The world is overpopulated.
Overpopulation is everywhere.
It is a major cause of most of the crises we face.
We can fix it…humanely, voluntarily, and starting today.

Six things stand in our way.

This week a few human rights and too few environmental organizations will observe World Population Day. In 1989, as world population passed the 5 billion mark, the United Nations declared July 11 World Population Day. In the 23 years since, we’ve added another 2 billion.

The UN’s latest mid-range scenario has us passing through 10 billion before this century ends. We’ve been adding a billion to the planet about every 12 years, but the UN expects fertility rates to decline such that it will take nearly 80 years to add the next 3 billion. This scenario also has us hitting peak population just after 2100. Some feel this means population growth is no longer a concern.

I’m as worried about population growth today as I was when I decided twenty years ago to stop at two children. Why? Today alone we’ll add more than 200,000 to the planet. This week we’ll add more than a million – over 80 million this year. Yet according to data from the Global Footprint Network, published in the WWF’s Living Planet Report, the current 7 billion of us are living like there’s no tomorrow. We’re pushing other species off the planet at a record rate, draining the world’s major rivers and pumping aquifers dry, liquidating fertile soils, toxifying our land and waters, and heating up our climate.

We’re doing this while half the world’s population lives at a lifestyle we’d consider impoverished. We’d like all the people on the planet to have an opportunity to live like we do. Unfortunately that’s just not possible. The scientists crunching the data tell us it would take 5 Earths to support all 7 billion of us living like North Americans. Even if we could pull this off for a day or a week, it’s not sustainable and we’d very quickly destroy the life support systems upon which we depend.

So it’s a sticky wicket at 7 billion, and the problem is amplified if we go to 10. Clearly those of us living materially rich lives need to scale back our levels of consumption. But that is not enough. The prospects of achieving worldwide economic justice and equity do not get better as we overpopulate the planet.

The good news is we don’t have to follow that UN scenario. It’s not inevitable. It is physically possible for population to peak at 8 billion or even less. Families the world over can begin today making informed, responsible decisions about family size. What stands in the way?

1. The myth that growth begets prosperity – We are convinced our recent 200-year binge (harnessing the power of fossil fuels, industrialization, globalization, settling and exploiting the frontiers of the Americas, etc.) is the way life is supposed to be. These exploits allowed us to improve our lives, and they were accompanied by explosive population growth (1 billion in 1800, 8 billion in 2000). We think we can repeat this binge behavior going forward. In fact, many of us believe we must. The evidence and the science tell us clearly we cannot. We can take power away from this mythology by pointing it out whenever it is repeated or used to guide behavior or policy. We must be relentless in demolishing this myth.

2. The assumption continued population growth is inevitable – Many also have the impression it would take decades to change that steep upward trajectory. But all the talk about demographic momentum assumes people of reproductive age will not dramatically alter the choices they make. We can get over this hurdle. It just takes a little information. Growth can stop 9 months from now if it’s enough of a priority.

3. Our fear of addressing the issue - The “population taboo” has many forms. We think it’s an inalienable right to reproduce as many offspring as we wish. It’s none of our business to suggest someone else limit family size. Some critics leap to the conclusion that sustainable population advocates in the developed world are trying to avoid addressing our overconsumption and blame humankind’s unsustainability on the procreation of people in the developing world.

For these and other reasons many good people avoid the topic. It’s become politically incorrect to use the word “overpopulation.” “Population dynamics” has replaced “population growth.” “Reproductive health” is mentioned instead of “contraception.” We see it at the UN and in statements from environmental and human rights groups. This PC approach to the topic pervades most of our media.

Perfect examples are statements from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. From an early World Population Day 2012 message:

“A world of 7 billion is both a challenge and an opportunity with implications on sustainability, urbanization, access to health services and youth empowerment.”

A challenge and an “opportunity?” Give me a break! And from his actual World Population Day 2012 statement:

“Multiple crises — food, fuel and financial — have caused significant suffering and served as a wake-up call about the need to pay far more attention to the building blocks of sustainable development.  Reproductive health is an indispensable part of the sustainable development equation.”

That’s the best he can muster. In his defense, he does go on to actually use the word “contraceptives.” That in itself is astounding progress. But he does not have the cojones to tell the full truth. Here is what he ought to say (my words now):

“The world is overpopulated. We must find humane, voluntary ways to bring population growth to a halt as soon as is humanly possible. And we need to do this in the developed world as much as in the developing world.”

This is a tough beast to tame, but I’m going to suggest the George Carlin approach. Let’s get over our goody-two-shoes fear of the truth. Stop beating around the bush. Use the words. Our planet is overpopulated. Population growth is not good for our children. It would be in their best interest for us to conceive fewer of them. You can say it! It’s the compassionate, loving, humanitarian thing to say. If we say it and write it enough, world leaders may follow (the irony is not lost on me).

Let’s also admit the developed world is overconsuming and we must deal with that issue simultaneously. And if we’re overconsuming, that means we North Americans and Australians have a population problem, too (Europeans not so much; many of these nations are experiencing population decline – which they should embrace with joy).

4. Our culture is addicted to growth - Our cities, states and nations compete to have the fastest growth. We pursue population growth because we connect it with economic growth, which is of course the Holy Grail (and a subject for another day). It’s impossible to have a sustainable world in which most of the geopolitical units are pursuing growth. Frankly, it can feed a hypocrisy in which rich cities and countries increase population and footprint, while thinking birth control for poor peoples and nations will solve our sustainability problem. It’s all nonsense. Of course we need to expose this mythology for what it is, and progress to more enlightened, sustainable prosperity strategies.

5. Propaganda from growth profiteers keep reasons 1-4 in play – We are programmed from birth to believe in and worship everlasting growth. News media and advertising reinforce that indoctrination on a daily basis. Some of this happens innocently enough – because journalists grow up with the same programming. However media companies and business tycoons benefit from a growing market so they intentionally serve up a steady diet of pro-growth Kool-Aid.

6. Family planning under attack - Lastly, we have the ultra-conservative attack on funding of family planning. I’ll say it: access to contraception. As more and more people come to understand that limiting family size is critical, compassionate and responsible, I think we can prevail. It starts with having frank dialog about it. World Population Day 2012 seems like a good day to start.

Dave Gardner directed the film, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, and has created www.worldpopulationday.org, to encourage honest conversations about overpopulation. To order the film or find a screening near you, visit www.growthbusters.org. Both are non-profit projects of Citizen-Powered Media. Permission is granted to publish this essay elsewhere in its entirety, provided full credit and link back to the above sites is included.

Metro areas in the U.S. with a stable population are proving growth is not the path to prosperity. Eben Fodor, community planning consultant and author of Better, Not Bigger, has just released a study comparing the fastest-growing metro areas of the U.S. with the slowest-growing, to test conventional wisdom that cities benefit from growth. This study ought to put the final nail in the coffin of the “grow or die” myth that misinforms public policies in many cities. Unfortunately, in most areas this myth is very much alive and well.

According to Fodor, “The slowest-growing MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) outperformed the fastest-growing in every category. The 25 slowest-growing MSAs averaged almost 1% lower unemployment rates, 2.4% lower poverty rates, and a remarkable $8,455 more in per capita personal income in 2009. They also had larger income gains from 2000 to 2009 and saw significantly lower declines in income from the recession (2007-09). “

View excerpts of Eben Fodor from the upcoming documentary, GrowthBusters

The myth that growth leads to prosperity was also busted by this study, which revealed a decline of almost $2,500 in per capita income for each 1% increase in growth rate. A metro area with a stable, non-growing population would tend to see a 43% higher income gain than an area growing at 3% per year. And faster growth did not correlate to lower unemployment.

This takes the wind out of the sails of many local economic development bodies who do the bidding of growth profiteers (real estate developers, homebuilders, construction industry, mortgage banking, etc.). In my hometown, the Colorado Springs Regional Economic Development Corporation uses the job creation mantra to justify its requests for incentives and other public funding. This organization’s membership is dominated by the special interest growth industry. They are happy to have public growth subsidies boost the area’s population, thus increasing demand for new homes, mortgages, freeways, etc. They get publicly funded subsidies based on the myth that they bring jobs to the community.

According to Fodor, “There is no clear employment benefit shown from faster growth. There may be new jobs created as a result of growth, but apparently there are more newcomers and job seekers moving in than there are new jobs being created. The result is that local unemployment rates remain more or less the same, but the number of unemployed people increases with growth.”

The data show the fastest-growing metro areas were hardest hit by the recession. Many of the fastest-growing MSAs from 2000 to 2009 had income declines of 6% during the recessionary period from 2007 to 2009. Slower-growing areas fared much better. Many areas with stable or declining populations actually saw increases in personal income.

My read on the recession figures is the collapse caused the growth addicts to crash. Those not addicted fared much better. What can we learn from this? What kind of prosperity strategy might suit your community during this century as we bump up against the limits of resources like fresh water, fossil fuels and fertile soil?

Finally, the Fodor study found higher growth rates correspond to higher poverty rates. Strike three for the growth=prosperity myth.

The study, Relationship between Growth and Prosperity in 100 Largest U.S. Metropolitan Areas, compared the 25 fastest-growing metro areas with the 25 slowest growing. The fastest growing averaged 2.7% annual growth during the study period. The slowest growing MSAs were essentially stable populations, averaging less than .1% annual growth. This would indicate population stability makes very sound economic sense – for cities, for nations and for the world.

Dave Gardner
Filmmaker

For more information about the film, or to become a Growthbuster, visit www.growthbusters.org

Originally posted at http://growthbusters.org/2010/12/cities-with-stable-population-outperform-fast-growing-cities/

Some people assume I’m a wealthy Hollywood producer, flush with cash to fund a little hobby-film about growth addiction. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Producing the documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth has turned out to be an exercise in involuntary simplicity. The first few years I continued taking on corporate film projects — to keep the lights on and to support the non-profit film. I also ran through my retirement savings. This year I mothballed the corporate work to devote full attention to finishing GrowthBusters – so we can release the film in the first half of 2011.

It’s not easy to attract major funding for a film project that questions the most fundamental beliefs powering our current system. Most people or organizations with money got that money by operating successfully in our growth-based system. It’s a pretty small slice of the universe of potential funders (both individuals and foundations) who are visionary enough to support a project this radical.

This has forced me to be extremely frugal – both personally and in my stewardship of this film project. While that’s been challenging and at times even frustrating, it turns out that cloud has a silver lining. Spending less money in many cases results in my walking lightly on this planet.  For example, I’ve had to be extremely efficient with my travel, minimizing airplane flights. Result: much smaller carbon footprint!

In short, being on a tight budget has encouraged me to learn to live with enough. I’ve been working for years now to get out of my growth-addicted, overconsuming habits; to focus on what brings real meaning to my life. Goodbye quest for more; hello satisfaction with sufficiency. Goodbye hamsterwheel in service to a gluttonous system, hello good life. Becoming a starving artist just makes that easier.

I’ve noticed parallels to this in the impacts of the recent recession. Everyone tightened their belts. Automobile sales dropped, so fewer were manufactured. More bicycles were sold than autos. GM stopped making Hummers. Airlines cut flights. Retail sales dropped, so consumer goods manufacturing was reduced. The average size of an American home shrank. Birth rates declined. Carbon emissions actually dropped.

In most cases these recession stories were presented as bad news. That’s the sad thing about a growth-addicted culture. The fact we needed to extract fewer resources to manufacture fewer cars should be good news! Isn’t it good for the planet and future generations that people wore their clothes longer and therefore made fewer clothing purchases? Shouldn’t we celebrate fewer planes in the air, consuming less jet fuel and pumping out less CO2? No, not in a culture of growth. Yet, the recession – painful as it is for our growth-addicted culture – is helping most of us to cut some of the excess out of our lives.

In the upcoming GrowthBusters film, I’ll be highlighting more examples of pro-growth bias in our news media. As we become aware of what’s in the Kool Aid we drink daily, it will begin to lose its power – over our lives and our culture.

P.S. Don’t feel sorry for me, but do pitch in and make a tax-deductible donation to the project so we can finish this film. I promise not to waste it on profligate consumption. And I can’t do it without your help.

Originally posted at http://growthbusters.org/2010/10/involuntary-simplicity/

A few weeks ago I got a phone call from Australia. A gentleman named Dick Smith was on the line and he was very complimentary about our film project. Quickly I was brought up to speed on this man and his new, noble effort to get the world talking about limits to growth and into a recovery program for growth addiction.

$1m cash to save civilisation

That was the headline in the Sydney Morning Herald last week as Mr. Smith announced his one million dollar Wilberforce Award – a grant to be awarded to someone under 30 “who can impress me by becoming famous through his or her ability to show leadership in communicating an alternative to our population and consumption growth-obsessed economy.”

Did you see a news story about this audacious offer? I found no news stories about this outside of Australia, other than a photo in Times of India and the UK Guardian. The rest of the world apparently doesn’t consider this million-dollar prize offered by one individual newsworthy. I find that incredibly disappointing, but I suppose that is to be expected in a world where denial of limits to growth is so widespread and growth addiction is perpetuated by the pushers (growth profiteers, who include mainstream media).

In fact, Dick Smith has taken on the mainstream media in his quest to eliminate the megadose of pro-growth Kool Aid served to us daily. He recently took out this ad in Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian newspaper.

Unless you live in Australia, you may not know who Dick Smith is. The subject line of his follow-up email to me read: Rapacious Capitalist Loves your Website. So, who is this “rapacious capitalist” who is not pushing growth at every turn in order to finance his next private jet or another 10,000 square-foot vacation home? You can read more about him here.

Smith is a man who concedes “I’ve benefited from a long period of constant economic and population growth – we are addicted to it.” He is indeed a wealthy businessman. But Dick Smith has seen the light. It has come to his attention (thanks to his daughter) that there are limits. He writes, “sooner or later this consumption growth will have an end. We appear to be already bumping against the limits of what our planet can sustain and the evidence is everywhere to see.”

I’m encouraged that a number of wealthy capitalists are speaking out today about the fallacy of our quest for and belief in unending growth. Media mogul Ted Turner frequently raises the issue of overpopulation and sustainability. “Too many people are using too much stuff,” he told Charlie Rose two years ago. Zhang Yue, Chairman and Chief executive of BROAD Air Conditioning spoke eloquently about limits to growth in a speech last year to the Business for Social Responsibility Conference: “Today, that mission to grow more, to get more, to make more, isn’t suitable for society.”

Fact is we’ve all benefited from the era of growth. But just as it’s not too late for those who’ve built empires and made fortunes to learn from our mistakes and promote a more sustainable model, it’s not too late for society at large. It is time for us to get over our growth addiction and move quickly to a model that celebrates “enough.”

I applaud Australian Dick Smith for having the vision to see where our worship of growth everlasting will take us, the courage to confess his sins, and enough concern about future generations to put his money where his mouth is. According to Smith, “I will be looking for candidates whose actions over the next year show that they have what it takes to be among the next generation of leaders our incredible planet so badly needs.”

Originally posted at http://growthbusters.org/2010/08/million-dollar-prize-to-cure-growth-addiction/  For more information about Hooked on Growth, visit www.growthbusters.org.

One of the challenges that come with appearing in the film you’re directing is you have to get over your vanity. To be authentic, you have to be willing to show the warts along with the good moments. So in that spirit I’m sharing this interview which wasn’t one of my best. I have my good days (in which I’m brilliant!) but there are also days I can’t think as fast as my mouth moves. Apparently last Wednesday was one of those, but the conversation was still meaningful.

View Sustainable 1000 TV
Shane Snipes interviews Dave Gardner

I was glad to meet Shane Snipes, who stopped in as part of his Eco-Road Trip across the 48 contiguous United States. Every day he webcasts a live interview, which is pretty impressive. Those interviews are archived here, and at Shane’s website, www.sustainable1000.com/ you can find links to his YouTube channel, blogs, etc.

For such a young man, Shane has led quite the life. Fulbright Scholar, founder of several  European environmental and social issues organizations, university instructor, corporate trainer, environmental auditor, and now cross-country filmmaker/blogger/interview host. Shane’s personal motto is consume less and live more.  I wish Shane much success and happiness and hope he gives me a chance to do an even better interview next time he’s through.

Originally posted at http://growthbusters.org/2010/07/sustainable-1000-tv-interview/   Get more information about the film and join the cause at www.growthbusters.org.