Overpopulation Project.
By Alisha Graves There’s no single solution for climate change, no magic bullet that can stabilize and eventually reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. But separating sex from childbearing represents an underappreciated opportunity to forestall climate disaster. To be sure, addressing the climate challenge will require a wide range of approaches. Conservation…
By Jenna Dodson The United States’ birth rate has fallen to a 30-year low, and the media is giving this new figure much attention. Unfortunately, most of that attention is misplaced. Since last week, countless news organizations released articles reviewing the new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that documents the 3,853,472…
by Rob Harding Recently, an international assembly of scientists from 184 countries endorsed an article published in the journal Bioscience entitled “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice”. As the warning states, “We are jeopardizing our future by not reining in our intense but geographically and demographically uneven material consumption and by not perceiving continued rapid population…
By Frank Götmark In “Responsible Use of Language in Scientific Writing and Science Communication“1 Kueffer and Larson discussed the role of language and concepts in scientific writing and communication. Researchers increasingly depend on marketing strategies to publish their findings and to obtain funding, according to the authors. They were especially interested in strong metaphors that may…
by Phil Cafaro Given current consumption levels and the ongoing attempt to increase them as fast as possible (through increased economic growth, the chief goal of most national governments) a strong case can be made that Earth is overpopulated. It almost certainly cannot support the current human population of seven and a half billion people…
by Patrícia Dérer It is possible to estimate an optimal human population size based on various criteria and assumptions. Here, we do not deal with the lower bound of the human population (the minimum viable population) as we are certainly well above that limit. Concerning the upper bound, we have to consider the carrying capacity…
By Jenna Dodson Sustainable development has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs1. Using this definition, the United Nations developed a sustainable development framework centered around three pillars: economic, environmental, and social. Population is included in the social pillar…
By Patrícia Dérer We are entering the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth, the first to be caused by humans1. Extinction rates are several orders of magnitude above normal. Humanity has managed to exterminate more than 300 vertebrate animals in modern times, the IUCN estimates that half the globe’s 5,491 known mammals are declining in…
Two weeks ago The Overpopulation Project researchers published an opinion piece in Svenska Dagbladet titled “Environmental concerns call for reduced immigration”. In it we discussed the demographic implications of Swedish immigration policy and considered the potential environmental impacts of future population growth. Our essay called forth numerous thoughtful responses, including a joint reply by 41…
Recently The Overpopulation Project researchers published an opinion piece in the national newspaper Svenska Dagbladet titled “Environmental concerns call for reduced immigration”. In it, we discuss the demographic implications of Swedish immigration policy and consider the potential environmental impacts of future population growth. This essay was one of the newspaper’s most widely read/downloaded for the month and…