The very first Earth Day helped launch the modern environmental movement, but humanity’s onslaught on the planet is sadly worse than ever before because we’ve failed to tackle the root problems. Let’s explore these issues as well as four cognitive shifts necessary to building a better future. Five decades of insignificant progress Today is Earth Day the biggest international observance day for the environment. First observed in 1970, the day aims to increase awareness of the urgent need to improve environmental protections. While awareness has certainly increased over the past five decades, ou ..read more

Our numbers, what we choose to eat, and how much food we waste, have a huge impact on our planet. Global food systems are leading drivers of our environmental crises, including climate change, water overextraction, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Shrinking our food footprint is a prerequisite to a livable future. A tragic waste The UN’s Food Waste Index Report 2024 published last week revealed that the world threw away over one billion tons of food in 2022. This represents one-fifth of food available at the retail, food service, and household level and doesn’t include the food ..read more

The New York Times recently published an article about slowing population growth in the United States. We responded with a letter to the editor which we are featuring here as the Times did not publish it. We encourage all our members and supporters to make their voices heard! See our media guide for advice on how to do that. Re: An American Slowdown by German Lopez (March 20, 2024) Dear Editor, New generations … “produce goods and services and then spend their income, in a cycle that drives supply, demand and growth.” … and greenhouse gas emissions, depletion of natural resources, air, water ..read more

Funding for international family planning programs has stalled, while the number of women in need of contraception keeps growing. Empowering women to choose whether and when to get pregnant is key to fulfilling basic human rights and generates unmatched benefits across all areas of development. So why aren’t governments prioritizing it? A worthwhile investment Family planning is one of the most cost-effective development interventions. Modern contraception allows people to prevent unintended pregnancies, and reduces unsafe abortions and maternal and infant deaths. When women have control over ..read more

The world is still far from achieving gender equality, with some countries doing a lot better than others. On International Women’s Day, we take a look at which nations have the highest gender equity scores based on reproductive health, education, as well as participation in the labor market and decision-making.   Inching forward and sliding backward While the women’s rights movement has celebrated many major victories over the past century, women are still a long way from achieving the same opportunities, rights, and freedoms as men. Not a single country has achieved full gender equality ..read more

A recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling based on absurd abortion ban logic risks taking away people’s right to in vitro fertilization (IVF) services. In response to the ruling, many anti-choice politicians, including Donald Trump, rushed to declare their support for IVF, demonstrating that their “pro-life” stance is motivated primarily by a desire to force women into childbirth rather than actual concern for the earliest stages of human life. On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled with an 8-1 majority that frozen embryos are “unborn children,” resulting in several clinics in the state s ..read more

A 1970s publication caused a big stir when it showed that continuing on business-as-usual population and consumption growth trajectories would likely lead to societal collapse within a century. Were the scientists behind it right? A major scientific warning If you’re a Population Connection supporter, you’re most likely familiar with The Limits to Growth (LtG), a seminal scientific report published in 1972 by think-tank The Club of Rome. Using computer models developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the authors demonstrated the danger of ignoring the finiteness of our plan ..read more

Media stories on “baby busts” and “population collapse” abound, fueled by the fearmongering of pronatalist influencers who believe birth rates are too low. As a result, many people erroneously think our global population is in freefall, or even that humanity is heading towards extinction because people are having smaller families. This blog post sheds some light on declining birth rates and shrinking populations, and what these really mean for societies and economies. Are we facing global population collapse due to low birth rates? No. Contrary to what Elon Musk might have led you to believe ..read more

Dear reader, as environmental and humanitarian news is generally very depressing, I wanted my final blog post of 2023 to be a summary of major global trends that are moving in the right direction. Collecting examples proved harder than anticipated, because for many widely touted success stories, progress has sadly stagnated or even reversed in recent years. In addition, several “positive” trends also have significant downsides that often remain unmentioned. Hence, this article turned into more of a reflection on how data are often misrepresented to suit a particular narrative. Nevertheless, th ..read more

Following two weeks of negotiations, the COP28 climate conference attended by delegates from almost 200 nations wrapped up in Dubai on Wednesday, December 13. Let’s take a quick look at what was agreed upon. For those with short attention spans, here’s a tl;dr: Is the COP28 agreement sufficient to meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting climate warming to 1.5°C or “well below” 2°C? No. Was the role of population solutions addressed? No, at least not in any high-level public discussions or agreements. Was COP28 even useful? Yes — it moved the needle in the right direction, even if only a sm ..read more