The decision to parent should be your own decision; society shouldn’t be making that decision for you. The childfree choice is one viable, rational and even emotional response to the state of our world.
Listen to the Overpopulation Podcast
The Overpopulation Podcast features enlightening conversations between World Population Balance Executive Director Nandita Bajaj, cohost Dave Gardner, staff, and guests. Stay tuned as we roll out more podcasts to raise overpopulation awareness and spread the great news that overpopulation is solvable!
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.
“The great under-discussed factor in the climate crisis is there are just too many of us, and we use too much shit.” Comedian and social critic Bill Maher said it well. Yes, our profligate lifestyles have a big carbon footprint. And if they do, then the number of footprints makes a big difference, and it is undoubtedly “under-discussed.” So, in this episode, we discuss it.
It’s a beautiful thing: a world in which everyone is aware and informed about overshoot and overpopulation’s role in that, and they all have the freedom to make an informed, loving decision about how many children to conceive. If we continue to avoid the “elephant in the room,” that will bring an ugly future. The topic hasn’t been getting its due, because of avoidance, dismissal and denial.
Overpopulation Illiteracy or Overpopulation Denial - whatever you call it, it’s standing in the way of truly solving world overpopulation. Misconceptions, misassumptions, misplaced sensitivities, and fears have kept the world silent on this crisis far too long. It’s time we root out overpopulation illiteracy and replace it with the truth, and the guts to speak it.
That informs two very big conversations in this episode. The second is an announcement of a brand new initiative that’s going to be very big! So be sure to listen to the entire episode.
Imagine you’re on a spaceship, and your crewmates begin dismantling the craft while you’re hurtling through space. What will you do? We’re facing that predicament now on Spaceship Earth, and 11,000 scientists around the world have issued a third warning. “Stabilize population growth” was listed as one of six ways to mitigate effects contributing to the climate crisis.
Each year, 80 million people are added to a population that has long exceeded the Earth’s carrying capacity. Our state of ecological overshoot is severe enough that technological advancements and per-capita carbon footprint reduction alone can’t save humanity from experiencing environmental catastrophe.