The human species faces multiple cascading social and ecological crises that require embracing the limits to growth. Robert Jensen, retired journalism professor, social activist and organizer, and co-author of An Inconvenient Apocalypse: Environmental Collapse, Climate Crisis, and the Fate of Humanity , joins us. Against the backdrop of cascading ecological and social crises of subjugation of people and nature under the dominion of patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism, and anthropocentrism, we en...
Sep 27, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Mass media can be used to model positive social change at large scale. Bill Ryerson, the founder and long-time leader of Population Media Center, joins us. Population Media Center's TV and radio shows have promoted important social and cultural changes and have helped 500 million people in more than 50 countries. Bill discusses the inspiration for PMC’s groundbreaking edu-entertainment—the Sabido-Bandura method, a combination Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory—that people learn from role m...
Sep 08, 2022•1 hr 1 min
How can we reframe our relationship with the planet to foster harmony with all life on Earth? Eileen Crist, environmental writer and author of Abundant Earth: Toward an Ecological Civilization , joins us. Eileen Crist—a deep, profound, and compassionate systems thinker—leads us through a journey of how to reframe our relationship to the planet for a more harmonious co-existence with all life on earth. We discuss the biodiversity crisis and destruction of wild places, pathways to halt these trend...
Aug 17, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Creativity, humor, and a keen sense for collaboration defined one of the most innovative small family campaigns ever undertaken. Mechai Viravaidya, public health leader and visionary, joins us. Affectionately known in Thailand as “Mr. Condom,” one of TIME Magazine’s “Asian Heroes,” and the winner of many awards including the United Nations Gold Peace Medal and the Bill and Melinda Gates Award for Global Health, Mechai Viravaidya is the founder and chair of the Population and Community Developmen...
Jul 27, 2022•47 min
Human population has exploded, species extinction has accelerated, and humanity is busy “sawing off the limb on which it is perched”. Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb , joins us. Author of over 40 books, including the best-selling book The Population Bomb , published in 1968, Dr. Ehrlich was made more famous by numerous appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - the largest late night show in the 1960’s and 70’s. We got the rare opportunity to chat with him about his decades...
Jul 06, 2022•1 hr
What does it mean to be Black and childfree in a world that often imposes rigid expectations around race, gender, and reproduction? Kimya Nuru Dennis, sociologist and community advocate, joins us. We discuss the findings of her research on the Black childfree diaspora in countries around the world, as well as the unique challenges of being Black and childfree. We also touch upon the role that patriarchy and male domination plays in the relative powerlessness of women to take control over their r...
May 24, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Within India there are exaggerated fears of Muslim numbers and a lack of appreciation that Muslims’ greater poverty, not their religiosity, helps explain their higher fertility rates. S.Y. Quraishi, author of The Population Myth: Islam, Politics, and Family Planning in Indi a, joins us. Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, S.Y. Quraishi, debunks the myth around exaggerated fears of Muslim numbers, born out of right-wing Islamophobic political propaganda, while also sharing that lack of s...
Apr 21, 2022•53 min
Offering free, non-scalpel vasectomies in a mobile vasectomy clinic helps men take reproductive responsibility - as an act of love for their partners and the planet. Esgar Guarín, vasectomist and family and reproductive health specialist, joins us. Escar talks about his journey that led him to becoming a full-time vasectomist. Using a mobile vasectomy clinic as his advocacy vehicle to drive around the US spreading humor and activism, while offering free on-site mobile vasectomies, Dr. G is on a ...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr
Collaborative efforts across boundaries of faith, science, and activism are desperately needed to protect Earth. Phoebe Barnard, biodiversity scientist and global change advocate, joins us. Phoebe Barnard is on a mission to bend the curve on population and consumption. With decades of experience working in South Africa and Namibia, and as the lead author of the World Scientists' Warnings Into Action: Local to Global paper, Phoebe discusses the importance of moving beyond dichotomous thinking and...
Feb 18, 2022•59 min
The choice to be childfree is made so much harder by the intense pronatalist cultural messages that we’re all exposed to. Therese Schecter, filmmaker of the documentary, My So-Called Selfish Life , joins us. My So-Called Selfish Life is about one of our greatest social taboos: choosing not to become a mother. At a time when reproductive rights are increasingly under threat due to growth-driven pronatalist population policies, Therese shines a light on these oppressive, unspoken but powerful cult...
Jan 20, 2022•53 min
Human reproductive decisions affect the biodiversity of all life on Earth. To discuss how they broach this sensitive topic within their work, Sarah Baillie and Kelley Dennings from The Center for Biological Diversity, join us. They share their exciting initiatives and advocacy work on destigmatizing sex, contraception, and reproductive decisions. They also share the state of the sex ed curriculum across the states in the US, as well as their important work on awareness campaigns relating to popu...
Oct 27, 2021•59 min
Human overpopulation creates habitat destruction and species extinction. Physician turned documentarian Sofia Pineda Ochoa joins us to expose the harms of population denialism on other species and future generations. Sofia Pineda Ochoa explains why she is taking our society to task for ignoring the peril of human overpopulation. Habitat destruction, species extinction, and animal agriculture top the list of topics. Human numbers are the root of the problem. “Can’t we talk about something that’s ...
Sep 22, 2021•58 min
Pronatalism and Overpopulation Webinar The decision to have children or not is largely regarded as an isolated personal decision, but how personal is it really? We are joined by four expert international panelists to unpack the pervasive and oppressive powers of pronatalism. Are our decisions about having children really made freely – without pressure from government, church, business, media, family and friends? The decision to have children or not is arguably one of the most important decisions...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr 9 min
“The only way out of overshoot is less production and less consumption, so it means a much smaller economy and far fewer people.” William Rees, ecologist and co-creator of ecological footprint analysis, joins us. “Humankind is using up the biophysical basis of its own existence.” That’s the bottom line of this Earth Overshoot Day conversation with William Rees, the father of ecological footprint analysis. According to Rees, “the only way out of overshoot is less production and less consumption, ...
Jul 28, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Great strides have been made in advancing women’s reproductive autonomy, but there is still much to accomplish. Kathleen Mogelgaard, president of the Population Institute, joins us. Kathleen discusses the Population Institute’s work, including reducing the unmet need for family planning (affecting over 200 million women around the world) and an active effort to permanently repeal the global gag rule (which interferes with provision of important family planning services). Regarding the recent sur...
Jun 23, 2021•1 hr 8 min
It’s an insane world where speaking the scientific truth is an act of courage. Alexandra Paul, actor and outspoken advocate for sustainable population, animal rights, and the childfree choice, joins us. Alexandra Paul has been courageously educating people about human overpopulation for over thirty years. Her most notable effort is a TEDx Talk, Overpopulation Facts - The Problem No One Will Discuss . The questions we ask her about that TEDx experience reveals just how irrational our society is a...
Jun 02, 2021•1 hr 21 min
New Executive Director and podcast co-host Nandita Bajaj shares her brief history and the evolving path that led her to becoming a sustainable population advocate. Former Executive Director Dave Gardner interviews Nandita her about her plans for World Population Balance and why she is dedicating her life to this cause. Nandita shares her perspectives of the tightly woven links between pronatalism, anthropocentrism, and human overpopulation and why our growing human enterprise is one of the most ...
May 11, 2021•51 min
Podcast co-host Dave Gardner reflects on the agony and the ecstasy of working to alert, educate, and inspire action to end our overpopulation crisis. Nandita Bajaj turns the table and interviews Gardner about his 6 years on the podcast and serving as executive director of World Population Balance. Who IS this guy? Why has he been working seven days a week for years to alert people about population overshoot and to “save the planet?” Don’t worry, Dave’s not leaving the podcast. But on May 1st he ...
Apr 21, 2021•51 min
The solution to the human overpopulation crisis is quite beautiful. It means less childhood poverty, parents who aren’t exhausted, children receiving ample parental attention, families can afford nutritious food, health care and educational opportunities, and the planet can meet our needs long into the future. In part two of our conversation with Christopher Tucker, author of A Planet of 3 Billion , we continue exploring how to make the “uncomfortable” conversation about overpopulation more comf...
Mar 16, 2021•49 min
What is a sustainable human population? Chris Tucker, author of A Planet of 3 Billion , joins us. We’re asking the Earth to support 80 million more humans every year, and we add to the challenge by deleting some of the needed resources from the planet each year. Meanwhile, too few us ask the question, “What is a sustainable human population?” Christopher Tucker did ask the question, went to work on it, and wrote a book about it: A Planet of 3 Billion: Mapping Humanity’s Long History of Ecologica...
Mar 03, 2021•45 min
Are nations with low birth rates going to collapse due to a temporary bulge in the ranks of the elderly? Jane O’Sullivan, lead author of Silver Tsunami or Silver Lining? Why we should not fear an ageing population , joins us. Depopulation alarmists in numerous countries are pushing for baby bonuses or high immigration quotas in order to avoid getting into recovery from growth addiction. It’s all for the sake of maintaining perpetually increasing numbers of taxpayers, consumers and workers. This ...
Jan 05, 2021•49 min
A recent report on Deutsche Welle’s Eco India environmental news magazine recently asked, “Are There Too Many of Us on Our Planet?” The report mysteriously arrived at the conclusion that, “It’s not the population element that’s going to be the problem.” Reporter Aditi Rajagopal advised our attention should be redirected to, “the more hidden and dangerous concerns of waste and overconsumption.” We applaud Rajagopal for covering this topic, but we’re compelled to go through her report and correct ...
Dec 18, 2020•30 min
Sex and conception are separated by contraception. Malcolm Potts and Alisha Graves, experts in reproductive health and sustainable population advocates, join us. As World Contraception Day (26 September) approaches, Dave and Erika pick the brains of two experts, Alisha Graves and Malcolm Potts. Potts is Professor at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, was the first chair in Population and Family Planning, and founded the Bixby Center for Population, Health &...
Sep 21, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Lonely, selfish and maladjusted? NOT. Careful consideration of all the ramifications of your family-size decision is smart. Perhaps you’re leaning toward having only one child; there are plenty of good reasons to stop there. But you’ve heard only children are spoiled and selfish, or can be peculiar. It turns out these are myths. Journalist Lauren Sandler did a lot digging, and in this episode she tells us there is “a lot of data supporting the one-child family as a healthy, important choice.” La...
Mar 02, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Is motherhood an essential part of womanhood? Filmmaker Maxine Trump joins us to discuss the enduringly strong pronatalist pressures in her documentary film, To Kid or Not to Kid . It might surprise you how much societal pressure remains today for women to have children. Mothers hope for, and some pressure their children to give them) grandchildren. Friends ask newlyweds when they’re going to “start a family” (aren’t the newlyweds already a family?). Even the attitudes of some medical profession...
Nov 12, 2019•54 min
The decision to have a child should include consideration of the rights of the child to be born into a supportive community and a healthy environment. Sarah Bexell and Catharina Graff-Hughey join us to discuss their paper, A Human Rights Approach to Planning Families . Today, family planning decisions tend to be all about the desires of parents, with little or no regard for the rights and living conditions of the prospective child and people who are already here. Do two adults have the right to ...
Sep 30, 2019•1 hr 2 min
An aging and shrinking population is good for both humanity and the Earth. Philip Cafaro, philosopher and environmental ethicist, joins us. News reports and economists exhibit collective angst about declining birth rates and the resulting aging of populations in many nations. They worry about labor shortages, upside-down pension programs, rising health care burdens and stagnating GDP. A research team at The Overpopulation Project wondered if these challenges are outweighed by the ecological adva...
Nov 27, 2018•39 min
We need to put our children first. Carter Dillard and Karin Kuhlemann of the non-profit, Having Kids, explain "child-first" family planning and how it will benefit our children and make human civilization more sustainable. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/dillard-kuhlemann ABOUT US OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance [Formerly The Overpopulation Podcast] OVERSHOOT tackles today’s interlocked social and ecological crises driven b...
Aug 14, 2018•45 min
Robin Maynard has tremendous faith that the young people of the world have both tremendous power and growing awareness and interest in getting humanity back onto a sustainable path. Our guest, the director of Population Matters, shares his thinking about human overpopulation and talks about the organization's goals, strategies, and tactics. Like World Population Balance, his organization is working hard at "shifting those amplifiers in society who really could reach so many people and talk in a ...
Feb 03, 2018•1 hr
Are there ethical and moral ways for governments to accelerate the move to smaller families in order to contract population? Ethicists Colin Hickey and Jake Earl weigh in on why this should be done and how we might do it fairly. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/earl-hickey ABOUT US OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance [Formerly The Overpopulation Podcast] OVERSHOOT tackles today’s interlocked social and ecological crises driven b...
Jan 17, 2017•1 hr 7 min
