population
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Unwanted babies: the worst kind of emissions
We get the whole energy-wasting phone charger thing, and we think free Ben & Jerry’s sounds awesome, but is Unpluggit advocating unprotected sex in their online video? (h/t: reader MB)
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Countering the pro-natal propaganda wave
Lo and behold, once again doing what's best for the planet (rather than, say, advertisers or your in-laws) turns out to be also the best thing for your own happiness.
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Quit talking about it already
We’re constantly getting yelled at here at Grist for not discussing population, which according to the yellers is the ultimate problem of all problems, such that addressing any other problem without addressing it first is to demonstrate one’s total subjugation to The Man and False Consciousness. The issue came up in this thread, so I […]
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A new essay from the man
Tom Engelhardt of the indispensable Tom’s Dispatch received permission from the editors of the New York Review of Books to reprint an essay by Bill McKibben that appears in the current issue. He passed that permission along to me. Thanks to Tom, the editors at NYRB, and of course Bill for his tireless advocacy. —– […]
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Is it greener after all?
Tyler Cowen disputes the frequent assertion that Manhattanites have the smallest environmental footprints around. He says: Praising Manhattan is a bit like looking only at the roof of a car and concluding it doesn’t burn much gas. Manhattan supports its density only by being surrounded by a broader load of crud. … If you think […]
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Population, that is
It's conventional wisdom that economic growth requires a growing population; thus the gnashing of teeth over shrinking numbers in, e.g., Italy. Last week, Fred Hiatt took a look at Japan, where the birthrate is down to 1.25 (2.1 is required to maintain a stable population) and the population shrank by about 21,000 last year.
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New study finds women dress better when they’re fertile
A new study has found that women tend to dress better when they're fertile, according to an article published today by Reuters. Perhaps there is good reason environmentalists, at least as far as the stereotype is concerned, dress poorly. All the hemp ponchos and fleece jackets are really just another way to walk the talk on population control. At least, that's my new excuse for dressing like this. It's my fertility camouflage.
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Rethinking ‘overpopulation’
"Overpopulation" is one of them. "Gay" is another. You can insist on calling yourself gay out of a stubborn refusal to let language evolve, but unless you are gay, you will be giving a lot of people the wrong impression.
The word "overpopulation" (which remains vague and poorly defined) has fallen out of favor and is rarely used in polite company. We can thank, at least in part, those who called for an increase in death rates and draconian restrictions on childbirth for that. They provided the fuel needed by hatemongers like Ann Coulter to make comments like, "We believe in populating the earth until there's standing room only, and then colonizing Mars."
It has also been interesting to watch, over the last 30 years, organizations like ZPG change their names (Population Connection) and evolve into, basically, women's reproductive-rights organizations, joining ranks with NARAL, NOW, and Planned Parenthood. Having won the struggle for lower fertility rates, these organizations now fight a running battle to protect past gains. Read this article from the Associated Press to see how well that battle is going:
Abortion access in many states is being curtailed, activists are uncertain about the stance of the U.S. Supreme Court, and South Dakotans vote Nov. 7 on a measure that would ban virtually all abortions in their state, even in cases of rape and incest.
Correction: The original post said that NPG [not ZPG] had changed their name. -
