GrowthBusters: Recent Episodes
Dave Gardner on sustainability
Humankind has outgrown the planet, so we explore ways to recover from growth addiction. We dig into the more fascinating and hard-hitting aspects of public policy and the joy of living sustainably. It’s all about ending our culture’s love affair with “more,” which is not making us happier and is killing our planet. No half-hearted greenwashing here; we share the brutal and joyful truth! Host Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Learn more about the film at www.growthbustersmovie.org.
Who can we count on to make the dramatic changes needed in a civilization in ecological overshoot? Will it have to be the leaders of tomorrow? And are they up to it? We take the pulse of students at the University of Denver just wrapping up an ecological economics class. The class conversation took place in May, 2025.
Special thanks to Professor Paul Sutton for devoting a class period to this conversation (incidentally, Paul has since retired from teaching and joined the board of GrowthBusters).
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Is the Colorado River in a Climate Doom Loop? - by Gary Wockner
Gary was a guest on episode 91 of the GrowthBusters podcast a year ago:
Growth Addiction and Water in the American Southwest
Bright Future Project – Dave Gardner's presidential campaign platform
GrowthBusters Campus Tour
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones.
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared "could be the most important film ever made." Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
Join the conversation on Facebook
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Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
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Brilliant journalist and educator Richard Heinberg passed away July 19 from pancreatic cancer. In his honor we're sharing my last conversation with him here, about what turned out to be his last book, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival.
This conversation was published as Episode 59 of the GrowthBusters podcast - Too Much of a Good Thing: Richard Heinberg, in October of 2021. Learn a lot more about Richard in my introduction.
LINKS:
Devastating News: The Loss of Richard Heinberg
Richard Heinberg's website, including his monthly newsletter Museletter
His books and a few notable essays
Too Much of a Good Thing: Richard Heinberg - Episode 59 of the GrowthBusters podcast:
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones.
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared "could be the most important film ever made." Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
Join the conversation on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on Bluesky
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Continuing our tribute to the late Paul Ehrlich, we discuss the critiques and praise that followed news of his passing, and we share a VERY candid – and charming – "uncensored" 2020 Earth Day conversation. Paul points out a flaw on the cover of The Population Bomb. Can you guess what it is? Listen to find out.
In our prelude and epilogue, we discuss his acerbic wit – was it helpful or did it hurt the cause of overshoot literacy? One fact is certain: Paul wasn't boring. What if thousands of scientists around the world spoke with Ehrlich's level of candor about the state of the world, and how tenuous our future really is as we continue deeper and deeper into overshoot? Plus, learn some interesting details about his relationship with Johnny Carson and NBC, failures of the university system, the relationship between population and pandemics, comparative advantage, and the vulnerability of our food system.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
GrowthBusters Earth Day Film Festival https://earthdayfilmfestival.com
Paul Ehrlich – Uncensored on Earth Day 50th Anniversary – Episode 43 of the GrowthBusters podcasthttps://www.growthbusters.org/paul-ehrlich-unfiltered/
Paul Ehrlich on The Limits to Growth - Episdoe 70 of the GrowthBusters podcast https://www.growthbusters.org/ehrlich-limits-to-growth/
Paul Ehrlich (1932-2026): Behaving Against Our Interests – Episode 96 of the GrowthBusters podcast https://www.growthbusters.org/paul-ehrlich-behaving-against-our-interests/
Paul Ehrlich, a Scientific/Environmental/Cultural Iconoclast (1932-2026) – by Dave Gardner on Substackhttps://davetheplanet.substack.com/p/paul-ehrlich-a-scientificenvironmentalcultural
Goodbye Paul Ehrlich – The Overpopulation Projecthttps://overpopulation-project.com/goodbye-paul-ehrlich/
The Vindication of a Public Scholar – by Tom Turner https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/the_vindication_of_a_public_scholar/
Did Paul Ehrlich Help or Hurt His Cause? – by Joshua Spodeckhttps://joshuaspodek.com/did-paul-ehrlich-help-or-hurt-his-cause
The Wisest One in the Room - by Thomas Gilovich and Lee Rosshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25205421-the-wisest-one-in-the-room
Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment – by Paul R. Ehrlich, John P. Holdren and Anne H. Ehrlichhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6348326-ecoscience
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared "could be the most important film ever made." Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/growthbusting/
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Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
We lost scientific and environmental icon Paul Ehlich on March 13. We're honoring his memory by revisiting Dave Gardner's first interview with Paul, outside his Stanford University office in 2007 for the documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth.
Ehrlich was most famous for authoring, with wife Anne Ehrlich, the bestselling 1968 book, The Population Bomb. While the book inspired widespread concern about human overpopulation, those who profited from growth worked to discredit the book, the scientist, and the notion that human numbers above 2 or 3 billion would seriously harm our life-supporting ecosystems. Undaunted by the critics, Ehrlich spent the next 58 years speaking the truth that we were testing very real limits to growth.
We'll devote several episodes of the GrowthBusters podcast to this smart and fearless scientist. This episode reprises episode 110 of the Conversation Earth syndicated radio series.
LINKS:
Conversation Earth radio series: http://www.conversationearth.org/episode-list/
GrowthBusters Podcast episodes featuring Paul Ehrlich:
#70 Paul Ehrlich on The Limits to Growth: https://www.growthbusters.org/ehrlich-limits-to-growth/
#43 Paul Ehrlich Uncensored on Earth Day 50th Anniversary: https://www.growthbusters.org/ehrlich-earth-day-2020/
New York Times obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/books/paul-r-ehrlich-dead.html
The Population Bomb: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb
One With Nineveh – by Paul and Anne Ehrlich: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/282038.One_With_Nineveh
Meeting the Challenges of Population, Environment, and Resources: The Costs of Inaction – by Paul Ehrlich, Kenneth Arrow, E.O. Wilson and others: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/820031468764393924/pdf/multi-page.pdf
Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future – by Paul Ehrlich, Anne Ehrlich, William Ripple, Eileen Crist and others: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419/full
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth (documentary by Dave Gardner): https://growthbustersmovie.org
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared "could be the most important film ever made." Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
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Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
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Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
The academy awarding the Nobel Prize in Economics is still drinking pro-growth Kool-Aid, while spiritual leader Acharya Prashant is serving up a healthier recipe - insightful truth about ecological overshoot. We examine both in this episode. Technology headlines much of the conversation. "Technology is not a way out of overshoot; it is a slower way in," according to Prashant.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Nobel Prize press release: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2025/press-release/
How Technological Progress Leads to Economic Growth, An Interview With 2025 Nobel Prize Winner Joel Mokyr: https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/joel-mokyr-tech-progress-economic-growth/
About The Sorcerer's Apprentice: https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sorcerer%27s_Apprentice
The Sorcerer's Apprentice – Part 1: https://youtu.be/B4M-54cEduo?si=eiOZ_0vIc8sxMAtX
The Sorcerer's Apprentice – Part 2: https://youtu.be/m-W8vUXRfxU?si=b8FnR0-zr8dk1wOm
The Sorcerer's Apprentice – Part 3: https://youtu.be/GFiWEjCedzY?si=XouPPdP5FfS1OJ9p
One Greed Six Earths: The Inner Emptiness Behind Global Consumption – by Acharya Prashant in the Sunday Guardian: https://sundayguardianlive.com/feature/one-greed-six-earths-the-inner-emptiness-behind-global-consumption-161464/
Acharya Prashant: https://acharyaprashant.org/
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared "could be the most important film ever made." Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/growthbusting/
Follow us on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/growthbusters.bsky.social
Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Population growth is making headlines for the wrong reason or with a biased perspective. It's too easy to draw erroneous conclusions about dropping fertility rates around the world. A surge of news stories from NPR compels us to offer both praise and criticism. Population growth appears to be coming to an end, and that's getting all the oxygen, not the fact that we have an overpopulation crisis. In fact, the word "overpopulation" is not heard even once in the 16 stories we analyzed.
Because the subject is brushed under the rug, reported infrequently or inaccurately, widespread misunderstandings among the public and policymakers persist. So, we decided 16 stories about "smaller families," "low birth rates," "depopulation," and "population decline" in 4 months from National Public Radio offered a good opportunity for us to do some analysis and offer suggestions. Our hope is that reporting might improve if journalists listen to this episode.
We specifically mention NPR's Scott Simon, Brian Mann, Sarah McCammon, and Michel Martin. We also mention Wellesley College economist Phillip Levine, and offer some praise for The Rewilding Institute's John Davis. And we hear briefly from the U.N.'s Vladimira Kantorova in one of the stories. The work of these journalists also appeared in the NPR series: John Ruwitch, Jasmine Ling, Kristin Wright, Marisa Peñaloza, Hanna Merzbach, Christina Cala, Dalia Mortada, Michelle Jokisch Polo, Clara Hulet, Anthony Kuhn, Ayman Oghanna, and Code Switch podcast hosts Gene Demby and B.A. Parker.
NOTE: The image representing this episode was AI generated.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Population Shift: How Smaller Families are Changing the World (NPR series): https://www.npr.org/series/g-s1-94348/population-shift
Seven of Nine Planetary Boundaries Now Breached: https://www.stockholmresilience.org/news--events/general-news/2025-09-24-seven-of-nine-planetary-boundaries-now-breached.html
Fair Start Movement: https://fairstartmovement.org/model/
World Population Day: Rights of Children Eclipse What Parents "Want" – by Dave Gardner: https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/world-population-day-rights-of-children-eclipse-what-parents-want-e737d7b60d1b
World Scientists Warnings: https://scientistswarning.org/warnings/
The Racial History of the 'Overpopulation Time Bomb' and 'Pronatalism' MovementsHeard on Morning Edition, reported by Gene Demby and Michel Martinhttps://www.npr.org/2025/10/28/nx-s1-5551128/the-racial-history-of-the-overpopulation-time-bomb-and-pronatalism-movements
How Elon Musk and JD Vance Plan to 'Save Civilization' With More Babies – episode of Code Switch podcast, with Christina Cala, Dalia Mortada, Gene Demby and B.A. Parkerhttps://www.npr.org/2025/10/29/nx-s1-5588605/how-elon-musk-and-jd-vance-plan-to-save-civilization-with-more-babies
Busting Only-Child Myths – episode of Overshoot podcast: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/lauren-sandler
The Only Child: Debunking the Myths – Time magazine story by Lauren Sandler: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2002530,00.html
One and Only: The Freedom of Having an Only Child, and The Joy of Being One – book by Lauren Sandlerhttps://www.laurenosandler.com/the-book
Insist That Public Policy Respects the Rights of Children and Women – by Dave Gardnerhttps://fairstartmovement.org/insist-that-public-policy-respects-the-rights-of-children-and-women/
Economic Wisdom from the Natural World: The Serviceberry - episode 92 of the GrowthBusters podcast: https://www.growthbusters.org/serviceberry/
Book Club Choice:Abundant Earth Offers a Positive Vision for the Future – review of Abundant Earth, by Eileen Crist: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal-emotions/201904/abundant-earth-offers-positive-vision-the-future
In Memory of Jane Goodall, Outspoken on Overpopulation – by Dave Gardnerhttps://davetheplanet.substack.com/p/in-memory-of-jane-goodall-outspoken
Dave the Planet - Dave's Substack Column: https://davetheplanet.substack.com/
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared "could be the most important film ever made." Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/growthbusting/
Follow us on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/growthbusters.bsky.social
Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Just say “NO.” Some approaches to “abundance” are healthy, but one brand of abundance that’s been capturing the cultural moment lately is a recipe for a dead planet. Dave and Stephanie assess key points made by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson in their book, Abundance. The result, a sound thrashing. The authors believe “America needs to build and invent more of the things it needs.” They advocate eliminating regulatory barriers that are keeping us from getting more, faster. Conservation and environmental stewardship are not on the agenda.
Klein is a columnist for The New York Times and host of The Ezra Klein Show. Derek is a writer at The Atlantic and host of the Plain English podcast. They lean left, so many are suggesting the Democratic party should adopt “the abundance agenda” as it remakes itself in the wake of 2024 electoral defeat. In this episode, we make the case against that. We’re not alone. Among the links we provide below are some additional thoughtful and articulate critiques of the book and agenda.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Economic Wisdom from the Natural World: The Serviceberry – episode 92 of the GrowthBusters podcasthttps://www.growthbusters.org/serviceberry/
Abundance – by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompsonhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/176444106-abundance
The Elite’s Fixation with Low Birth Rates – Overshoot podcast episode with Samuel Miller McDonaldhttps://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/samuel-miller-mcdonald
An Abundance of Concrete – by Ben Goldfarbhttps://defector.com/an-abundance-of-concrete
Colorado Matters episode with Ben Goldfarbhttps://www.cpr.org/2025/06/27/interview-ben-goldfarb-state-of-conservation/
Bezos: We’re Going to Need Another Planet – episode 89 of the GrowthBusters podcasthttps://www.growthbusters.org/bezos-need-another-planet/
On Abundance - by The Last Farmhttps://www.resilience.org/stories/2025-07-16/on-abundance (Note: a good critique of “abundance” but a narrow solution. It’s a good part of the solution, but not complete.)
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/growthbusting/
Follow us on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/growthbusters.bsky.social
Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
In this trial run for the “GrowthBusters Book Club,” we discuss The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World - by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Cannibal economies, gift economies, reciprocity, and doughnut economics all come up.
Sally Gillespie in her Substack column, Psyche’s Nest wrote this about Kimmerer’s book:
“As disruptions and destructions reach our communities in all manner of ways, acts of kindness and generosity are already challenging modernity’s stories of ‘never enough’ and ‘you’re on your own’. Often led by those on the margins, we are remembering how to pool resources and gather for action and care as we tend to losses, connections, breakthroughs, emergencies and emergence. It seems to me that no one word is sufficient to describe this devolving and evolving process we are now in. What we need more than a word or a phrase are stories bearing ancient roots and seeds of possibility for the future.”
We also talk briefly about President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” beautifully illustrating how policymakers – cheered on by Jeff Bezos – frequently rely on the crutch of economic growth rather than a sharp pencil in balancing the budget. The increased tax revenue never ends up covering costs – because costs skyrocket, too, in a growing economy.
The hard budget-balancing work is looking at the detail, doing the math, ferreting out REAL waste, and setting and following priorities. Interestingly, Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote about this phenomenon:
“An economy based on the impossibility of ever-expanding growth leads us into nightmare scenarios. I cringe when I hear economic reports celebrating the accelerating pace of economic growth, as if that were a good thing. It might be good for the Darrens, for the short term, but it is a dead end for others – it is an engine of extinction.”
Also, a note about how “record Memorial Day travel” also means record carbon emissions.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Beyond collapse: Carrying Stories of Care – by Sallie Gillespie in Psyche’s Nest on Substack: https://sallygillespie.substack.com/p/beyond-collapse-carrying-stories
The Serviceberry: An Economy of Abundance - by Robin Wall KimmererOriginal essay in Emergence Magazine: https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/the-serviceberry/
A Resolution for 2021: Be a Better Ancestor (review of The Good Ancestor): https://grist.org/climate/a-resolution-for-2021-be-a-better-ancestor/
The Good Ancestor: Following the Intergenerational Golden Rule – episode 54 of the GrowthBusters podcast featuring philosopher Roman Krznarik, author of The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking: https://www.growthbusters.org/good-ancestor/
What Doughnut Economics Can Learn From History – Roman Krznaric & Kate Raworth: https://youtu.be/FfUOs4ZJ1wM?si=dAIJjeYBUt6Amr3C
Flipping Economics on Its Head: Kate Raworth – episode 219 of Conversation Earth: http://www.conversationearth.org/flipping-economics-head-kate-raworth-219/
Thriving Economy: Not Rocket Science – Kate Raworth – episode 220 of Conversation Earth: http://www.conversationearth.org/thriving-economy-not-rocket-science-kate-raworth-220/
Kate Raworth – Exploring Doughnut Economics: https://www.kateraworth.com/
Doughnut Economics Action Lab: https://doughnuteconomics.org/
End of Ponzi Economy: Jerry Mander – episode 203 of Conversation Earth: http://www.conversationearth.org/end-ponzi-economy-jerry-mander-203/
Bright Future Project: https://brightfutureproject.us
We’ve been unable to find Bob Banner’s essay, Why Relocalization? – A Return to the Local, so in its place:
Relocalization: A Strategic Response to Climate Change and Peak Oil – by Jason Bradford (2007, but still very relevant and informative): http://theoildrum.com/node/2598
Sustainability: Radical Solutions Inspiring Hope – edited by Bob Banner: https://www.amazon.com/Sustainability-Radical-Solutions-Inspiring-Hope/dp/0980230802
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/growthbusting/
Follow us on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/growthbusters.bsky.social
Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
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Prolific river protector Gary Wockner gives us the straight scoop on the state of the Colorado River (and others), and the growth obsession that keeps southwest states and cities from responding rationally to increasingly scarce water resources. TODAY, nearly half the world’s population experiences severe water shortages at least part of the year. So far, fresh water issues in the American Southwest amount – mostly - to first world problems – like “I can’t water my lawn whenever I want,” “it’s hard to keep the golf course lush and green with less water,” or “How can I develop my next residential project if there’s no water?” But the future could be grim, if we can’t get the cities and states into a 12-step program to break the growth addiction habit.
Our guest, Gary Wockner, works globally as an advocate and consultant for protection of rivers. He founded and directs:
- Save the Colorado
- Save the Poudre
- Colorado River chapter of CASSE
He also cofounded Tell the Dam Truth, a nonprofit that supports river-protection groups by engaging with federal and state agencies to make sure that the greenhouse gas emissions caused by dams and reservoirs are counted, reported, and then considered during policy making, rulemaking, and legislation.
He most recently led opposition to the Northern Integrated Supply Project. He filed a lawsuit to stop it, and recently settled the suit. He shares about the settlement in this episode. Gary is also author of numerous books, including:
- River Warrior: Fighting to Protect the World’s Rivers
- Comeback Wolves
- Pulse of the River
LINKS: News stories, opinion pieces, books and more related to Gary Wockner’s work: https://garywockner.com/all-garys-writing-advocacy/ Disaster Capitalism on the Colorado River - Column by Gary Wockner: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/03/27/colorado-river-drought-destruction-interior-moonshot-disaster-capitalism-column/80468488/ Save the Colorado: https://savethecolorado.org/ Save the Poudre: https://www.savethepoudre.org/ Tell the Dam Truth: https://tellthedamtruth.com/
Colorado River Chapter of CASSE (Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy): https://steadystate.org/meet/chapters/ Colorado River Basin Climate and Hydrology: State of the Science: https://wwa.colorado.edu/resources/colorado-river-resources/CRBreport Colorado River States Still Have No Unified Long-Term Management Plan and ‘Are Just About Out of Time,’ Experts Warn – May 31, 2025 Denver Post story: https://www.denverpost.com/2025/05/31/colorado-river-negotiations-2026-deadline/ Water Supply Uncertainty Could Slow Growth in Colorado Springs – May 2024 news story KRDO13 Colorado Springs: https://youtu.be/rvGGqZHwHdM?si=bimFT2BSWlCq_c5C Officials Fear 'Complete Doomsday Scenario' for Drought-Stricken Colorado River - The Washington Post, December 1, 2022: https://www.yahoo.com/news/officials-fear-complete-doomsday-scenario-202316932.html?guccounter=1
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
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The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
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Learn about a new think tank that’s doing some of the most important thinking on the planet. Matt Orsagh is co-founder of the Arketa Institute for Post-Growth Finance and co-author of a just-published white paper, By Disaster Or Design: How Finance Can Evolve to Avoid the Worst of the Ecological Challenges We Face and Enable the Transition to a Better Economic Model.
That paper, and this episode, offer an introduction to degrowth, the rational response for a society in ecological overshoot. Degrowth is “an equitable downscaling of production and consumption that increases human well-being and enhances ecological conditions at the local and global level, in the short and long term.” We also explore how the financial industry needs to evolve as we transition to a post-growth economy.
Matt is also author of the Substack column, Degrowth is the Answer. The Arketa Institute is working to “normalize the conversation around ecological economics and degrowth in the financial world.” Steve Rocco and Anastasia Linn are co-founders with Matt Orsagh. The white paper was written by the three of them, and edited by Nicholas Harland.
Some upcoming events of note:
- April 29: Webinar to discuss the paper 'By Disaster or Design'. Register here: https://eu.bigin.online/org20104687142/forms/by-disaster-or-design-webinar
- May 7-9: Matt, Anastasia and Steve will attend and present at the in-person gathering of the Barcelona Action Circle of Financial Leaders. This is the culmination of a months-long engagement organized by the world-renowned team at Research & Degrowth: https://degrowth.org/
- May 13-15: Matt will attend the Finance Montreal Sustainable Finance Summit in Montreal, Canada: https://www.sommet-financedurable.com/en/home
- July 26-29: Matt will speak at the Degrowth Institute’s inaugural DeSchool event in Chicago: https://www.degrowthinstitute.org/events/deschool-2025
- Fall 2025: Arketa Institute will survey global financial professionals on their understanding of ecological economics and post-growth ideas to inform a report to be published by the end of 2025.
LINKS:
By Disaster or Design: How Finance Can Evolve to Avoid the Worst of the Ecological Challenges We Face and Enable the Transition to a Better Economic Modelhttps://www.arketa-institute.org/resources/by-disaster-or-design
What We're Doing Isn't Working: It's Time for a New Approach – Episode 9 of Dave the Planet podcasthttps://davetheplanet.substack.com/p/what-were-doing-isnt-working
Behavior Change to Provide a Bright Future – Episode 15 of Dave the Planet podcasthttps://davetheplanet.substack.com/p/behavior-change-to-provide-a-bright
Planetary Boundaries – Stockholm Universityhttps://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World - by Robin Wall Kimmerer (author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants)https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/books
FURTHER READING:
Post-Growth: The Science of Wellbeing Within Planetary Boundarieshttps://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(24)00310-3/fulltext
This Isn’t Capitalism — It’s Growthism, and It’s Bad for Usby Umair Haque, Harbard Business Review, October 28, 2013https://hbr.org/2013/10/this-isnt-capitalism-its-growthism-and-its-bad-for-us
Growthism: Its Ecological, Economic and Ethical Limits - by Herman Dalyhttps://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue87/Daly87.pdf https://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv15n04page15.html
Essays Against Growthism, by Herman Daly, published by World Economics Association Books. Pdf or ebook https://www.worldeconomicsassociation.org/files/Essays-Against-Growthism-Herman-Daly-PDF.pdf https://www.worldeconomicsassociation.org/library/essays-against-growthism/
The Entropy Law and the Economic Processhttps://content.csbs.utah.edu/~lozada/Adv_Resource_Econ/En_Law_Econ_Proc_Cropped_Optimized_Clearscan.pdf
Quantity of Metals Required to Manufacture One Generation of Renewable Technology Units to Phase Out Fossil Fuelshttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/367682085_Quantity_of_Metals_Required_to_Manufacture_One_Generation_of_Renewable_Technology_Units_to_Phase_Out_Fossil_Fuels
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/growthbusting/
Follow us on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/growthbusters.bsky.social
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Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
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Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
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Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos thinks the U.S. can grow its way out of a massive deficit. He says we need a “growth mindset.” Stephanie and Dave call it a “suicide economic model,” and note that growth addiction is exactly what afflicts most policymakers around the world. The dynamic duo discuss the little-understood fact that a shrinking economy can be healthy – when it accompanies a contracting population. Bezos also proposes that we plunder the universe in order to protect Earth “we've sent robotic probes to all of the planets in this solar system. This is the good one.”)
Also:
The Congressional Budget Office lowers U.S. population projections, further stoking the fires of depopulation panic – the result of a lack of overpopulation literacy
Isaac Asimov’s “metaphor of the bathroom,” about the need for more regulation as our population grows (we dug up great video of Asimov; see link below)
The parable of the Mexican fisherman
A great poem, Rather Than by Sandy Trust. Featured in an episode of one of our favorite podcasts, Planet Critical (see link below)
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Congressional Budget Office Lowers U.S. Population Projectionshttps://www.cbo.gov/publication/61164#_idTextAnchor003
Immigrants Fill the Birth Dearth: U.S. Population Will Crater Without NewcomersNew York Daily News editorialhttps://www.nydailynews.com/2025/01/17/immigrants-fill-the-birth-dearth-u-s-population-will-crater-without-newcomers/
The Interview: From Amazon to Space — Jeff Bezos Talks Innovation, Progress and What’s Next – 2024 New York Times DealBook Summit, with Andrew Ross Sorkinhttps://youtu.be/s71nJQqzYRQ?si=uTMCtPVaXw8WnDeD
The Four Hour Work Week - by Tim Ferrisshttps://fourhourworkweek.com/
The Story of the Mexican Fishermanhttps://bemorewithless.com/the-story-of-the-mexican-fisherman/ A blog post on the website of Courtney Carver, author of Soulful Simplicity: How Living with Less Can Lead to So Much More, and Gentle: Rest More, Stress Less, and Live the Life You Actually Want
Isaac Asimov on World of Ideas – 1988 Interview by Bill Moyershttps://youtu.be/CWovZtCQWfE?si=nnxiJJb8LmC026Q_
Planetary Solvency – Finding Our Balance With Nature – report by Institute and Faculty of Actuarieshttps://actuaries.org.uk/news-and-media-releases/news-articles/2025/jan/16-jan-25-planetary-solvency-finding-our-balance-with-nature/
Planetary Solvency: Sandy Trust – episode of Planet Critical with Rachel DonaldSandy Trust responds to one question with his poem, Rather Thanhttps://www.planetcritical.com/p/planetary-solvency-sandy-trust
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Unplug from an overshoot economy serving a growth-obsessed oligarchy. On March 15, the multitudes will begin a general strike across the U.S. – starving our profit and growth obsessed system. The commoners will reclaim power taken by the elite. Learn about Shutdown315 as Stephanie and Dave discuss, and chat with two Shutdown315 movement organizers, Chet and Bones.
We’re excited to share this with you, because Shutdown315 may be a great on-ramp to post-growth living. It starts March 15, 2025, and continues. We also launch the GrowthBusters book club – listen to learn our first book selection.
And we offer a few comments about actor Kieran Culkin’s appeal to his wife to give him four kids in his Oscar acceptance speech, of note because the Earth cannot meet the needs of our current 8 billion population without damaging critical life-supporting ecosystems.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
GrowthBusters Survey – https://growthbusters.org/survey
Shutdown315 website – https://shutdown315.org
Will the Wealthy Consume Less? That would be helpful – by Matt Orsaghhttps://degrowthistheanswer.substack.com/p/will-the-wealthy-consume-less
What Is #Shutdown315? Nationwide Plan to Shut Down USA for 1 Day - Newsweekhttps://www.newsweek.com/what-shutdown315-nationwide-plan-shut-down-usa-one-day-2030742
Bright Future Project from Dave’s Presidential Campaign - https://brightfutureproject.us
Shutdown315 Subreddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/shutdown315/
Shutdown315 Substack - https://substack.com/@theshutdown315movement
Donate - https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Small-Family Stickers - https://youtu.be/jz_wVCPKyVY?si=0jNikVEPyTMHtFCj
Donate and write to us at podcast at growthbusters.org to get yours
GrowthBusters Online Community - https://growthbusters.groups.io/
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World - by Robin Wall Kimmererhttps://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/books
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
In the face of accelerated global warming and increasingly severe consequences of climate disruption, UN projections are outdated and understating the problem, and the U.S. is going to produce and burn fossil fuels like they’re going out of business. Meanwhile Trump wants to be sure Gazans aren’t using condoms to float bombs over the border, and to be sure condoms and other family planning resources are not available the world over.
On a positive note, a small town in Canada has adopted a “Limits to Growth” policy. Learn more about it in this episode.
Please take a short survey to help us do a better job of growthbusting! https://forms.gle/fFXMEVaGRwe92Aa97
MENTIONED:
Global Warming Has Accelerated: Are the United Nations and the Public Well-Informed? By James Hansen et al.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00139157.2025.2434494
ReproductiveRights.Gov Vanished, So We Brought It Backhttps://www.theskimm.com/news/reproductive-rights-gov
District of Tofino Council Adopts 'Limits to Growth' Policyhttps://www.westerlynews.ca/local-news/district-of-tofino-council-adopts-limits-to-growth-policy-7701330
Is optimism required in order to alert folks to our ecological overshoot emergency? Dave and Stephanie discuss the challenge of communicating the depth and urgency of overshoot without shutting people down.
Also:
- Dave shares how he and a group of local growthbusters projected a guerilla “pop-up” billboard on New Year’s Eve – attempting to provide an honest reality check, but not put revelers off (or entice police or security personnel to stop them)
- The wisdom in U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech
- Congestion pricing results in kids walking, riding bikes, or taking public transit to school
- China wants to goose consumption in order to keep high GDP growth
- Rampant growthism in reporting on UK economic contraction
- Incoming Trump advisors count on economic growth to balance the budget
- The enormous carbon footprint of stadium concerts and sporting events
- A new book by Robin Wall Kimmerer: The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
President Jimmy Carter’s “Malaise” Speechhttps://youtu.be/sXwZSzy9Ies?si=ekyAsmL0FokRvpCc
London Saw a Surprising Benefit to Fining High-Polluting Cars: More Active Kidshttps://grist.org/cities/london-fining-polluting-cars-more-active-kids/
How the Debt Could Topple Trump’s Growth Agendahttps://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/16/trump-ceos-american-debt-plan-00194362
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World - by Robin Wall Kimmererhttps://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/books
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Dave and Stephanie dig into what caused voters to ignore Donald Trump’s felony convictions, indecency, incompetence, narcissism, and dishonesty – and elect him president. This includes a review of the 50-year war waged by the mega-rich and corporations to undermine civility, compassion, equity and rule of law, to elevate the free enterprise system, rob the working class and enrich themselves. The Lewis Powell Memo kicked this into high gear 50 years ago.
They also propose theories about why Dave’s campaign for president failed in its mission to alert the public, media and policymakers to the ecological overshoot emergency.
Clips: Desi Lydic on The Daily Show on Comedy Central and Jimmy Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.
Mentioned in this episode: Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Elon Musk, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates, Chris Hedges, Thom Hartmann, William Kristol, Andrew Egger, Dan Lashoff of World Resources Institute, American Petroleum Institute, Guttmacher Institute, American Enterprise Institute, Hoover Institution, Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, Mercatus Center, Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda, Terry Spahr, John McCain, Reagan, Bush, Grist.
We invite your feedback, including thoughts about the recent election, and promise to share some of your comments on the next episode. Call and leave a voice message (which we may play on that episode) by dialing +1-719-402-1400. Or send an email to podcast at growthbusters dot org.
LINKS:
Desi Lydic Reacts to Trump's Election Win & the Media's Blame Game | The Daily Showhttps://youtu.be/hPHH5trgC1w?si=vww-V3qoIRpLCgmH
Jimmy Kimmel Reacts to Donald Trump Winning the Presidential Electionhttps://youtu.be/5JxELubSgJg?si=v9LRIHd5FqDZCQLf
Strong Economy Begins With Shrinking Workforce - Episode 84 of the GrowthBusters podcasthttps://www.growthbusters.org/strong-economy-shrinking-workforce/
Dave the Planet – Dave’s campaign Substack columnhttps://davetheplanet.substack.com
I’m Withdrawing from the Race for U.S. President - Episode 21 of the Dave the Planet podcasthttps://davetheplanet.substack.com/p/im-withdrawing-from-the-race-for
Welcome to Overshoot: Have a Nice Day – episode of the Conversation Earth podcasthttp://www.conversationearth.org/welcome-to-overshoot-2020/
Trump Wins, Planet Loses – by Tik Root on Gristhttps://grist.org/article/the-massive-consequences-trumps-re-election-could-have-on-climate-change/
If Trump Wins, Is It Game Over? – by David Todd McCarty on Mediumhttps://medium.com/rome-magazine/if-trump-wins-is-it-game-over-26f1cc296342
The Billionaires Won: The 50-Year War on Democracy That Built Trump's Oligarchy and Killed the American Dream – by Thom Hartmannhttps://hartmannreport.com/p/the-billionaires-won-the-50-year-841
The Lewis Powell Memo: A Corporate Blueprint to Dominate Democracyhttps://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/
Tentacles of Rage: The Republican Propaganda Mill, a Brief History – by Lewis Laphamhttps://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/gned/laphamtentacles04.pdf
Dave the Planet Substack columnhttps://davetheplanet.substack.com/
Dave Gardner for Presidenthttps://davetheplanet2024.com
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
A new study debunks depopulation panic. For decades economists have perpetuated the false narrative, “If population growth reverses and begins to decline, the economy is doomed.” This belief has so frequently been repeated by economists, politicians, business people and the public, that it is generally taken as gospel. Psychologists have characterized the phenomenon as the illusory-truth effect, or believing something to be true if it’s repeated often enough, even if it is false.
For the first time in modern history, a handful of countries are witnessing actual population declines. The data is now available to separate reality from what has heretofore been baseless theory.
An October 2023 study conducted by Professors Theodore Lianos, Anastasia Pseiridis and Nicholas Tsounis, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications and featured on Nature.com examined volumes of economic data of twenty countries experiencing population declines. To their surprise, virtually every country with a contracting population enjoyed reduced unemployment, increased wages, and a larger real GDP per capita!
Guest-host Terry Spahr, Executive Director of Earth Overshoot, speaks with the study’s authors to illuminate their findings that dispel the firmly entrenched false notion that endless growth is the only path to economic salvation.
Guests:
Theodore Lianos Professor, Athens University of Economics and Business
Anastasia PseiridisAssistant Professor of Economics, Department of Economics and Regional DevelopmentPanteion University
Regular co-hosts Dave Gardner and Stephanie Gardner are taking a break from the podcast while Dave runs for U.S. President this year. If you would like to guest-host a podcast, email us with details of the episode you would like to produce and host.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Declining Population and GDP Growthhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-023-02223-7
Summary published at The Overpopulation Projecthttps://overpopulation-project.com/declining-population-and-gdp-growth/
Earth Overshoothttps://www.earthovershoot.org/
Dave Gardner's Campaign https://davetheplanet2024.com
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
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We made it VERY clear that Musk’s worries about population collapse are ill-founded, and that attracted thousands more listeners than usual to our podcast. How did that happen? What kind of comments did we get? Find out in this episode. And get important truths about overshoot and overpopulation.
Plus, learn how we’ll give YOU the mic for an episode of the GrowthBusters podcast. We explain the long wait for this episode, and share our offer to listeners to “adopt” a future episode to discuss an aspect of limits to growth important to you.
If you do want to guest-host an episode, email us your proposal. Include a paragraph or two about you, and a paragraph or two about your proposed topic, guest, approach, etc.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Eight Billion is Too Many: Don’t be a Twit About Overpopulation (Episode 73 of the GrowthBusters podcast)https://www.growthbusters.org/8-billion-is-too-many/
This episode on YouTube (so you can read the comments)https://youtu.be/cKPnJU59tHw?si=rmkxk4mU9YT3d5G7
Paul Ehrlich on The Limits to Growth (Episode 70 of the GrowthBusters podcast)https://www.growthbusters.org/ehrlich-limits-to-growth/
GrowthBusters Podcast YouTube channelhttps://youtube.com/@growthbusterspodcast
Dave the Planet 2024 (Dave Gardner’s campaign for U.S. President)https://davetheplanet2024.com
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – Dave’s 2011 documentary, now available free on YouTubehttps://growthbustersmovie.org
Episode graphic includes a photo of Elon Musk by Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons. We turned him on his side and added the fire.
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
The Michigan Governor is apparently unaware that the world, the U.S. and even Michigan are overpopulated. Michigan population has been growing a little too slowly for her taste, so Whitmer has appointed a Chief Growth Officer and formed the Growing Michigan Together Council. Not surprisingly, her bottom line is to “spur economic growth.”
In an episode you should share with YOUR governor, you’ll get the details and find out why this news puts “a bee in Dave’s bonnet,” plus news about some outstanding new studies, a wonderful commentary in Newsweek, a crazy podcast you’ll like, and a possible candidate for U.S. President.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
A Just World on a Safe Planet: First Study Quantifying Earth System Boundaries
https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/a-just-world-on-a-safe-planet-first-study-quantifying-earth-system-boundaries
Gov. Whitmer Appoints Michigan’s First-Ever Chief Growth Officer (news release)
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2023/06/01/whitmer-appoints-michigans-first_ever-chief-growth-officer
Gov. Whitmer Establishes the ‘Growing Michigan Together Council’ to Focus on Population Growth, Building a Brighter Future for Michigan (news release)
https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2023/06/01/whitmer-establishes-the-growing-michigan-together-council-to-focus-on-population-growth
Gretchen Whitmer Keynote Address at Mackinac Policy Conference
https://youtu.be/jTfnZbSZRpM
Arizona Announces Limits on Construction in Phoenix Area as Groundwater Disappears
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/01/us/arizona-phoenix-groundwater-limits-development-climate/index.html
Mass Immigration Experiment Gives Canada an Edge in Global Race For Labor
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com//nri/work/mass-immigration-experiment-gives-canada-an-edge-in-global-race-for-labor/articleshow/101100076.cms
Saying Out Loud What Others Won't Even Whisper About Climate Change – by Kirsten Stade
https://www.newsweek.com/saying-out-loud-what-others-wont-even-whisper-about-climate-change-opinion-1806109
Population Growth is the Main Driver of Increased Carbon Emissions, Study Finds
https://phys.org/news/2023-04-population-growth-main-driver-carbon.html
Crazy Town podcast – Post Carbon Institute
https://www.resilience.org/crazy-town-podcast/
Learn more about possible presidential campaign
https://davetheplanet2024.wixsite.com/dave-the-planet
Shop and Sell Your Clothes Sustainably With These 13 Buyback and Resale Programs
https://www.ecowatch.com/clothes-buyback-resale-programs.html
Recycle or Purchase Used Levi’s Jeans
https://www.secondhand.levi.com/trade-in
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community
https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Are many vegans self-righteous, overbearing and insufferable in their efforts to recruit us? Would you believe “overpopulation” is still a taboo word? Or that human population numbers are still an “off-limits” topic at some conferences? This episode continues the conversation we began in episode 79 with five smart people:
Nandita Bajaj, executive director of Population Balance
Sarah Bexel, director of humane education at the Institute for Human Animal Connection at University of Denver
Paul Sutton, professor of geography & the environment at DU
Stephanie Gardner, co-host of the GrowthBusters podcast
Dave Gardner, co-host of the GrowthBusters podcast
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Population Balance
https://populationbalance.org
Population Denialism is Reminiscent of Climate Denialism - by Kirsten Stade https://www.ipsnews.net/2023/05/population-denialism-reminiscent-climate-denialism/
Pro-Birth Policies Are Killing Us – by Nandita Bajaj and Kirsten Stade
https://www.newsweek.com/too-much-good-thing-pronatalism-killing-earth-opinion-1784197
Pronatalism & Overpopulation: The Personal, Cultural, and Global Implications of Having a Child (Course at Antioch University taught by Nandita Bajaj)
https://www.populationbalance.org/pronatalism-and-overpopulation-course
Backpedalling on Overpopulation – by Rory Cockshaw
https://www.rorycockshaw.com/blog/backpedalling-on-overpopulation
Trains, Plants and Condoms: How to Save the Planet in 3 Simple Steps – by Rory Cockshaw
https://www.rorycockshaw.com/blog/trains-plants-and-condoms
Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World – by Anand Giridharadas
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/37506348
The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market – by Dr. Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/57693264
How Free-Market Fundamentalism Fuels Overpopulation Denialism & Undermines Democracy – Episode of The Overpopulation Podcast with Naomi Oreskes
https://www.populationbalance.org/podcasts/naomi-oreskes
President Condemns ‘Obsession’ With Economic Growth
Irish President Michael D Higgins speaks out against growth
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/04/28/president-condemns-obsession-with-economic-growth/
Welcome To MAGA World: Trump Wants 'Freedom Cities' Where Cars Can Fly, Parents Get 'BONUSES' for Having Babies and Huge Monuments are Built to 'True American Heroes' in 'Quantum Leap' Vision for the Future
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11818381/Trumps-2024-pitch-New-cities-flying-cars-babies.html
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the GrowthBusters online community
https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Students in a DU ecological economics class discuss their biggest concerns and how our society might overcome them. Overshoot, polarization, the American Dream, politics, selfish individualism, and the capitalism growth imperative are among the topics explored – as GrowthBuster Dave Gardner sits down with leaders of tomorrow. Dave is joined by Professor Paul Sutton at the University of Denver and students Lilia Davis, Julia Gainey, Cassienne Levan, Nathan Cox, Mikey Ford, Geordie Shonk, Elsa Krantz, and Alexandra Van de Water. Surprisingly, all the students seem to have a clear picture of how deadly serious our overshoot predicament is, but - just as surprisingly - optimism wasn’t found wanting. MENTIONED: GrowthBusters Campus Tour https://www.growthbusters.org/campus-tour/ What Do College Students Think Their Future Holds? – Episode 65 of the GrowthBusters podcast https://www.growthbusters.org/college-students-think/ Overshoot: World’s Best Introduction – Episode 57 of the GrowthBusters podcast https://www.growthbusters.org/overshoot-worlds-best-introduction/ G7 Clean Energy Economy Action Plan - May 20, 2023 Statement https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/20/g7-clean-energy-economy-action-plan/
Five thought leaders break the silence on the role of human overpopulation in ecological overshoot –with an informed, engaging conversation about the subject. This is what intelligent discourse sounds like.
For thirty years, many people – some well-intentioned – have been trying to silence discourse about human overpopulation. One of our goals on the GrowthBusters podcast is to break that silence, and this episode does that well by bringing together three great thinkers – actually five, educators and crusaders on the subject. The occasion was a visit to Colorado by Nandita Bajaj, executive director of Population Balance and co-host of The Overpopulation Podcast.
Nandita designed & teaches the first graduate course on Pronatalism & Overpopulation: The Personal, Cultural, and Global Implications of Having a Child at the Institute for Humane Education at Antioch University. As a bonus, we were joined by her hosts from the University of Denver, Paul Sutton and Sarah Bexell. Sarah leads DU’s Center for Sustainability and teaches at the Institute for Humane Education. Paul is Professor in the Department. of Geography & the Environment, and teaches geographic statistics, population geography, and ecological economics.
The conversation covers a lot of ground – pronatalism, animal rights, human rights, and collaboration.
LINKS:
Pronatalism & Overpopulation: The Personal, Cultural, and Global Implications of Having a Child -Nandita’s course at Antioch University https://www.populationbalance.org/pronatalism-and-overpopulation-course
Abortion Bans Are a Natural Outgrowth of Coercive Pronatalism – by Nandita Bajaj, in Ms. magazine https://msmagazine.com/2022/06/07/abortion-bans-coercive-pronatalism-forced-birth/
Dismissal of “Population Alarmism” is Rooted in Pronatalist Ideology – by Nandita Bajaj https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/opinion/5709-dismissal-of-population-alarmism-is-rooted-in-pronatalist-ideology
Challenging Pronatalism Is Key to Advancing Reproductive Rights and a Sustainable Population – by Nandita Bajaj and Kirsten Stade https://www.whp-journals.co.uk/JPS/article/view/819
Coercive Pro-Birth Policies Have Devastating Impacts on People and the Planet – in Newsweek, by Nandita Bajaj and Kirsten Stade https://www.newsweek.com/too-much-good-thing-pronatalism-killing-earth-opinion-1784197
Population Balance https://www.populationbalance.org/
The Overpopulation Podcast https://www.populationbalance.org/podcasts
Countdown - by Alan Weisman https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17332183-countdown
Mechai Viraveidya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechai_Viravaidya
Overpopulation Facts - The Problem No One Will Discuss - Alexandra Paul’s TedX talk https://youtu.be/fNxctzyNxC0
Population Media Center https://www.populationmedia.org/
The Green Growth Delusion – 1st installment of new series, Green Tinted Glasses – by Christopher Ketcham https://www.truthdig.com/dig/green-tinted-glasses/
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Why do discussions of overpopulation often elicit emotional responses of fear, anger, or indignation? Are anger and indignation what prevents productive discussion of population? These responses in a graduate college class provide an opportunity to explore how we might pave the way for productive conversations. Our guest in this episode, Professor Christopher Bystroff of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute wonders whether a “global therapy session” could end what he describes as a “global, sullen silence.” We need intelligent discourse on the subject, but too often it is being shut down.
Open, honest, and factual discussion of the human overpopulation crisis can put an end to the myths, misassumptions and misinformation that cloud the subject. Spoiler alert: we don’t find a fast-acting, magic solution, but Dave does come up with one good idea – “a pill that makes men more mature.”
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Chris Bystroff https://faculty.rpi.edu/chris-bystroff Footprints to Singularity: A Global Population Model Explains Late 20th Century Slow-Down and Predicts Peak Within Ten Years – by Chris Bystroff https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0247214 Don’t Reduce Your Footprint! – by Mathis Wackernagel https://www.footprintnetwork.org/2023/01/18/dont-reduce-your-footprint/? You Deserve the Truth About Overpopulation – by Dave Gardner (in our Ending Overshoot Medium publication) https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/you-deserve-the-truth-about-overpopulation-784f40e46902 I’m Thankful Smart People are Telling the Truth https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/im-thankful-smart-people-are-telling-the-truth-654f3ae27155 Ending Overshoot – publication on Medium https://medium.com/ending-overshoot Overshoot: World’s Best Introduction – episode 57 of the GrowthBusters podcast https://www.growthbusters.org/overshoot-worlds-best-introduction/ Jimmy Kimmel for Vice President http://jk4vp.com/
Recommended by Tom in Listener Feedback: Fossil Fuel Fascism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGlrX6lA9O8
The Fossil Fuel Industry is a Factory of Fairy Tales, Says Activist and School Strike for Climate Organizer Luisa Neubauer https://www.ted.com/talks/luisa_neubauer_the_fairy_tales_of_the_fossil_fuel_industry_and_a_better_climate_story/comments The Last Tourist https://thelasttouristfilm.com Al Bartlett Growth and Sustainability Lecture October 27, 2013 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O133ppiVnWY&t=1806s
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
The news that China’s massive population dropped by nearly a million people last year was almost universally reported as a “crisis.” In this episode we unpack the news coverage and take journalists to task for completely overlooking the fact that, in an overpopulated world, population contraction should be greeted with a collective sigh of relief.
The population news was accompanied by an announcement that China’s economy grew by only three percent, less than half the previous year’s 8.1 percent. This, too, was reported as bad news for China. Of course, obsession with GDP growth is what’s driving China’s recently-found determination to convince its citizens to start birthing more laborers. And globally the GDP growth fetish is killing the planet.
Dave explains how China’s efforts to keep its population growing are an effort to perpetuate a Ponzi scheme, and this is not the behavior of a good global citizen. “We need to make one-child families the norm, for the next hundred years, if we want those children to have any shot at a decent life.”
We give special attention to the reporting of Steve Inskeep on NPR’s Morning Edition, as well as Geoff Bennett of PBS NewsHour. These journalists should have a much more comprehensive understanding of limits to growth and the unsustainability of perpetual economic and population growth.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
China’s Population Can Still Prosper - by Catherine Bowen and Vegard Skirbekk https://www.wired.com/story/china-fertility-population-decline-demography-economics/
Mainstream Media Blindness to China’s Depopulation Dividend - by Jon Austen, in our Ending Overshoot publication on Medium https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/mainstream-media-blindness-to-chinas-depopulation-dividend-419e708e460
Now Here’s What We Call an Eco-Superhero - Episode 76 of the GrowthBusters podcast https://www.growthbusters.org/eco-superhero/
Join the GrowthBusters online community https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Getting take-out in your own reusable container, recycling bubble-wrap properly, and getting arrested – it’s all in a day’s work for an eco-superhero. Stephanie and Dave learn about climate activism with Extinction Rebellion, sharing quirky sustainability life hacks on social media, and the joy of a 58-hour train trip – from Stephanie’s former co-worker and friend, James Comiskey.
Find out...
- why James is angry and thinks he has a right to be
- if #AmtrakLife should be your new favorite hashtag
- why Steve Bannon wears three shirts at one time
- why Dave proposes we organize a conference for journalists (spoiler, we can’t resist: to “deprogram” the pro-growth bias that’s been instilled in them)
LINKS:
Before the Flood – documentaryhttps://www.beforetheflood.com/
James Comiskey on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/jamescomiskey/
Avoiding Air Travel and Going by Trainhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CmALljmPh9-/
Reusable Take-Outhttps://www.instagram.com/p/CJcnt_vnGhb/
The One About Bubblewraphttps://www.instagram.com/p/CSQOPcfn4Uj/
List of Multiple Discoveries (from John’s email about invetntions)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multiple_discoveries
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
More men are stepping up and taking responsibility for avoiding unplanned parenthood. Dave celebrates this trend as he shares GrowthBusters plans for the new year in this special year-end mini-episode. A typical vasectomy takes about ten minutes. It’s much less invasive, and less expensive, than the equivalent procedure for women.
GrowthBusting highlights for next year:
GrowthBusters online community continues into its second year, developing resources and providing support for sustainability activists.
GrowthBusters Campus Tour now has 8 impressive speakers to virtually enter your classroom, campus event, conference, workshop, seminar, symposium, forum, colloquium, service club, church or community group meeting.
The GrowthBusters podcast continues.
We depend on your financial support to keep these important initiatives humming. Please make a one-time or recurring donation at https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Mentioned in this Episode:
Fewer Abortions, More Vasectomies: Why the Procedure May Be Getting More Popular https://www.npr.org/2022/12/20/1143639556/vasectomies-dobbs-roe-abortion-contraception
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ Make a donation to support this non-profit project. https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
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Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
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Examining news coverage and commentaries about human population passing 8 billion on November 15, we unpack the reasons far too many of us avoid discourse about human overpopulation. Why are we tap-dancing around the very dialogue needed so people around the world can make informed, responsible family-size decisions? We conclude the guilt many feel about their privilege is actually hurting those who don’t share our fortune.
Also, find out why Black Friday was really bleak, and how TV networks refused to run Buy Nothing Day commercials. Plus, should Dave get over his obsession with phantom power and wall warts? And, how do you approach the occupant of an idling vehicle and educate them about wasting gas and needlessly polluting – without getting shot?
LINKS:
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – the documentary (see it free)
https://tinyurl.com/growthbustersmovie
World Population Hits 8 Billion: What Do People on the Street Think? – our YouTube video
https://youtu.be/ncT-J5BsVuc
8 Billion is Too Many: Don’t be a Twit About Overpopulation – Episode 73 of GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/8-billion-is-too-many/
Child-Free by Choice: The Birth Rate Crisis Gripping the West - by Rosa Silverman in the UK Telegraph
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/parenting/child-free-choice-birth-rate-crisis-gripping-west/
World Population At 8 Billion Humans -- And Still Growing – AFP story by Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS
https://www.barrons.com/news/world-population-at-8-billion-humans-and-still-growing-01667786407
8 Billion People: A Milestone by the Numbers – by Jennifer Sciubba at Population Reference Bureau
https://www.prb.org/articles/8-billion-people/
Earth at 8 Billion: Consumption Not Crowd is Key to Climate – AP story by Seth Borenstein
https://apnews.com/article/science-africa-pollution-climate-and-environment-1c70df435acda74301ff2df96a86dd43
The Human Eco-Predicament: Overshoot and the Population Conundrum – by William Rees in the Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2023https://www.austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576_0x003dcfa1.pdf
Bending the Curve - by Chris Tucker
https://www.whp-journals.co.uk/JPS/article/view/761/515
Global Population About to Hit 8 Billion - by William Ryerson (Population Media Center) and Kathleen Mogelgaard (Population Institute)
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3712763-global-population-about-to-hit-8-billion/
8 Billion Day Facts and Myths: A Guide to the 8 Billion Global Population Milestone on 15 November – by Sustainable Population Australia
https://population.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Briefing-Note-8-Billion-Day.pdf
Crisis Point: The World at 8 Billion People - Fact Sheet from Population Matters
https://populationmatters.org/resources/the-world-at-8-billion-people/
Has the Population Bomb Exploded? - by Julian Cribb
https://juliancribb.blog/2022/11/02/has-the-population-bomb-exploded/
Buy Nothing Day TV commercial produced by Adbusters in 1999
https://youtu.be/UOqRXBJgapQ
Internet Spreads Word as Networks Shun Adverts for Buy Nothing Dayhttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2000/nov/24/internetnews.internationalnews
Herman Daly commemorative sampler from CASSE
https://steadystate.org/in-commemoration-a-sampling-of-herman-daly/
Economic Heresy – Herman Daly on the Conversation Earth radio series/podcast
http://www.conversationearth.org/economic-heresy/
I’m Thankful Smart People Are Telling the Truth: Economic and Population Growth Need to End ASAP – by Dave Gardner at Medium
https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/im-thankful-smart-people-are-telling-the-truth-654f3ae27155
NYC Anti-Idling Law Turns Into Huge Payday ($125K for One Man) for Citizens Who Reporthttps://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/nyc-anti-idling-law-turns-into-huge-payday-125k-for-one-man-for-citizens-who-report/3637231/
Idle Threat – 2012 documentary
https://www.videoproject.org/Idle-Threat.html
19-minute free version
https://cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/53634/Idle-Threat
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
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Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
While Elon Musk erroneously claims population collapse is our biggest worry, world population is hitting 8 billion, adding the latest billion faster than any time in history. The UN has declared world population will surpass 8 billion on November 15, 2022. We persist in adding about 80 million people to the planet every year, despite overwhelming evidence we’ve outgrown our planet.
Christopher Tucker, author of A Planet of 3 Billion: Mapping Humanity’s Long History of Ecological Destruction and Finding Our Way to a Resilient Future, joins Dave in a conversation intended to help cure the rampant overshoot illiteracy resulting from misguided silence on the subject. This illiteracy is demonstrated as Dave shares his new YouTube video (link below) about the 8 billion milestone.
Tucker shares his disappointment in United Nations messaging around World Population Day (July 11) and the 8 billion milestone, and Dave turns his criticism up to eleven. He makes this important point about the silence on overshoot and overpopulation:
If responsible people don’t talk about these issues, irresponsible people will – and they’ll spread disinformation and perpetuate the negative attitudes we want to avoid.
The conversation also turns to coercive pronatalism, a topic that may be new to some listeners. It’s surprisingly pervasive.
LINKS:
8 Billion is Too Many: Don’t be a Twit About Overpopulation - by Dave Gardner on Medium
(we’ll post this link here later today)
World Population Hits 8 Billion: What Do People on the Street Think? - new YouTube video by Dave Gardner
https://youtu.be/ncT-J5BsVuc
New Rule: Let the Population Collapse - Bill Maher
https://youtu.be/HB97iwcm_Qc
A Planet of 3 Billion: Mapping Humanity’s Long History of Ecological Destruction and Finding Our Way to a Resilient Future - by Christopher Tucker
http://planet3billion.com/index.html
Bending the Curve by 2030: On the Path to a Population Safe Harbour - by Christopher Tuckerhttps://www.whp-journals.co.uk/JPS/article/view/761/515
We Know How Many People the Earth Can Support – by Christopher Tucker
Journal of Population and Sustainability December 2020
https://www.whp-journals.co.uk/JPS/article/view/657
How Many People Can the Earth Sustain? - The Stream on Al Jazeerah English 10/27/22
https://youtu.be/EStNKj5WNnI
Sustain What: How Many Billions Can a Heating, Pandemic-Wrapped Planet Support? - A Sustain What chat hosted by Earth Institute’s Andrew Revkin
https://youtu.be/KkPIyR_SrO4
Decline and Prosper! Changing Global Birth Rates and the Advantages of Fewer Children
(new book debunking aging and other depopulation fears)
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-91611-4
Dismissal of “Population Alarmism” is Rooted in Pronatalist Ideology - by Nandita Bajaj https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/opinion/5709-dismissal-of-population-alarmism-is-rooted-in-pronatalist-ideology
GrowthBusters Online Community
https://growthbusters.groups.io/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth - 2011 documentary by Dave Gardner
https://tinyurl.com/growthbustersmovie
Global Footprint Network - data on biocapacity, ecological footprint and overshoot
https://www.footprintnetwork.org/
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
World population may peak this decade and start dropping, over 60% of Coloradans are fed up with the negative consequences of growth of their communities, a new online community and resource for sustainability advocates, Elon Musk keeps populating our conversations, and should Dave run for president of the U.S.?
Stephanie and Dave sit down with professors Paul Sutton and Chris Bystroff for a conversation that includes an update on Chris’ contraceptive vaccine and Paul’s COP26 experience.
We announce the launch of a new GrowthBusters online community for sustainability advocates. If you want to bring a speaker like Paul Sutton, Chris Bystroff or Dave Gardner to your campus, you can find out how to contact Nicole, our staffer who’s coordinating the GrowthBusters Campus Tour and the new online community. Stephanie shares a bit about greening her recent wedding, and Dave has shocking news about the carbon footprint of feeding dogs and cats (at least their typical diet).
LINKS:
Running Out of Gas - Episode 26 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/running-out-of-gas-podcast-episode-26/
World Leaders COP Out - Episode 62 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/world-leaders-cop-out/
Footprints to Singularity: A Global Population Model Explains Late 20th Century Slow-Down and Predicts Peak Within Ten Years - by Chris Bystroff
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.04.429734v1
GrowthBusters Campus Tour
https://www.growthbusters.org/campus-tour/
New GrowthBusters Online Community
https://growthbusters.groups.io/g/main
Colorado Voters Worry State Becoming Too Crowdedhttps://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/july_2022/colorado_voters_worry_state_becoming_too_crowded
Planet in Crisis podcast
https://www.scientistswarningeurope.org.uk/podcast
Ecological Economics with Prof Tim Jackson: Scientists Warning into Action COP26 Press Conference - Episode 25 of Planet in Crisis podcast
https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/show/planetincrisis/id/22555061
Video of the above
https://youtu.be/1EEm5P0h8pk
How to Have a Green Wedding - episode 25 of the GowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/green-wedding-episode-25/
Sarah’s Wildlife Friendly Wedding - episode 47 of the GowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/wildlife-friendly-wedding/
The Truth About Cats' and Dogs' Environmental Impacthttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170802142835.htm
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
As we approach the 8 billion population milestone, activist/author Valorie Allen thinks it’s high time we stop avoiding the overpopulation subject. Yet here we are, on World Population Day 2022, and the UN is still beating around the bush, journalists rarely report on the subject (and when they do, it's usually with a pro-growth bias), and most environmental groups run and hide from it. Allen believes that we can bend the long-rising population curve soon and begin the needed contraction. But we must stop avoiding the subject, and we need to make a project of it.
As we observe World Population Day 2022, we share this insightful conversation with Valorie Allen, author of the new book, 8 Billion Reasons Population Matters: The Defining Issue of the 21st Century. This is a rich and comprehensive encyclopedia of history, information, opinion and inspiration.
After this conversation, Stephanie and Dave review recent “GrowthBusting News,” including new insanity from Elon Musk, outrageous ideas for overconsumption on hyperdrive, a new paper by Paul and Anne Ehrlich, and sad words of wisdom from actor Jeff Goldblum.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
UNFPA World Population Day 2022 Statement
https://www.unfpa.org/press/world-population-day-statement-2022
UN Secretary-General's World Population Day Statement
https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-population-day
8 Billion Reasons Population Matters - new book by Valorie Allen
https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000096587474
Surviving the 21st Century - by Julian Cribb
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30420519-surviving-the-21st-century
Population in Sync - Valorie Allen’s website
https://populationinsync.net/
Paul Ehrlich on Limits to Growth - Episode 70 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/ehrlich-limits-to-growth/
Leaked Amazon Memo Warns the Company is Running Out of People to Hirehttps://www.vox.com/recode/23170900/leaked-amazon-memo-warehouses-hiring-shortage
Elon Musk Breaks Silence on Birth of Secret Twins with 'Overpopulation' Jokehttps://www.joe.co.uk/news/elon-musk-on-birth-secret-twins-overpopulation-joke-346768
Elon Musk is Wrong: We Need Smaller Familieshttps://populationmatters.org/news/2021/12/elon-musk-wrong-we-need-smaller-families
Climate Damage Caused by Growing Space Tourism Needs Urgent Mitigationhttps://phys.org/news/2022-06-climate-space-tourism-urgent-mitigation.html
Nuclear-Powered Sky Hotelhttps://youtu.be/ZrodDBJdGuo
Let Them Eat Fermented Protein - Review of Monbiot book, Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planethttps://literaryreview.co.uk/let-them-eat-fermented-protein
Returning to “Normal”? Evolutionary Roots of the Human Prospect - by Paul and Anne Ehrlichhttps://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biac044/6608897
Your Kids Are Not Doomed - uninformed column by Ezra Klein
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/05/opinion/climate-change-should-you-have-kids.html
Current Policies Will Bring ‘Catastrophic’ Climate Breakdown, Warn Former UN Leadershttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/02/current-policies-will-bring-catastrophic-climate-breakdown-warn-former-un-leaders
For 50 Years, Governments Have Failed to Act on Climate Change. No More Excuses - by Christiana Figueres, Yvo de Boer and Michael Zammit Cutajar
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/02/for-50-years-governments-have-failed-to-act-on-climate-change-no-more-excuses
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Biologist Paul Ehrlich reflects on the 1972 MIT study, The Limits to Growth, on its 50th anniversary – including the fact that it has been refuted (poorly), ignored, and confirmed. The study was done by a team of scientists commissioned by the Club of Rome to develop a computer model to simulate the interaction of earth and human systems. It revealed that continuation of the then-current trends in population, industrialization, resource use and pollution would result in overshooting the carrying capacity of the Earth and result in a general collapse at some point in the first half of the 21st century.
The study results were published in the 1972 book, The Limits to Growth, which holds the record as the top-selling environmental book. The book was authored by four system dynamics scientists (Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William Behrens III). Gaya Herrington, whose 2020 analysis of The Limits to Growth was published in Yale’s Journal of Industrial Ecology, described the study and book aptly: “the authors identified society’s relentless pursuit of growth not as the solution to, but the cause of, so many of the environmental and social crises that plague humanity still today.”
“....what is it about Homo sapiens that leads us to the limits as a moth to a flame. Why don’t we stop? Why should we? Can we?” – Brian Czech, Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Read The Limits to Growth:
Online Read, but includes scans of pages and downloadable charts
https://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/meadows/diplomatic/meadows_ltg-diplomatic.html
High Quality Scan
https://collections.dartmouth.edu/content/deliver/inline/meadows/pdf/meadows_ltg-001.pdf
Mentioned in Our Discussion of The Limits to Growth:
Limits to Growth 50th Anniversary Events - on Club of Rome website
https://www.clubofrome.org/ltg50-events/
UN Event June 2-3: Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our opportunity
View live on the web:
https://www.stockholm50.global/events/programme
The Stockholm+50 Conference: What You Need to Know and Why It Matters
https://unfoundation.org/blog/post/the-stockholm50-conference-what-you-need-to-know-and-why-it-matters/
Take this survey before June 2: https://www.stockholm50.global/state-planet-global-public-survey
June 10 seminar: Limits to Growth +50: Can Economies Keep Growing Indefinitely on a Finite Planet?
Organized by: Norwegian University of Life Sciences
https://www.nmbu.no/en/faculty/landsam/department/noragric/research/seminars/node/44433
The Limits to Growth at 50: From Scenarios to Unfolding Reality - by Richard Heinberg
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-24/the-limits-to-growth-at-50-from-scenarios-to-unfolding-reality/
Limits and Beyond (New book April 2022 from the Club of Rome, a collection of essays)
https://exapt.press/books/limits-and-beyond
Nate Hagens interviews Dennis Meadows in his podcast, The Great Simplification.
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/12-dennis-meadows
Dennis Meadows on the 50th Anniversary of the Publication of The Limits to Growth - interview by Richard Heinberg
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-22/dennis-meadows-on-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-publication-of-the-limits-to-growth/
Is Global Collapse Imminent? – by Graham Turner (2014)
The Limits to Growth “standard run” (or business-as-usual, BAU) scenario produced in 1972 aligns well with historical data that has been updated in this paper
https://sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/2763500/MSSI-ResearchPaper-4_Turner_2014.pdf
Update to Limits to Growth: Comparing the World3 Model with Empirical Data - by Gaya Herrington
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.13084
Come On! Capitalism, Short-termism, Population and the Destruction of the Planet - by Anders Wijkman and Ersnt Von Weizscker and with contributions from more than 30 members of the Club of Rome
https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/come-capitalism-short-termism-population-destruction-planet/
What a 50-year-old World Model Tells Us About a Way Forward Today - by Gaya Herrington, now vice president of ESG Research at Schneider Electric and member of The Club of Rome’s Transformational Economics Commission
https://www.clubofrome.org/blog-post/herrington-ltg50/
In this episode, we also discuss these “growthbusting news” items:
Walk Or Cycle Instead of Driving, Urges Ford Boss
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2022/05/16/walk-or-cycle-instead-of-driving-urges-ford-boss/?sh=2283c3ba3481
New flight of fancy for billionaires – the Air Yacht
https://theuglyminute.com/2022/05/11/air-yacht/
Back From a Touring Hiatus, Coldplay Pledges to Make Performances More Sustainable
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/14/1098947216/back-from-a-touring-hiatus-coldplay-pledges-to-make-performances-more-sustainabl
The European Environmental Bureau has launched a campaign calling on the EU to refocus from GDP Growth to Wellbeing
Campaign Page: https://eeb.org/doughnuteconomicsforall/
https://meta.eeb.org/2022/05/12/doughnut-economics-how-to-bake-a-better-future/
The 25% Revolution - film
https://vimeo.com/535791169
GrowthBusters Called Me Extreme, So I Responded - episode of This Sustainable Life podcast by Joshua Spodek
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/this-sustainable-life-593342/episodes/583-growthbusters-called-me-ex-139440528
Mobilising Humanity Film Premier at COP26 - Ed Gemmel described his nightmare in this episode of the Planet in Crisis podcast from Scientists Warning Europe
https://planetincrisis.libsyn.com/30-mobilising-humanity-film-premier-at-cop26
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
While nary a week goes by that we don’t get a new report of the destruction we’re wreaking on our home planet, the news has been particularly bad over the last few weeks. Plus: Bill Maher, usually praised by us for speaking the truth, needs to get there on the benefits of a shrinking economy. We devote half of this episode to the news, and half to our swelling file of listener feedback.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Population Decline is Part of the Solution - YouTube video (by GrowthBusters)
https://youtu.be/XXyyCY5IM6Q
Paul Ehrlich, Unfiltered – Episode 68 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/paul-ehrlich-unfiltered/
GrowthBusters Campus Tour
https://www.growthbusters.org/campus-tour/
8 Billion Angels – documentary produced by Terry Spahr
https://8billionangels.org/
Can Living a 1.5 Degree Lifestyle Make a Difference? - Episode 66 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Lloyd Alter
https://www.growthbusters.org/can-1-5-degree-lifestyle-matter/
Obsessive-Compulsive’s Guide to Cutting Your Carbon Footprint - Episode 67 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Lloyd Alter
https://www.growthbusters.org/cutting-carbon-footprint/
This Sustainable Life podcast with Josh Spodek
https://joshuaspodek.com/podcast
7th Generation Initiative / Sustainability Project (Mike Nickerson)
http://www.sustainwellbeing.net/
Life, Money & Illusion: Living on Earth as If We Want to Stay – by Mike Nickerson
http://www.sustainwellbeing.net/what_the_book_is_about.html
More Fun, Less Stuff- Episode 55 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Mike Nickerson
https://www.growthbusters.org/more-fun-less-stuff/
Al Bartlett’s Laws Relating to Sustainabilityhttps://www.albartlett.org/articles/art_reflections_part_5.html
Where Lawns Are Outlawed (and Dug Up, and Carted Away)https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/03/climate/las-vegas-lawn-grass-ban.html
As Climate Fears Mount, Some in U.S. Are Deciding to Relocatehttps://e360.yale.edu/features/as-climate-fears-mount-some-in-u.s.-are-deciding-to-relocate
Chronic Land Degradation: UN Offers Stark Warnings and Practical Remedies in Global Land Outlook 2https://www.unccd.int/resources/global-land-outlook/overview
Humanity Entering ‘Spiral of Self-Destruction’, UN Warnshttps://www.france24.com/en/environment/20220426-humanity-entering-spiral-of-self-destruction-warns-un-disaster-agency?ref=tw
Latest IPCC Report Skips Population Growth in Summary for Policymakers, but Highlights it in Full Report and Technical Summaryhttps://overpopulation-project.com/population-in-the-ipccs-new-mitigation-report/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
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Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
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A reprise of Paul Ehrlich’s candid conversation with us on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, in April of 2020. We discuss the COVID pandemic, overpopulation, The Population Bomb (including an amusing mistake on the cover), dinner with Johnny Carson, the deficits of our university system, the climate crisis, and human civilization’s prospects (“I'm very pessimistic about the future but very optimistic about what we could do”).
Dr. Paul Ehrlich is most famous for co-writing The Population Bomb (1968). He is Bing Professor of Population Studies, Emeritus at Stanford University, and founded the Center for Conservation Biology at Stanford.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
GrowthBusters Campus Tour
https://www.growthbusters.org/campus-tour/
EarthX
https://earthx.org/
EarthxTV
https://video.earthxtv.com/
The Population Bomb by Anne and Paul Ehrlich
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb
Nov/Dec 2019 Sierra Magazine
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2019-6-november-december
BOOKS MENTIONED (by Paul Ehrlich):
Rattlesnake Under His Hat by Sam Hurst
https://www.earlbrockelsby.com/
The Wisest One in the Room – by Thomas Gilovich and Lee Ross
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25205421-the-wisest-one-in-the-room
Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect by Paul Ehrlich
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/159685.Human_Natures
Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment by Paul R. Ehrlich, John P. Holdren and Anne H. Ehrlich
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6348326-ecoscience
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: +1-719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
See the film, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Chickens, Tomatoes and Cars: The Wonky Numbers Behind Your Carbon Footprint
We NEED to be obsessed with shrinking our footprint, and Lloyd Alter did the research, the spreadsheet, and the book to help us all do our part. Did you know you can cut your carbon footprint from food in half? In a continuation of last episode’s conversation, Lloyd Alter, author of Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle: Why Individual Climate Action Matters More than Ever, shares what matters most from what he learned while shrinking his annual carbon footprint to meet the carbon budget allowed to meet 1.5°C goals.
Don’t Miss: Stephanie makes a shocking confession about her 2019 lifestyle and carbon footprint. And Lloyd raised quite a stir with this tweet: “I was shocked when I e-biked past the gas station, the price is twice as high as when I last filled the car two years ago.”
Some of the Revelations:
- Tomatoes have an unusually large carbon footprint.
- Eating food in season tastes better!
- He introduces us to the term “climatarian” - a person who chooses what to eat according to what is least harmful to the environment.
- We engage in “portion distortion” – we put too much on the plate and either eat too much or toss the excess
- The delivery of a take-out order emits twice the carbon of producing that food.
- Embodied energy or carbon, or upfront carbon emissions, are a big part of our consumption footprint
- We’d be well-served to focus on “sufficiency.” What is enough? What do you need?
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle – by Lloyd Alter
https://newsociety.com/books/l/living-the-1-5-degree-lifestyle
TreeHugger – one of the world’s leading sustainability information websites
https://www.treehugger.com/
Take the Jump - Less consuming but more creativity, care, comedy, camaraderie, contentment, craft, connection, celebration, culture and community.
https://takethejump.org/
Lettuce is Stupid
http://lettuceisstupid.com/
Pilot project and spreadsheet
https://1five.org
Hot or Cool Institute
https://hotorcool.org/
Global Footprint Network ecological footprint calculator
https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: +1-719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
See the film, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Should we be sitting around eating burgers and driving pickup trucks, and just wait for the system change needed to live sustainably on this planet? We attempt here to put to rest the tired and misdirected debate about whether individual footprint-shrinking action is a distraction that slows needed systemic change, and whether it's worth doing.
Joining us in this conversation is Lloyd Alter, former managing editor of Treehugger, and author of a fairly new book, Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Living the 1.5 Degree Lifestyle – by Lloyd Alter
https://newsociety.com/books/l/living-the-1-5-degree-lifestyle
TreeHugger – one of the world’s leading sustainability information websites
https://www.treehugger.com/
Lifestyle Carbon Footprints and Changes in Lifestyles to Limit Global Warming To 1.5 °Chttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-021-01018-6
Simplicity Institute
https://simplicityinstitute.org/
Elizabeth Warren on Major Industry Emissions - September 2019 Presidential Debate
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/09/04/elizabeth-warren-fossil-fuel-industry-cnn-climate-town-hall-vpx.cnn
Just 100 Companies Responsible for 71% of Global Emissions, Study Says – UK Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change
Jevons Paradox
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
The JUMP Is a Movement Challenging Consumers to Live for Joy, Not Stuff – by Lloyd Alter
https://www.treehugger.com/take-the-jump-less-stuff-more-joy-5215018
Take the Jump - Less consuming but more creativity, care, comedy, camaraderie, contentment, craft, connection, celebration, culture and community.
https://takethejump.org/
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint Still Matters – Slate
home.https://slate.com/technology/2018/10/carbon-footprint-climate-change-personal-action-collective-action.html
IPCC Issues ‘Bleakest Warning Yet’ on Impacts of Climate Breakdown – UK Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/28/ipcc-issues-bleakest-warning-yet-impacts-climate-breakdown
Managing Without Growth – by Peter Victor
https://www.pvictor.com/
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: +1-719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
See the film, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
OK, boomers, we blew it. Our best hope is that younger generations are aware and smart enough to save the planet. What do they know, and what are their planet-saving intentions? We went straight to the source, and sat down with a University of Denver Ecological Economics class to get their perspective. This conversation explores awareness and solutions – for inequity, poverty, hunger, and overconsumption, but mainly for the climate crisis and overshoot.
A very big thanks to Professor Paul Sutton and the members of his Ecological Economics class:
Angie
Cody
Tim
Uma Baysal
Taynah Fernandes
Matt Gartland
Christian Giles
Katie Johnson
KJ Jumper
Melissa Kreppein
Juanlin Lin
Zein Massoud
Ava Moin
Katherine Sweeney
Gui Zeng
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Engagement/Outreach Part-Time Position Open at GrowthBusters
https://www.growthbusters.org/part-time-position-open-join-the-growthbusters-team/
Climate Anxiety in Children and Young People and Their Beliefs About Government Responses to Climate Change: A Global Surveyhttps://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2542-5196%2821%2900278-3
World Leaders COP Out - Episode 62 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/world-leaders-cop-out/
Keeping Human Rights in Family Planning Policy as Depopulation Fears Mount – by Sam Sellers
https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2022/01/keeping-human-rights-family-planning-policy-depopulation-fears-mount/
Is Parenthood an Entitlement? - Episode 64 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/is-parenthood-an-entitlement/
The Causes and Consequences of Depopulation - Conference
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/vid/events/calendar/conferences/the-causes-and-consequences-of-depopulation
YouTube Playlist of conference
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNxGCu8j-xgKN3nm8oiqOeB6-KkVAvlFj
When Baby Well Runs Dryhttps://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/special-reports/2259507/when-baby-well-runs-dry
Will Rotterdam Make Way for Jeff Bezos, Lord of the Seas? https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/what-will-happen-to-the-bezos-superyacht.html
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: +1-719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Get married, buy a house, raise a family. For many of us, that’s the expected life trajectory. Are we entitled to meet that expectation? If many follow the typical trajectory, including having two or more children, then we drive human civilization right off a cliff.
On an overpopulated planet, does society have an obligation to make parenthood possible, practical, convenient, and/or affordable to all? Public policy on the table in the U.S. today is designed to make it easier for couples to have children. Ethicist Philip Cafaro joins us to discuss the motivations behind these policies and the moral questions about whether people are “entitled” to have children on an overpopulated planet.
In this episode, we hear some unenlightened statements about U.S. population from U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, including inviting listeners to conclude U.S. population is declining (it is not), and a healthy dose of depopulation panic.
Cafaro is professor of philosophy at Colorado State University and an affiliated faculty member of CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability. He’s also written a couple of books about human overpopulation, and he is co-founder of The Overpopulation Project.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
The Overpopulation Project
https://overpopulation-project.com/
Just Population Policies for an Overpopulated World - by Philip Cafaro
https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/pdfs/epub-046.pdf
Climate Ethics and Population Policy - by Philip Cafaro
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264492830_Climate_ethics_and_population_policy
Climate Ethics and Population Policy: A Review of Recent Philosophical Work - by Philip Cafaro
https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wcc.748
Toward a Small Family Ethic: How Overpopulation and Climate Change Are Affecting the Morality of Procreation – by Travis Rieder
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29846041-toward-a-small-family-ethic
Moral Basis for Small Families: Travis Rieder - Episode #206 of Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/moral-basis-small-families-travis-rieder-206/
Public Policy Brakes on Procreation? Travis Rieder - Episode #207 of Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/public-policy-brakes-procreation-travis-rieder-207/
One Child: Do We Have a Right to More – by Sarah Conly
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26308950-one-child
Stuck in Traffic? Head to Mars - Episode 63 of GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/stuck-in-traffic-head-to-mars/
8 Billion Angels – documentary film
https://8billionangels.org/
Earth Overshoot
https://www.earthovershoot.org/
Sustainable Population Australia
https://population.org.au/
Time’s 2021 Person of the Year Elon Musk Is So Wrong – by Simon Cole
https://equanimity.blog/2021/12/29/times-2021-person-of-the-year-elon-musk-is-so-wrong/
Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival – by Richard Heinberg
https://power.postcarbon.org/
Ice Shelf Holding Back Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’, Is Fracturing And ‘Won’t Last Long’, Scientists Warn
https://au.yahoo.com/news/ice-shelf-holding-back-antarctica-184346587.html
Human Consciousness – by Robert Bolman
https://robertbolman.com/human-consciousness/
This Sustainable Life podcast – by Joshua Spodek
https://joshuaspodek.com/podcast
Don't Call Doof Food: Systemic Change Begins with Personal Change – Joshua Spodek TEDx Talkhttps://youtu.be/L4OAaI_uXgY
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
“If people don’t have more children, civilization is going to crumble,” according to Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” – Elon Musk. He is, of course, dead wrong. We briefly explore that in this episode, and offer our take on Musk’s stone-age solutions to traffic congestion.
We also share thoughts about several growthbusting news items:
- Recent Arctic and Antarctic Research News
- Smart Perspective on Falling Birth Rates News (in India)
- Buzzkill Condoms
- Google Displays Emissions Info
- Systemic vs. Individual Climate Solutions
- A Black Box to Record Demise of Human Civilization
Give Us Feedback:
- Record a voice message for us to play on the podcast: 719-402-1400
- Send an email to podcast at growthbusters.org
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
World Leaders COP Out – Episode 62 of GrowthBusters
https://www.growthbusters.org/world-leaders-cop-out/
See How the Antarctic Is Signaling Major Climate Disruption
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/15/climate/nyt-climate-newsletter-antarctic.html
Arctic Report Card: What More Rain and Less Snow in the Region Means for the Rest of the World
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/arctic-report-card-what-more-rain-and-less-snow-in-the-region-means-for-the-rest-of-the-world-11639502532
Population Slowdown is Triumph of India’s Peoplehttps://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/population-slowdown-is-triumph-of-indias-people-7644983/
Time Magazine Person of the Year – Elon Muskhttps://time.com/person-of-the-year-2021-elon-musk/
Tesla CEO Elon Musk in an Interview with WSJ’s Joanna Stern at the CEO Council Summithttps://youtu.be/lSD_vpfikbE
Elon Musk is Wrong: We Need Smaller Families – By Olivia Nater
https://populationmatters.org/news/2021/12/elon-musk-wrong-we-need-smaller-families
1 in 4 Childless Adults Say Climate Change Has Factored into Their Reproductive Decisions – Morning Consult Poll in September of 2021https://morningconsult.com/2020/09/28/adults-children-climate-change-polling/
Colbert: Don't Want to Bring a Child into This World? Try Trojan Buzzkill Condomshttps://youtu.be/nGNnK9j58Og
Make a Year-End Gift to the GrowthBusters Project
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Google Flights to Display Emissions Next to Every Single Flighthttps://www.treehugger.com/google-flights-display-emissions-on-every-flight-5205037
Colbert: Is Systemic Climate Action Possible
https://youtu.be/rbzMvJf1Vxg
Earth is Getting a Black Box to Record Our Climate Change Actions, and it's Already Started Listeninghttps://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-12-06/climate-change-earth-black-box-recorder/100621778
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
The climate pact achieved at COP26 was woefully inadequate. We could be in for over four degrees Fahrenheit of warming this century over pre-industrial temperatures, and some scenarios would put us closer to eight degrees. In this episode, Paul Sutton shares his observations from Glasgow, and we get assessments from a few other noted experts.
Policymakers are not willing to embrace any climate actions that give up economic growth, but economic growth virtually guarantees climate disaster. The bottom line: only drastic policy and behavior changes will avoid a very bleak future.
Sutton is a Professor in the Department of Geography & the Environment at the University of Denver. He served as an official delegate for the American Association of Geographers (AAG) at the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow in early November of 2021. He is not speaking for the AAG in this episode. One interesting class Paul teaches is Envisioning Utopia Through the Lens of a Wellbeing Economy.
Also: recommended reading, and the new movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
The Titanic cartoon in this episode’s graphic was created for the GrowthBusters project by artist/writer Stephanie McMillan. https://stephaniemcmillan.org/
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Running Out of Gas – Episode 26 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Paul Sutton and James Ward
https://www.growthbusters.org/running-out-of-gas-podcast-episode-26/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
The Limits to Growthhttps://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/meadows/diplomatic/meadows_ltg-diplomatic.html
Planet of the Humans documentary
https://planetofthehumans.com/
More Fun, Less Stuff – Episode 55 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Mike Nickerson
https://www.growthbusters.org/more-fun-less-stuff/
COP26: If We Don't Know Where We’re Going, We Will End Up Someplace Else – by Paul Sutton
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/579095-cop26-if-we-dont-know-where-we-are-going-we-will-end-up-someplace?rl=1
Bankers Took Over the Climate Change Summit. That’s Bad for Democracyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/25/opinion/cop26-gfanz-climate-change.html
Soylent Green – trailer; see the movie on YouTube, AppleTV, Vudu and elsewhere
https://youtu.be/N_jGOKYHxaQ
The Powell Memorandum
https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/
The Powell Memo and links to many essays about it
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/
The Powell Memo – a critical book excerpt about the memo
https://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/
A Finer Future – by L. Hunter Lovins, Stewart Wallis, Anders Wijkman, and John Fullerton
https://ourfinerfuture.com/
Quick Take from Katharine Hayhoe of The Nature Conservancy
https://youtu.be/9wZz253lZwg
Planet in Crisis podcast from Scientists Warning Europe
https://www.scientistswarningeurope.org.uk/podcast
World Scientists’ Warnings into Action, Local to Global – New paper from Scientists Warning Europe
https://www.scientistswarningeurope.org.uk/signature
Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-how-shared-socioeconomic-pathways-explore-future-climate-change
Prosperity Without Growth – by Tim Jackson
https://timjackson.org.uk/ecological-economics/pwg/
COP26 demonstrations – photos by Paul Sutton
https://urizenapw02-vlp.du.edu/~paul.sutton/COP26/
Rebelling Against Black Friday Consumerism – Episode 61 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/non-material-holidays/
So Kind Gift Registry
https://sokindregistry.org/
Make a Year-End Gift to the GrowthBusters project
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
RECOMMENDED READING:
Insist that Public Policy Respects the Rights of Children and Women – by Dave Gardner
https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/insist-that-public-policy-respects-the-rights-of-children-and-women-d961478d36f5
Ending Overshoot – a publication on Medium edited by Dave Gardner and Jem Randles
https://medium.com/ending-overshoot
Welcome to Gilead: How Population Fears Drive Women's Rights Abuses – new report from Population Matters
https://populationmatters.org/news/2021/11/welcome-gilead-how-population-fears-drive-womens-rights-abuses
To Breed or Not to Breed – by Alex Williams in the New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/style/breed-children-climate-change.html
The End of Growth: Ten Years After – by Richard Heinberg
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/11/20/end-growth-ten-years-after
Climate Change with 8 Billion Humans - by Joseph Chamie
http://www.ipsnews.net/2021/11/climate-change-8-billion-humans/
Why Renewable Energy isn’t the Only Answer in our Climate Emergency - by Julie Peconi, also from Scientists Warning Europe
https://www.scientistswarningeurope.org.uk/discover/why-renewable-energy-isnt-the-only-answer-in-our-climate-emergency
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
We generate 23% more waste during December than other months of the year, but more than three in four Americans wish the holidays were less materialistic. Our retail and consumer culture have gotten out of hand over holiday gift-giving. 9 in 10 believe holidays should be more about family and caring for others than about giving and receiving gifts. It’s too easy to hit Amazon or just grab something off the shelf at a store. Non-material gifts require more thought, so they are valued more by the recipients.
The Center for Biological Diversity’s Kelley Dennings joins us to share what she’s learned about dematerializing and greening up the holidays. Just like “paper or plastic,” does the question of natural or artificial Christmas tree haunt you? She also points us to resources her team has created to help you do a holiday reset (see links below). They include helpful ways to introduce new non-material holiday traditions in your family. We hope this episode inspires you.
We also discuss the successful crowdfunding campaign to make our documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth free from now on (see links below).
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Simplify the Holidays
Gift guides and other green holiday info
https://simplifytheholidays.org/
SoKind alternative gift registry
https://sokindregistry.org/
Simplify the Holidays Through Waste Reduction – Webinar
https://youtu.be/jdxyYZfV27I
What Would Jesus Buy? (2007 documentary)
https://youtu.be/mAxuNdtZt7c
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
Overshoot: World’s Best Introduction - Episode 57 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/overshoot-worlds-best-introduction/
GrowthBusters Black Friday Trailer (2018)
https://youtu.be/OiTepSTPnM0
GrowthBusters Crowdfunding Campaign (It’s still active!)
https://fundrazr.com/growthbustersmovie
Ending Overshoot – a publication on Medium
https://medium.com/ending-overshoot
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
We’re running out of booty on planet Earth, so billionaires are racing to mine and populate the rest of the universe. In this follow-up to our Billionaires in Space episode, we examine and applaud points made by economist Tim Jackson in his recent essay, Billionaire Space Race: The Ultimate Symbol of Capitalism’s Flawed Obsession with Growth.
We also share an update on the crowdfunding campaign to make the documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth free, as of its 10th anniversary on November 3, 2021. We are very close to making our goal.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Billionaires in Space - Episode 58 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/billionaires-in-space/
Make the GrowthBusters Movie Free - Crowdfunding Campaign
https://fundrazr.com/growthbustersmovie
Dark Optimism – Episode 13 of the Planet in Crisis podcast
https://planetincrisis.libsyn.com/13-dark-optimism-life-after-economic-growth-a-future-worth-fighting-for
Billionaire Space Race: The Ultimate Symbol of Capitalism’s Flawed Obsession with Growth – by Tim Jackson
https://dave-gardner.medium.com/billionaire-space-race-7e0738703554
Soylent Green – 1967 Feature Motion Picture starring Charlton Heston
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3dq3ef
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
“Once a species becomes powerful enough to take over a planet, then is it also intelligent enough to understand the limits to its own power?” This is a question posed in the new book, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival. Author Richard Heinberg is a Senior Fellow at Post Carbon Institute and author of 13 books, including Power Down, The Party’s Over, and The End of Growth.
Richard shares what his research has revealed about humankind’s cultivation of power, including how we abuse it and how that now threatens our very existence.
“The sheer power of the Superorganism is staggering. Each year, it cuts and uses up to seven billion trees; it excavates 24 million metric tons of copper and nine billion short tons of coal; and it produces (and brews and drinks) one billion tons of coffee. In order to mine resources and construct buildings and highways, it moves up to 80 billion tons of soil and rock — over twice the amount moved by all natural forces such as rivers, glaciers, ocean, and wind. The Superorganism is taking control of Earth, and the Anthropocene is its era of dominance.”
We discuss the importance of trust in the possible scenario that doesn’t drive us right off a cliff. The book is an effort to shift the conversation, to shift our culture – from one seeking and worshipping materialism, consumerism and more and more economic and population growth, to one that values beauty and self-limitation.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival - by Richard Heinberg
https://www.postcarbon.org/publications/power-limits-and-prospects-for-human-survival/
Make the GrowthBusters Movie Free
https://www.Fundrazr.com/growthbustersmovie
Museletter – monthly newsletter by Richard Heinberg
https://richardheinberg.com/museletter
Richard Heinberg’s website
https://www.Richardheinberg.com
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.”
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Are Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and Elon Musk doing civilization a favor and advancing science? Are they preparing to colonize space like the Borg in Star Trek: The Next Generation? Or are they seeking status and boosting their egos – AND their carbon footprints – with expensive toys?
July was a big month for space travel, with two billionaires blasting into space. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic sold seats and launched space tourists into near space and promised many repeat performances. Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans manned Earth orbits before the year ends.
Most of us tend to believe in science and support government funding of scientific advancement. But if we’re in a climate emergency, should we put non-essential, carbon-intensive research projects on hold in order to implement every possible CO2 emissions cut?
In this episode, environmentalist Stephanie Gardner joins host Dave Gardner to explore the questions these flights raise. They also examine the carbon footprints of lifestyles of the rich and famous.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
How to Have a Green Wedding – Episode 25 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/green-wedding-episode-25/
Sarah’s Wildlife-Friendly Wedding – Episode 47 of the GrowthBusters podcast
http://www.growthbusters.org/wildlife-friendly-wedding/
Population Decline is Part of the Solution (2008 YouTube video featuring Stephanie Gardner)
https://youtu.be/XXyyCY5IM6Q
RELEVANT LINKS:
Billionaire Space Race – by Tim Jackson
https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/billionaire-space-race-7e0738703554
As Bezos Completes Blue Origin Mission, Many Ask What’s the Climate-Change Impact?https://www.marketwatch.com/story/as-bezos-completes-blue-origin-mission-many-ask-whats-the-climate-change-impact-11626795950
Space Flight for Fun: Billionaire Egotism Trumps Sustainability – by Steve Banker
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2021/07/12/space-flight-for-fun-billionaire-egotism-trumps-sustainability/
The Surprising Carbon Footprint of Space Travel – by John Armstrong
https://energycentral.com/c/ec/surprising-carbon-footprint-space-travel
Where is Starman? Track Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster in Space!https://www.whereisroadster.com/
The Environmental Impact of Emissions from Space Launches: A Comprehensive Review (May, 2020 in Journal of Cleaner Production, by Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652620302560
An Increase in Rocket Launches Could Have a Significant Environmental Impacthttps://startupsavant.com/news/increase-rocket-launches
How Much CO2 Did Bezos’ Rocket Ride Release? Close to Zero (Politifacts factcheck by The Poynter Institute)
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jul/20/tweets/how-much-co2-did-bezos-rocket-ride-release-close-z/
Where the Space Industry is Grounded – by Andrew Beattie (published by the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere)
https://mahb.stanford.edu/library-item/where-the-space-industry-is-grounded/
Private Planes, Mansions and Superyachts: What Gives Billionaires Like Musk and Abramovich Such a Massive Carbon Footprinthttps://theconversation.com/private-planes-mansions-and-superyachts-what-gives-billionaires-like-musk-and-abramovich-such-a-massive-carbon-footprint-152514
Environmental Concerns Grow Among Scientists as Space Tourism Lifts Offhttps://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1228942.shtml
Why Space Flights’ Green Credentials Don’t Fly (opinion column in Financial Times)
https://www.afr.com/technology/why-space-flights-green-credentials-don-t-fly-20210711-p588oy
How Bad is Space Tourism for The Environment? And Other Space Travel Questions, Answeredhttps://www.vox.com/recode/22589197/space-travel-tourism-bezos-branson-rockets-blue-origin-virgin-galactic-spacex
Forbes Billionaires List
https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/
Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List
https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#3384987c3d78
Jeff Bezos' $400 Million Flying Fox Yachthttps://youtu.be/MRYEcushHjc
Carbon Emissions of Richest 1 Percent More Than Double the Emissions of the Poorest Half of Humanity
https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/carbon-emissions-richest-1-percent-more-double-emissions-poorest-half-humanity
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.”
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
Everything your friends, family, colleagues, journalists and elected representatives need to know about Earth Overshoot Day. Every other week, another scientific report is added to the stack of evidence human civilization has outgrown the planet. What are we doing about it? Earth Overshoot Day is the point in time during the year at which we’ve already burned through the renewable resources it takes the Earth a year to regenerate. Earth Overshoot Day in 2021 is July 29.
Global Footprint Network continuously analyzes UN data and satellite imagery to estimate the planet’s capacity to meet our needs (biocapacity), and humankind’s footprint - or demand (ecological footprint) - on that capacity. According to their analysis, we’re demanding almost twice what the planet can sustainably provide. In the U.S. and a few other nations, we’re engaged in 5-planet living (U.S. Overshoot Day was March 14).
Every year as Earth Overshoot Day approaches, we dedicate an episode of the GrowthBusters podcast to playing an audio documentary we produced in 2019. Welcome to Overshoot: Have a Nice Day explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem.
LINKS:
Earth Overshoot Day
https://www.overshootday.org/
The Limits to Growth
http://donellameadows.org/the-limits-to-growth-now-available-to-read-online/
Conversation Earth - Radio Series/Podcast
http://www.conversationearth.org/episode-list
Reported by: Dave Gardner
Interviews:
William Catton, author of Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change
Brian Czech, author of Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution, and executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Herman Daly, author of Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development
Paul Ehrlich, Stanford Biologist, author of The Population Bomb
Kerryn Higgs, author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet
Ian Johnson, former World Bank vice president, former secretary general of Club of Rome
Bill McKibben, environmental journalist, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, co-founder of 350.org.
Dennis Meadows, lead scientist, The Limits to Growth
Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist
William Rees, co-originator of ecological footprint analysis
Bill Ryerson, President of Population Media Center and Chair of Population Institute
Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston University and author of Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth
John Seager, CEO of Population Connection
Gus Speth, former chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality
Mathis Wackernagel, founder of Global Footprint Network and co-author of Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget
Rex Weyler, environmental journalist
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program for our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.”
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
What do the Green New Deal, Santa Claus and the tooth fairy have in common? Find out as we talk with the founder of The REAL New Green Deal Project. Megan Seibert thinks we’re being sold a fantasy – that we can run our current, materialistic, growth-obsessed economy forever on solar and wind (what she calls “faux renewables”).
“It’s not about what we want..., it’s about what is possible. And what is possible is defined by ecological limits.”
She advises we need to “engineer a planned, intelligent descent.” It may be painful, but you don’t want to miss this conversation.
LINKS:
The REAL Green New Deal Project
https://www.realgnd.org/
U.S. House resolution calling for a New Green Deal
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/109/text
A 100 Trillion Dollar Storytelling Campaign – introduction and links to The Manufacturing of Greta Thunberg – for Consenthttps://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/10/06/a-100-trillion-dollar-storytelling-campaign/
World Population Day July 11 Webinar : What is a sustainable population? Why, when and what should we do about it?
RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-is-a-sustainable-population-how-when-and-why-to-get-there-tickets-161244718293
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program for our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.”
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
“We need to end the game of Monopoly and start playing the game of sustainability – recognizing the limitations of the planet and building our systems to live within those.” Those are the wise words of Mike Nickerson, author of Life, Money & Illusion: Living on Earth as If We Want to Stay. In this episode Mike explains why he is promoting the mantra, “more fun, less stuff.”
We’re in a “tailspin consumerist debacle,” according to Mike, and he’s quite sure we need to be “liberated from the materialist cult.” Our discussion includes the American Dream, the voluntary simplicity movement and the role of advertising in our overconsumption.
LINKS:
8 Billion Angels screening and webinar - June 24, 2021
7th Generation Initiative / Sustainability Project
Life, Money & Illusion: Living on Earth as If We Want to Stay – by Mike Nickerson
- e-book
- print edition – contact Mike Nickerson
Eco-Village project
A Strategy for Long Term Well-Being – by Mike Nickerson
Work Less Party
What Really Counts: The Case for a Sustainable and Equitable Economy – by Ron Coleman
More Fun, Less Stuff Starter Kit – by Betsy Taylor
Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth – by R. Buckminster Fuller
Spaceship Earth Passenger Safety Briefing – short film by Dave Gardner
Small Is Beautiful – by E.F. Schumacher
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.”
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/Growthbuster
Follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode:
How often do you think about the effect of your actions today on the wellbeing of future generations? What do we owe our children’s children? Are we capable of responsibly delivering on that debt? Philosopher Roman Krznaric explored these questions in the book, The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking. Krznaric thinks we do, and we can: “...humankind has always had the innate ability to plan for posterity and take action that will resonate for decades, centuries, even millennia to come. If we want to be good ancestors and be remembered well by the generations who follow us, now is the time to recover and enrich this imaginative skill.”
Long-term thinking and the rights of future generations (not to mention, compassion toward them) are a recurring theme in the GrowthBusters podcast, so we just had to read the book and schedule a conversation with its author. This fascination discussion touches on ecological economics, rights of children, short-termism, and much more.
LINKS:
How to Get Started with Family Cloth (Yup, Reusable Toilet Paper is a Real Thing)https://redandhoney.com/how-to-get-started-with-family-cloth-and-why-you-might-actually-love-it/
Why You Shouldn't Use 'Family Cloth' Reusable Toilet Paperhttps://www.thelist.com/196323/why-you-shouldnt-use-family-cloth-reusable-toilet-paper/
The Good Ancestor website
https://www.romankrznaric.com/good-ancestor
A Resolution for 2021: Be a Better Ancestor (review of The Good Ancestor)
https://grist.org/climate/a-resolution-for-2021-be-a-better-ancestor/
Doughnut Economics
https://www.kateraworth.com/
Flipping Economics on Its Head: Kate Raworth – episode 219 of Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/flipping-economics-head-kate-raworth-219/
Thriving Economy: Not Rocket Science – episode 220 of Conversation Earthhttp://www.conversationearth.org/thriving-economy-not-rocket-science-kate-raworth-220/
Shrinking Your Travel Footprint – episode 52 of the GrowthBusters podcast
http://www.growthbusters.org/shrinking-your-travel-footprint/
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Erika Arias is researching the childfree/environment connection and is about to enter grad school.
Join the conversation on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
Archive of GrowthBusters podcast episodes
http://www.growthbusters.org/podcast/
Subscribe to GrowthBusters email updates
https://lp.constantcontact.com/su/umptf6w/signup
See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
http:www.growthbustersmovie.org
Explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
View the GrowthBusters channel on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/Growthbuster
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Can we achieve some unity without giving up our integrity and core values? That’s a very current conundrum, so this seems the perfect time for us to publish this conversation. We confess we recorded this conversation last May! Apologies to our guests for the long delay. We could not make up a believable excuse that would keep our integrity intact.
When it seems like we can’t agree on even the simplest choices, one has to wonder if humanity will ever find common ground and a way out of the climate crisis. Kevin Wilhelm and Natalie Hoffman of Sustainable Business Consulting help answer these questions in their book, How to Talk to the Other Side: Finding Common Ground in the Time of Coronavirus, Recession and Climate Change.
CEO and professor, Kevin Wilhelm is a thought leader on how to bring people from different viewpoints and ideologies together to solve big challenges. He is also an instructor at the University of Washington and the author of four books – including the acclaimed “Return on Sustainability – How Business Can Increase Profitability & Address Climate Change in an Uncertain Economy.”
Natalie Hoffman specializes in research and communication between differing cultures and points of view. Hoffman has taught cross-cultural translation to a range of people from university students to environmental activists.
Kevin and Natalie share pro tips for shifting the climate conversation away from the facts and the science and instead towards personal experiences and values. Erika questions them about this method, and what is proposed to be the first step in overcoming our anxieties about the other side in order to find common ground. Plus, more about win-win solutions and focusing on the “financial bottom line.”
LINKS:
Finding Common Ground and Win-Win Sustainability Solutions in a Crisis
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/finding-common-ground-and-win-win-sustainability-solutions-crisis
Talking to the Other Side: Keys for Setting Up Difficult Conversations
https://sustainablebrands.com/read/marketing-and-comms/talking-to-the-other-side-keys-for-setting-up-difficult-conversations
Finding Political Common Ground in These Uncertain Times
https://www.acc.eco/blog/2020/5/6/finding-political-common-ground-in-these-uncertain-times
How to Talk to the Other Side: Finding Common Ground in the Time of Coronavirus, Recession, and Climate Change
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53415793-how-to-talk-to-the-other-side
Sustainable Business Consulting
https://sustainablebizconsulting.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, Erika and Dave explore the joy of sustainable living and provide a recovery program for our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with and pursuit of growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Erika Arias is researching the childfree/environment connection and is about to enter grad school.
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Is flying always the worst travel choice for climate stability? Is traveling by rail always the best? You might be surprised. In this episode of GrowthBusters, Dave shares his research on this subject with co-host Erika Arias and frequent guest Joshua Spodek. We also share a great cheat-sheet, Getting There Greener – The guide to Your Lower Carbon Vacation, from the Union of Concerned Scientists. We’d like to remind listeners that while it may seem like the system is stacked against us, we really do have choices about how to transport ourselves. With a little bit of creativity, personal agency, and help from the experts, our choices can change the system!
USEFUL LINKS:
The Four Lifestyle Choices that Most Reduce Your Carbon Footprint (Lund University Study ranking carbon reduction actions)
Vacation Traveler Carbon Guide – Quick Reference Chart and the stuy behind it (Union of Concerned Scientists)
Getting There Greener – full report behind the above vacation guide
Skyscanner greener flight booking site
UCS web tool for EV efficiency in your area
Carbon Offset Info and Programs
American Idling: The Ecological Cost of Keeping the Engine Running
Climate Perks
The future of conference: Will events remain virtual after lockdowns?
On the GrowthBusters podcast, Erika and Dave explore the joy of sustainable living and provide a recovery program for our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with and pursuit of growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Erika Arias is researching the childfree/environment connection and is about to enter grad school.
OTHER LINKS:
Join the conversation on Facebook
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We set out to make this the second of a series of episodes about shrinking our travel footprint, but the conversation ended up being a broader exploration of philosophical issues related to all kinds of footprint-shrinking actions. Erika and Dave are joined by recurring guest, Joshua Spodek, host of the This Sustainable Life podcast. The conversation includes:
The joy of not flying
Generating a lot less waste
Is the new iPhone really green?
And plastic, plastic, plastic.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Donate to Support this Podcast (yes, it’s a 501(c)3 non-profit project)
Apple’s New iPhone Is Far from Green
Apple is aiming for ‘zero climate impact.’ The iPhone 12 won’t help.
The Story of Plastic
The Story of Plastic screenings
(search for The Story of Plastic)
Joshua Spodek’s The Story of Plastic panel discussion
Joshua Spodek's This Sustainable Life podcast
On the GrowthBusters podcast, Erika and Dave explore the joy of sustainable living and provide a recovery program for our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with and pursuit of growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Erika Arias is researching the childfree/environment connection and is about to enter grad school.
OTHER LINKS:
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How far will you go in your quest to shrink your carbon footprint? What’s eco-tourism, and is it really ecologically responsible? International tourism accounts for 8% of all carbon emissions in the world, and transportation of all types accounts for an even greater proportion of of our carbon emissions. In the first of several episodes about shrinking our travel footprint, Dave and Erika chat with Dr. Michael Hall, Professor in the Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship at University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
According to Hall, “tourism leads to the short and long term decline of natural capital at local and global scales.” Find out what Hall has to say about carbon offsetting, public transportation, local food, and building a market to service communities of people. Hall says that it isn’t about avoiding travel altogether, but about how to travel smart!
On the GrowthBusters podcast, Erika and Dave explore the joy of sustainable living and provide a recovery program for our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with and pursuit of growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Erika Arias is researching the childfree/environment connection and is about to enter grad school.
LINKS
The Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Sustainability
Economic Greenwash: On the Absurdity of Tourism and Green Growth
A Radical Way to Cut Emissions – Ration Everyone’s Flights
Pandemics, Transformations and Tourism: Be Careful What You Wish For
Pandemics, Tourism and Global Change: A Rapid Assessment of COVID-19
Carbon Trading: How Does it Work?
OTHER LINKS:
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If we were on a spaceship, the end really would be near – August 22. That is Earth Overshoot Day for 2020. We all know we can’t graze 100 head of cattle for long on a one-acre patch of land. We’d have a barren wasteland and a bunch of dead cattle in no time. It’s a little more challenging for us to make this calculation about meeting the needs of 7.8 billion people on a larger patch of land – the entire planet. But the laws of physics equally apply.
Analysts at Global Footprint Network do an impressive job of performing this worldwide calculation. Since 2003, they’ve been analyzing UN data and satellite imagery to estimate the planet’s capacity to meet our needs (biocapacity), and humankind’s footprint - or demand (ecological footprint) - on that capacity. Their analysis suggests we have been in overshoot since about 1970.
If you have too many people, consuming resources faster than the planet can regenerate them, and generating waste faster than the planet can convert that waste, you are in overshoot. This bonus episode of GrowthBusters features the Conversation Earth special, Welcome to Overshoot: Have a Nice Day. This is a 2020 update of the special we shared a year ago. Welcome to Overshoot explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem. It features a who’s who of environmental and economic experts:
William Catton, author of Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change
Brian Czech, author of Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution, and executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Herman Daly, author of Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development
Paul Ehrlich, Stanford Biologist, author of The Population Bomb
Kerryn Higgs, author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet
Ian Johnson, former World Bank vice president, former secretary general of Club of Rome
Bill McKibben, environmental journalist, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, co-founder of 350.org.
Dennis Meadows, lead scientist, The Limits to Growth
Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist
William Rees, co-originator of ecological footprint analysis
Bill Ryerson, President of Population Media Center and Chair of Population Institute
Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston University and author of True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans Are Creating a Time-Rich, Ecologically Light, Small-Scale, High-Satisfaction Economy
John Seager, CEO of Population Connection
Gus Speth, former chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality, Co-Chair of the Next System Project
Mathis Wackernagel, founder of Global Footprint Network and co-author of Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget
Rex Weyler, environmental journalist
LINKS:
Earth Overshoot Day
The Limits to Growth
Conversation Earth podcasts
Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget by Mathis Wackernagel and Bert Beyers
Footprint Calculator
Move the Date
Solutions to accelerate the shift to one-planet living
Past Earth Overshoot Days
OTHER LINKS:
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Physician Sofia Pineda Ochoa became so concerned about the future of life on Earth that she wrote, produced and directed the new documentary, Endgame 2050. “There is no human health without planetary health,” she tells us. She interviewed several notable experts in the film, but musician/environmental activist Moby provided the most brutally candid assessment of our situation: “Things are not fine.” He told Sofia we “are destroying the only home that we know of in the universe that will support life…. if we can’t change ourselves, if we can’t learn how to live in sustainable harmony with the only world that will support us, we need to go away.”
The film doesn’t shy away from human overpopulation as a chief contributor to our ongoing destruction of Earth’s life-supporting ecosystems. Dr. Ochoa does more than diagnose our problem; she also offers some solutions: “I think we have a moral obligation to raise awareness about the unsustainability of our current population growth rate, and the importance of slowing that rate down, as well as changing our consumption patterns.” On the consumption side, Endgame 2050 makes a compelling case for eliminating meat from our diet.
Alec Baldwin, Brad Pitt, “nature porn,” and the United Nations all come up in our free ranging conversation. The film is free to view on several streaming services. Visit endgame2050.com for screening information (and for good resources if you want to dig deeper into the subjects raised in the film).
DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
Welcome to Overshoot: Have a Nice Day – Conversation Earth Special
Podcast Version
Radio Broadcast Version
Endgame 2050
MeatYourFuture.com – Sofia’s website supporting a plant-based diet
Lie Down in Darkness – by Moby
The Game Changers
Bad science and bad arguments abound in 'Apocalypse Never' by Michael Shellenberger – by Dr. Peter H. Gleick
Decoupling Nonsense – episode 35 of the GrowthBusters podcast
OTHER LINKS:
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If you're planning your wedding, or have a friend planning theirs, this episode is for you. The idea of a virtual wedding seemed pretty geeky a year ago, but in the COVID era, suddenly the notion isn’t so far-fetched. But if you’re not going virtual, we have some other recommendations for you to shrink the footprint of your wedding.
In this follow-up to episode 25 of the GrowthBusters podcast, Sarah Baillie reports on how she made her wedding “wildlife friendly.” Sarah wrote the Wildlife Friendly Wedding Guide, and told us about this before her own wedding in episode 25 (link below). At the time she was just embarking on planning her own wedding, so we invited her back to report on the blessed event.
Sarah is Endangered Species Condoms Coordinator at the Center for Biological Diversity, so we also asked her for an update on this program (we are big fans), especially during the pandemic period of isolation.
The Wildlife-friendly Wedding Guide (e-version is free)
How to Have a Green Wedding – GrowthBusters Episode 25
Bury Mom in the Back Yard? The Ins and Outs of Green Burial – GrowthBusters Episode 41
The SoKind Registry (register your wedding for small-footprint gifts - homemade gifts, charitable donations, secondhand goods, experiences, time, day-of-event help, and more.)
Center for Biological Diversity
Endangered Species Condoms
Avoid Unplanned Parenthood (video of Dave handing out Endangered Species Condoms)
How To Make Vegetable Broth With Kitchen Scraps
Sustainable Gift Giving in the Time of Coronavirus – by Sarah Baillie
Our Webinars (video and podcast versions) about Planet of the Humans:
VIDEO:
Planet of the Humans: a Sequel (Webinar)
Planet of the Humans Webinar Part 2
PODCASTS:
Planet of the Humans: What Did the Film Get Right? (webinar part 1)
1-See Planet of the Humans; 2-Resolve Overshoot (webinar part 2)
OTHER LINKS:
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What should we do in response to the key messages of the 2020 documentary, Planet of the Humans? This is a continuation of the discussion begun in part one of the webinar, Planet of the Humans: a Sequel. In part 2, our panel explores actions we can take now – to avoid terminating human civilization. Both parts of the webinar addressed the roles of overpopulation, overconsumption and economic growth in the most serious environmental crises we face.
The webinar was co-hosted by GrowthBusters and World Population Balance.
Panelists:
Kristine Mattis: An interdisciplinary environmental scholar with a background in Biology and Earth System Science, Kristine has worked as a medical researcher, a science reporter for the congressional record in the U.S. House of Representatives, and a science teacher. She holds a PhD in Environment and Resources. Her writing encompasses issues of social and environmental justice, public health, risk, and science.
Brian Czech: Executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE). With a Ph.D. in renewable natural resources, his specialties intersect ecological economics, conservation biology, and public policy. The author of several books, Czech recently edited Best of The Daly News: Selected Essays from the Leading Blog in Steady State Economics.
Dave Gardner: Co-host of the GrowthBusters podcast about sustainable living; co-host of The Overpopulation Podcast; director of the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth; host of the syndicated radio series, Conversation Earth; and executive director of World Population Balance.
Erika Arias: Co-host of the GrowthBusters podcast about sustainable living; co-host of The Overpopulation Podcast; Programs & Engagement Coordinator for World Population Balance, and a childfree researcher and advocate.
LINKS
VIDEO:
Planet of the Humans: a Sequel (webinar part one)
Planet of the Humans Webinar Part 2
BOOKS:
Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered - by E.F. Schumacher
Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources - by Rob Dietz and Dan O'Neill
Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop Them All - by Brian Czech
Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth - by Juliet Schor
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory - by David Graeber
PODCASTS:
The Overpopulation Podcast
GrowthBusters podcast about sustainable living
PAPERS & ESSAYS:
Works by Kristine Mattis
Degrowth A Vocabulary for a New Era (2014)
Nobody Takes the Renewable Energy Transition Seriously - by Richard Heinberg
Beyond Green Growth - by Dan O’Neill
Wake Up Call on the Environment: A Student Manifesto
Exiting the Fast Lane: Job Sharing is One Route to Discovering the Personal and Environmental Benefits of Working Less
How to Make a Job Sharing Situation Work
Planning for Post-Corona: A Manifesto for the Netherlands
Crossroads for Planet of the Humans – by William Rees
PEOPLE & ORGANIZATIONS:
World Population Balance
GrowthBusters
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Herman Daly
Transition Network
Transition U.S.
Common Future (formerly Business Alliance of Local Living Economies)
Wellbeing Economy Alliance
Doughnut Economics Action Lab
Take Back Your Time
The Simplicity Collective
OTHER LINKS:
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Archive of all episodes of the GrowthBusters podcast
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Explore the issues at www.growthbusters.org
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“There are too many human beings, using too much, too fast.” Those are the words of Richard Heinberg in a controversial new documentary executive produced by Michael Moore. Planet of the Humans presents us with some inconvenient truths – far more inconvenient than just the greenhouse gas effect. Yet because the film skewers some renewable energy advocates for painting an overly rosy picture that’s not 100% accurate, there’s been a lot of backlash and effort to keep the film from being seen. In the film, director Jeff Gibbs notes:
“It was becoming clear that what we had been calling green, renewable energy, and industrial civilization are one and the same – desperate measures not to save the planet, but to save our way of life.”
We think the most important messages of the film are just too critical to avoid, so GrowthBusters teamed up with World Population Balance to co-host the webinar, Planet of the Humans: a Sequel. You can view a video replay of that webinar here. Or you can listen to the audio of the webinar in this episode of the GrowthBusters podcast.
We just recorded a continuation of the panel discussion begun in that webinar. Watch for that as another episode of the podcast in the very near future. Subscribe to our email updates or the GrowthBusters YouTube channel to be notified immediately when that video is posted.
LINKS:
Planet of the Humans film
Planet of the Humans: a Sequel webinar video replay
World Population Balance
One Planet, One Child Billboard Campaign
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Fact Check at Planet of the Humans Website
Full and Sustainable Employment Act (post in Steady State Herald)
The Real Green New Deal Project
Green New Deal
Panelists’ reviews of Planet of the Humans:
The Inconvenient Truth of Planet of the Humans – by Dave Gardner
Climate Crisis: Our Ecological Dysfunction Has a Marketing Problem (and it’s not Michael Moore) – by Kristine Mattis
Planet of the Humans Puts Sacred Cows Out to Pasture – by Brian Czech
Other Insightful Reviews:
Sequence Matters – by Herman Daly
Review: Planet of the Humans – by Richard Heinberg
Crossroads for Planet of the Humans - by William Rees
OTHER LINKS:
Join the conversation on Facebook
Make a donation to support this non-profit project.
Archive of all episodes of the GrowthBusters podcast
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See the film – GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth
Explore the issues at www.growthbusters.org
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Is there any use in choosing to live more sustainably if you’re surrounded by an unsustainable system? There are those who argue there is little value in making efforts to trim your own ecological footprint. They lament, “It’s difficult to skinny up your life when you live within a system that needs structural change,” built to drive itself off a cliff. The GrowthBusters disagree. But who can you turn to for good advice on this? An astrophysicist, of course!
We’re joined in this episode by NYU professor Joshua Spodek. Yes, he has a degree in astrophysics, but these days he’s busy teaching and coaching leadership and entrepreneurship, doing TEDx talks, authoring best-selling books, blogging daily, and hosting his own podcast. It takes Joshua a year to accumulate a load of trash, and he hasn’t hopped on a plane in four years. So when it comes to both the joy, and the value, of individual planet-saving action, Josh is our guy.
Here is the complete email from Rob Boman in Oregon (we shared a portion of it on the podcast) Links promised are below this.
Hello, I just listened to podcast #35 (uncoupling nonsense). I could send a lot of stuff and I’m in the process of developing a website, but for now, you might find this interesting: I call it The Fifteen Criteria Points of Genuine, Meaningful Sustainability Thanks for your work, Robert Bolman
1) What people commonly refer to as “sustainability” is not truly sustainable. For example, people will refer to “sustainably harvested lumber”. Lumber may be harvested in a manner that is not destructive of forest ecosystems, but in order for lumber to be sustainably harvested, not only would the chainsaws and logging trucks need to be running on something other than fossil fuels, but the chainsaws and logging trucks would need to be MANUFACTURED using something other than fossil fuels. When you consider the amount of energy required to make a large metal object like a logging truck, it is clear that even Forest Stewardship Council certified lumber is far from sustainable
2) Genuine, meaningful sustainability is defined by a rigorous set of criteria including, but not limited to the use of nonrenewable resources and the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet.
3) It therefore follows that achieving genuine, meaningful sustainability is a dauntingly complex, remote, far-flung ideal. It will be VERY difficult to achieve.
4) As difficult as it may be, genuine, meaningful sustainability WILL be achieved because to do anything less is unsustainable. Whatever the human family fails to do voluntarily, we WILL do involuntarily. It is possible that we will become a sustainable, advanced, complex civilization. On the other hand, dust blowing on the wind is sustainable.
5) The longer we wait, the longer we procrastinate, delay and make excuses, the more wrenching and traumatic the transition to sustainability will be. We are squandering precious time and resources presently. We have used up approximately half of our one-time geological allotment of fossil fuels. The remaining half will be increasingly more expensive and energy intensive to extract. We should be feverishly using the remaining half to construct the post-fossil fuel infrastructure that we will need. This is especially the case when considering Climate Change. Fully preparing for life without fossil fuels could take decades. Also, it is not at all clear just HOW everything we do with fossil fuels can be accomplished with wind, solar and biofuels. The time to begin that transition is NOT when the fossil fuels are dwindling and the economy is collapsing.
6) Growth is unsustainable. Period. Within a closed, finite system like a petri dish, an island or a planet, growth of the physical environment cannot be continued. Thus, mainstream economics with its emphasis on perpetual growth is quite misguided and unsustainable. (The joke goes that an economist is someone who believes that given sufficient water and fertilizer, a tree can grow to be 100 miles tall.)
7) The best efforts at sustainability will be in vain if population isn’t addressed. It has been consistently shown that the best way to encourage poorer populations to have fewer children is to provide them with education, health care and a more humane quality of life, generally. Therefore, arguably, the extremely poor distribution of the world’s wealth is unsustainable.
8) When the consequences of a given action are not fully understood, it is best to err on the side of caution. This is called The Precautionary Principle and if so called “conservatives” were genuinely conservative, it would be the bedrock of their philosophy. It is safe, prudent and truly conservative. When looked at in the context of genuine, meaningful sustainability, so called “conservatives” are not conservative at all. They are radical, cavalier and dangerous.
9). Carrying on with business-as-usual, assuming that technology will emerge to save us is optimistic to the point of irresponsibility. This is a good place to invoke The Precautionary Principle. No doubt new technologies will emerge to help us through the coming transition to sustainability, but we are facing some serious challenges and there is no guarantee that technology will make this an easy transition. Technological optimism IS NOT a sound basis for public policy.
10) Human labor is environmentally neutral. So, wherever any toxic, energy intensive industrial or agricultural practice can be replaced with a different process using human labor, that’s what we should do. Seen in the context of the approaching depletion of fossil fuels, we perhaps don’t need to worry about unemployment. There will be plenty of work for people to do.
11) In order for market forces to govern a sustainable world, environmental and social costs must be accounted for. The way mainstream economists view the world, countless true environmental and social costs are nonchalantly brushed aside – dismissed as “externalities”. Then, with a straight face, these same economists insist that the “wise and invisible hand of the free market” should be allowed to decide things for us. We might as well have a chimpanzee with a Ouija board making some of society’s more important decisions. It’s absurd. For example, if the true environmental and social costs of fossil fuels were accounted for, they would be far more expensive and we would be living in a very different world with dramatically different transportation, land use, manufacturing and agriculture.
12) So many powerful economic interests make so much money from such unsustainable business practices and so many people enjoy such great levels of comfort, convenience and entertainment through such unsustainable means that achieving genuine, meaningful sustainability will be very upsetting to a lot of people. In other words, the necessary and inevitable changes are gonna PISS PEOPLE OFF.
13) Therefore, in order to achieve genuine, meaningful sustainability, those in positions of power must carry out dramatic, sweeping changes for which there may not yet be widespread, popular support. The practice of politicians tiptoeing around, reluctant to upset people must end. True leaders must be ready to say, “Here’s what we’re gonna do. Here’s why. And this pallet of document boxes is the scientific research supporting our decision, so please stop shouting and start reading.”
14) It follows that in order to achieve widespread, popular support for sustainability, the public must be educated – a task too important to be left to the mainstream media & “education” as it commonly exists. Corporate lawyers should not earn ten times the income of a public school teacher. Rather than cutting funding for National Public Radio and Television, funding should be dramatically increased with the condition that all corporate underwriting be eliminated. We should consider a national public print media to provide an alternative to the New York Times and Washington Post.
15) In order to function better as a species, human beings must develop an enhanced faculty of discernment whereby we will tend to believe what is true as distinct from believing what happens to be convenient. It has been articulated by people ranging from Albert Einstein to Shirley MacLane that HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS MUST CHANGE for the world’s problems to be resolved, but this idea is viewed as being vague or abstract – better discussed by philosophers and psychologists than by policy makers. But there is nothing vague or abstract about the DENIAL, DELUSION and sometimes SOCIOPATHIC BEHAVIOR being exhibited by those in positions of power in the world. The hierarchies of power don’t groom and condition the finest people among us to rise to the positions of leadership. In order to achieve and thrive in positions of power, people often find it necessary to embrace a deeply flawed view of reality. Or in many cases, sociopathic behavior can serve those in power very nicely as they dig, claw, kick and gouge their way to the top. This is how politicians and corporate executives wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, genuinely believe that their behavior is acceptable and then spend their days doing a gross disservice to future generations. It is high time we bring the full weight of modern psychology to bear on those running the world.
LINKS: (We didn’t get around to discussing all these, but we want to share them with you, anyway.)
Joshua Spodek website
Leadership and the Environment (Joshua Spodek’s podcast)
Dave Gardner episodes of Leadership and the Environment
What everyone Gets Wrong About the Environment – TEDx Talk by Joshua Spodek
Find Your Delicious: Leadership and the Environment – TEDx Talk by Joshua Spodek
Joshua Spodek on flying:
What a Year Without Flying Taught Me About Responsibility, Empathy, and Community – in Inc. Magazine
Covid-19: Addiction to Flying and Other Polluting Behavior Was a Lack of Motivation and Imagination
Year 4, Day 1 of Not Flying
The Longer I Go Without Flying, the More People Talking About Flying Sounds Like They’re Talking About Heroin
The Longer I Go Without Flying, the More People Talking About Flying Sounds Like They’re Talking About Heroin, Part 2
Joshua’s 20-Minute Vegetable Stew
A Christmas Thought on Climate and Population - by Joshua Spodek
Towards the 'Walden Wage”
Waiting for the World to End - by The Mavericks
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Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich reflects on more than 50 years of effort to educate the public about the unsustainability of endless economic and population growth. In this special Earth Day 50th Anniversary episode, Ehrlich discusses the challenges of getting a good university education, his work with butterflies, and a few of his over 40 books, including The Population Bomb (he shares a 50-year-old secret about a mistake on the front cover).
Plus: Dinner with Johnny Carson, butterfly graffiti, and why the climate crisis has never captured our full attention like the COVID-19 pandemic has.
We also make an important announcement: In honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the fact that most of us are sheltering in place, we’re making access to the documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, and archived recordings of a series of GrowthBusters webinars, free from April 22 through April 29 (2020). Here’s the link to get access.
EARTH DAY 50th ANNIVERSARY LINKS:
GrowthBusters Documentary Free Screening
Free Screening Facebook Event
GrowthBusters Webinars Free Access
Earth Day 2020 (50th Anniversary)
BOOKS DISCUSSED (some recommended by Paul Ehrlich):
Rattlesnake Under His Hat by Sam Hurst
The Wisest One in the Room – by Thomas Gilovich and Lee Ross
Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect by Paul Ehrlich
Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment by Paul R. Ehrlich, John P. Holdren and Anne H. Ehrlich
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
The Population Bomb by Anne and Paul Ehrlich
The Silver Lining of COVID Induced Recession - GrowthBusters episode 42
Noam Chomsky on the U.S. media
The Climate Mitigation Gap - study by Seth Wynes and Kimberly Nicholas
One Planet, One Child Billboard Campaign
Beware the Left's 'Degrowth' Movement by Stephen Moore (example of unenlightened growth boosting)
The Earth Is Telling Us We Must Rethink Our Growth Society by William Rees
The End Of Economic Growth by Sarmishta Subramanian
Environmental Consequences of Moral Disinhibition by Richard York
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Coronavirus has brought the economies of the world to a grinding halt. The world is (almost) universally mourning the recession – almost. There is a small, but rising chorus of hopeful speculation that the increasingly apparent deficiencies of our growth-obsessed economic system make it ripe for this crisis to shock it onto a more sustainable path.
We invited Brian Czech, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) to explain how this recession is “setting up a brighter future for the generations to come.” Our “suicidal obsession with economic growth has caused us to make some bad deals. What happens at the end of the recession is what really matters. Have we learned enough about the shortcomings of GDP growth on a full planet to NOT climb right back on that horse?
LINKS:
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE)
Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train by Brian Czech
Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution by Brian Czech
The Steady State Press
Best of the Daly News
The Silver Lining of the COVID-Caused Recession – by Brian Czech
How To Avert Economic Catastrophe: Ideas From 5 Top Economists (NPR)
Herman Daly and Kate Raworth on Pandemic-Resistant EconomiesFacebook Live Event hosted by Andrew Revkin
An Act of Congress for the Steady-State Timeline
Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (1978)
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Did you know we bury enough metal in caskets each year to build a new Golden Gate Bridge? You’re living your life trying to be green. Have you given any thought to the impact of the way you exit the planet? What’s your final act? In this episode we explore how to exit gracefully, with a lighter footprint.
Funeral director Elizabeth Fournier is known as the “green reaper,” for her and work to make information about “going green,” as your last heroic act of volunteerism, readily available to the public. Families can feel pressure, sometimes of their own making, to send someone off in high style. Fournier’s book, The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial, is a practical guide that can help you make decisions that are lighter on the planet, and happen to reduce funeral and burial costs.
She owns and operates Cornerstone Funeral Services in the small town of Boring, Oregon. But we can promise you this episode is anything but boring.
LINKS:
The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything You Need to Plan an Affordable, Environmentally Friendly Burial
Cornerstone Funeral Services (includes excellent green burial resources)
Why a ‘Green’ Burial is Best for the Environment
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The documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth is guaranteed to provoke conversations. Over eight years after it originally premiered, it’s still being screened. Is it still relevant? What kind of conversations does it spark? After he first watched, famed Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich wrote, “This could be the most important film ever made.”
You may want to screen the film in your community around Earth Day this year.
It sparked such a spirited discussion as part of an Earth Day screening attended by filmmaker Dave Gardner in 2019, that he invited one of the audience members to join him in the studio to discuss his response. This conversation was recorded nearly a year ago; it just kept being pushed aside as more time-sensitive topics and guests arose. Finally, we’re sharing it now. Erika had not yet joined the podcast when we recorded this.
Sean Svette is very active in the local food community/movement in Colorado Springs. He’s an instructor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and played a key role in the development of SWELL (Sustainability, Wellness & Learning).
If you’d like to organize a screening of the GrowthBusters documentary, the project makes it easy and very affordable. Visit the DVD store (links below) to order a community screening licensed DVD. Contact us if you have questions or special needs around this.
DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth documentary website
DVD Store
Community Screening DVD
Rent or Buy Digital Version
SWELL (Sustainability, Wellness & Learning)
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On a full planet, where human civilization is already in overshoot and in the process of crippling life-supporting ecosystems, it’s unfortunately not possible for the world’s poor, en masse, to rise out of poverty and live as richly as the even the average family in the industrialized world. There’s not enough biocapacity for 8 billion people to live high on the hog, and technology has not changed that. But “reputable” economists and technology Pollyanna’s like Andrew McAfee routinely fail to recognize this.
In this episode, Dave and Erika respond to the surge of listener feedback from GrowthBusters Episode 35, Decoupling Nonsense, in which they critiqued the unrealistic premise of Andrew McAfee’s latest book, More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources-and What Happens Next.
After listening to that episode, Terry Spahr, executive producer of the film 8 Billion Angels, sent a thoughtful email with some particularly interesting ideas. So we invited him to join us on the podcast to discuss. He offers an interesting challenge to some of the things we advocate on this podcast. He’s not necessarily impressed with the things you do that you THINK are shrinking your footprint. Find out why in this episode.
How can we react to all this information and behave fairly and ethically? Let us know what you think.
The conversation with Terry Spahr was recorded in November of 2019. He is in the process of planning screenings around the world for his film. Visit the film website to learn more.
In case you haven’t already, we recommend listening to Episode 35, Decoupling Nonsense*, prior to listening to this episode. Enjoy!
Links:
8 Billion Angels (film)
Earth Overshoot nonprofit
Decoupling Nonsense – Episode 35 of the GrowthBusters podcast
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We’re back! Today’s episode of the GrowthBusters podcast welcomes the New Year with the Telegraph’s 11 Green New Year’s Resolutions That Put the Planet First. But do they really? Whether you’re considering switching to electric, eating less meat, or choosing some combination of this year’s most popular green resolutions, Dave and Erika unpack the good and the confusing, and pick apart the not-so-great.
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
– Jane Goodall
Get some unusually good sustainability resolution recommendations from us in this episode, and learn how Dave and Erika are challenging themselves. Erika makes a VERY big footprint-reducing resolution. Listen to find out what it is. Will she be able to keep it? They tell us 80% of people give up on their resolutions by February, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be the change you want to see! Being one of her favorite holidays, Erika shares about what the new year means to her and questions what this statistic tells us about social influence and our search for living more sustainably.
In your journey towards becoming an eco-hero, we understand there will be times when you will want to give up, and perhaps even break your resolution(s), but we encourage you to be the example, get back up, and stick with it!
On the GrowthBusters podcast, Erika and Dave explore the joy of sustainable living and provide a recovery program for our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with and pursuit of growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Erika Arias is researching the childfree/environment connection and is about to enter grad school.
LINKS:
Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air – David MacKay Book – online and free
A Reality Check on Renewables – David Mackay TEDx Talk
11 Green New Year's Resolutions that Put the Planet First
America's Top New Year's Resolutions for 2020
Green Goals for 2020 – 10 Green Goals to Jumpstart Your New Year!
The Best New Year’s Resolution Is the Easiest One
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We could use some good news. According to the four scholars who wrote A Finer Future, we are already experiencing some of the dramatic changes our system must undertake in order for our planet to meet the needs of future generations. This episode features a conversation with L. Hunter Lovins about the wellbeing economy and how sustainable behavior makes good business sense. Interestingly, this book grew out of a homework assignment from the King of Bhutan.
Please think of us in your year-end giving. GrowthBusters is a non-profit project funded by YOU. DONATE HERE
Hunter Lovins is President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions. She co-founded the Rocky Mountain Institute, and co-authored (with Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins) the landmark book, Natural Capitalism. Lovins consults on sustainability for corporate giants and world leaders. She also finds time to serve as professor of sustainable business at Bard MBA.
This conversation was recorded in February of 2019, with introduction and close recorded in December of 2019.
LINKS:
A Finer Future – book, blog, resources
Human and Nature Dynamics (HANDY): Modeling Inequality and Use of Resources in the Collapse or Sustainability of Societies - Study
Wellbeing Economy Alliance
Capital Institute
Club of Rome
The Limits to Growth
The Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update
A Finer Future report for/by Club of Rome
Happy Planet Index
Global Alliance for Banking on Values
Business End of Climate Change - Study
Green Illusions by Ozzie Zehner
Planet of the Humans - film
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When the world’s scientists are concerned enough about something that they issue a warning – to the world, you might think we’d all take notice. Once you get to three warnings, however, well, you start to wonder just how intelligent we humans really are.
After a 1992 warning, and another in 2017, world scientists have this month issued what our guest, Stuart Scott, has termed, a “final notice.” In this episode we visit with the man who offered to help the world’s scientists step up to the microphone and be heard.
Scott is the founder and Executive Director of the Union of Concerned Citizens of Earth. He’s taken on the mission of helping the world’s scientists communicate well with everyday people.
The most recent warning, by the Alliance of World Scientists, is titled World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency, and was published in the November issue of the professional journal, Bioscience. It begins:
“Scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat and to ‘tell it like it is.’ On the basis of this obligation and the graphical indicators presented below, we declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.”
The piece goes on to summarize “six critical and interrelated steps…that governments, businesses, and the rest of humanity can take to lessen the worst effects of climate change.
LINKS:
Donate to Support this Podcast
Scientistswarning.org
This site has links to original 1992 warning, 2017 warning, and 2019 climate warning
Robert Newman – History of Oil
ScientistsWarningTV
Alliance of World Scientists
World Scientists Declare Climate Emergency
Brief video featuring one of the warning co-authors, Dr. Thomas Newsome from the University of Sydney
We Don’t Have Time
Greta Thunberg message to world leaders at COP24
Rewriting Our Cultural Narrative – episode 105 of Conversation Earth
We’re In Deep: Earth Overshoot Day 2019 – GrowthBusters episode with Mathis Wackernagel
William Rees’ two recent “Am I Wrong” queries:
Don’t Call Me a Pessimist on Climate Change. I Am a Realist (part one) by William Rees
Memo from a Climate Crisis Realist: The Choice before Us (part two) by William Rees
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Technological innovation cannot take the environmental destruction out of economic growth. Get the real facts, not the blind faith and hope, about whether “decoupling” can allow more and more “prosperity” for more and more people without also delivering more and more ecosystem collapse.
Decoupling is Not a ThingIn this episode, Dave and Erika take serious exception to Andrew McAfee’s misguided thesis in his latest book, More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources—and What Happens Next. Erika really likes Sam Harris’ podcast, Making Sense, but when it comes to his episode interviewing McAfee, Dave assures her it is utter nonsense.
But first…
Individual Action vs. Waiting for System ChangeDo individual actions really matter in the face of the climate crisis? Or are they a distraction from critically needed system change? Should we all be flying less, reducing our meat consumption, and/or having fewer children? Or do we wait until government regulations incentivize us to behave better? Erika and Dave agree with Greta Thunberg, but add a few more reasons to do the right thing, and do it now.
They review a piece by BBC Chief Environment Consultant Justin Rowlatt that includes a conversation with Greta Thunberg, plus insights from Princeton University Professor Peter Singer (“the world's most influential living philosopher”) and Professor Kelly Fielding of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. These experts agree that our actions do matter, and we have an opportunity to be the change we want to see. Following Greta’s lead, we can and should signal to others with our actions, if we want to inspire the next environmental movement. Spoiler alert: Free will is real!
Next…
Can the Next President Get Us to Net-Zero Carbon Emissions?Presidential candidates are promising to deliver the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions targeted by the IPCC. Politicians’ climate policy platforms have been characterized as an “auction of promises,” by analysts. Are these promises realistic? Don’t get your hopes up. What will it really take to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050? Would you believe we have to turn on 1500 new wind turbines every day, if we’re not going to give up our overconsuming ways and our quest for eternal economic growth? Good luck with that! Erika and Dave discuss some interesting analysis by Roger Pielke in Forbes.
How to Be SustainableLast, but certainly not least, we have a quick chat with a hero at California State University Northridge. Lecturer Dev Vrat teaches classes in sustainability, and caught our attention with an excellent list of…wait for it…individual actions you can take to behave more sustainably. The list was created by his students and published in the student newspaper. We were particularly impressed that the list includes choosing to adopt rather than bring new children into the world.
LINKS:
Climate Change Action: We Can't All be Greta, But Your Choices Have a Ripple Effect – BBC piece by Justin Rowlatt
The Great Uncoupling- A Conversation with Andrew McAfee – Making Sense podcast
How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources: The Very Nature of Technological Progress is Being Radically Transformed – book review
Decoupling is Dead! Long Live Degrowth! – Resilience.org piece we recommend reading
Study: Decoupling Debunked
Net-Zero Carbon Dioxide Emissions By 2050 Requires a New Nuclear Power Plant Every Day – by Roger Pielke
How to be Sustainable – guide by CSUN Students
14 Mayors Commit to Slashing Meat Consumption in Major Cities Worldwide
Planet of the Humans – new film
Free Will Is Real – some recommended reading
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More and more young women are declaring their intention not to conceive children. BirthStrike, Conceivable Future and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have all made headlines on this point. Erika and Dave unpack the issues surrounding womanhood without motherhood in this conversation with the author of the new book, Childfree by Choice, sociologist Amy Blackstone.
Amy is a professor of Sociology at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at University of Maine. Her research into the childfree choice has appeared in a variety of academic and media sources including the New York Times, National Public Radio, and other national, regional, and international outlets.
Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family & Creating a New Age of Independence is a definitive investigation into the history and current growing movement of adults choosing to forgo parenthood: what it means for our society, economy, environment, perceived gender roles, and legacies, and how understanding and supporting all types of families can lead to positive outcomes for parents, non-parents, and children alike.
Amy writes about her own experience as a childfree woman, as well as the stories of other childfree men and women, and uses academic research to shed light into the choice that remains culturally misunderstood. As more people are choosing to forgo parenthood today than ever before, it’s important to ask how this affects our society, economy, and environment. We dig deep into this topic and hear from Amy herself about whether she thinks we should keep having kids, and more about her view on the population-environment connection, an area Erika hopes to study in graduate school.
Being childfree herself, Erika is a firm advocate, and hopes to add more positive attention to the childfree choice in the media as co-host for the GrowthBusters podcast and in her future research endeavors.
Get Your Childfree Sticker! Wanting to make childfree and small-family decisions cool and a point of pride, Dave created small family stickers for you to put on the rear window of your car (a variation on the common stick figure families). Order yours here. Display it proudly to change the norm, making it “okay” to be childfree, even “cool.”
Apply to be a Producer or Editor on the GrowthBusters PodcastWe need a little help cranking out episodes. If you have the skills, we definitely want to hear from you. If you just have the aptitude but interest in learning and helping, you could be a great candidate. Send us a note with a little bit about your skills, experience, availability and interest.
LINKS:
Book Signing Event Schedule and Event Requests
Will Not Having Children Save the Planet?The Stream on Al Jazeera English
I Chose Not To Have Kids Because I’m Afraid For The Planet by Ash Sanders
Childfree by Choice: The Movement Redefining Family and Creating a New Age of IndependenceAmy’s new book
What Gets Left Behind for Future Generations? Reproduction and the Environment in Spey Bay, ScotlandJournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
World Vasectomy Day
Film: To Kid or Not to Kid
Further Reading:
Keeping Families Small a Patriotic Act: ModiIndia Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges adoption of small families
I Had 2 Kids. Now I Work to Influence People Against Having Their Own
It’s Given Me Freedom': Three Women on Being Childless by Choice
Toward a Small Family Ethic by Travis Rieder
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There may be beer in your fridge when you open it, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t in the early stages of climate catastrophe. The crisis is now, this is a present threat, not a future threat, according to our guest on this episode, Jeff Nesbit. He compiled an attention-getting catalog of things unraveling around the planet in his book, This Is the Way the World Ends. Is Nesbit predicting the end of the world? Listen to this episode to find out.
In their discussion of Jeff’s book and interview, Erika and Dave agree he places too much faith in technology and wish he shared their belief that changing individual behavior and contracting our population are both critical parts of limiting climate disruption.
Erika has a great notion: there is a “sweet spot” between too much technology and not enough. And don’t get them started on economic growth (oops, too late!).
PLUS: Erika can’t help but laugh at a piece critical of ecological footprint accounting and Earth Overshoot Day, written by Michael Schellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute. Dave is not a fan.
And listeners have been sending their recommendations for additions to our Overshoot Playlist: Top 10 Environmental Songs. We share three links below. Listen to the podcast episode that plays our top 10 songs here.
LINKS:
This Is the Way the World Ends by Jeff Nesbit
Climate Nexus
Small Family Stickers
Songs Recommended by Listeners to Our Overshoot Playlist Episode:
Earth Song by Michael Jackson
Earth by Lil Dicky
Poi Dog Pondering, by "The Ancient Egyptians”
Overshoot Playlist: Top Environmental Songs playlist on YouTube
GrowthBusters playlist on Spotify
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Since 1972, study after study, and report after report, has warned we are in overshoot – the sum total of human activity is too much for the Earth’s ecosystems to bear. Welcome to Overshoot explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem. This is an in-depth follow up to episode 31 of the GrowthBusters podcast, which included a lengthy conversation with Mathis Wackernagel, co-originator of ecological footprint analysis and founder of Global Footprint Network.
The best scientific estimates tell us human civilization is in overshoot. Were you aware of this? Do you know what overshoot is? This one-hour special is particularly relevant in the days leading up to, and immediately following, Earth Overshoot Day on July 29, 2019.
Computer modeling by a team of MIT scientists in 1972 estimated the scale of human activity on the planet would cause systems to fail within a hundred years. Such failure is expected when humanity’s footprint on the planet consistently exceeds its carrying capacity. Since 1972, study after study, and report after report, has warned we are in overshoot – the sum total of human activity is too much for the Earth’s ecosystems to bear.
Since 2003, scientists at Global Footprint Network have been analyzing UN data and satellite imagery to estimate the planet’s capacity to meet our needs (biocapacity), and humankind’s footprint - or demand (ecological footprint) - on that capacity. Their analysis suggests we have been in overshoot since about 1970. Welcome to Overshoot explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem.
Participants:
Reported by: Dave Gardner
Interviews:
William Catton, author of Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change
Brian Czech, author of Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution, and executive director of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Herman Daly, author of Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development
Paul Ehrlich, Stanford Biologist, author of The Population Bomb
Kerryn Higgs, author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet
Ian Johnson, former World Bank vice president, former secretary general of Club of Rome
Bill McKibben, environmental journalist, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, co-founder of 350.org.
Dennis Meadows, lead scientist, The Limits to Growth
Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: 7 Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist
William Rees, co-originator of ecological footprint analysis
Bill Ryerson, President of Population Media Center and Chair of Population Institute
Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston University and author of Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth
John Seager, CEO of Population Connection
Gus Speth, former chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality
Mathis Wackernagel, founder of Global Footprint Network and co-author of Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget
Rex Weyler, environmental journalist
Links:
Earth Overshoot Day
The Limits to Growth
Conversation Earth
Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget by Mathis Wackernagel and Bert Beyers
(pre-order the book now, publication date is September 3, 2019)
Footprint Calculator
Move the Date
Solutions to accelerate the shift to one-planet living
Overshoot Index
Past Earth Overshoot Days
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In seven months humanity has burned through the resources it takes the Earth a full year to replenish. This is overshoot, and yes, it is a very big deal. In 2019, Earth Overshoot Day falls on July 29. Find out how we know when “Earth Overshoot Day” falls, how and why we’re operating in ecological deficit, what it means for us and our children, and what – if anything – we can do about it.
Ecological footprint co-originator Mathis Wackernagel joins Erika and Dave for an in-depth discussion of overshoot. He explains the rigorous analysis done by the Global Footprint Network (which he founded) to calculate the biocapacity of the planet and the demands we place on it. Calculate your own ecological footprint using this footprint calculator and compare yours with Dave’s and Erika’s.
We discuss much of the information and ideas in his new book, Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget, co-written with Bert Beyers (available September 3, 2019). One of the most interesting and important is the idea that governments at every level, including cities, that continue today to invest in infrastructure designed around fossil-fuel powered transportation, will not be competitive in the new world we’re entering.
Plus: A new study claims cutting beef consumption by 40% will allow us to feed a world population of 10.9 billion people. Dave has a few problems with the reporting on this story and the rationale for doing the research. He suggests, “Let’s not put heroic efforts into feeding 10.9 billion. Let’s focus our efforts on not reaching 10.9 billion.” We know having fewer children doesn’t wreck the planet. We DON’T know the unintended consequences of the next “green revolution.”
LINKS:
Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget by Mathis Wackernagel and Bert Beyers
(pre-order the book now, publication date is September 3, 2019)
Cut Beef Consumption in Half to Help Save the Earth, Says New Study
Creating a Sustainable Food Future: A Menu of Solutions to Feed Nearly 10 Billion People by 2050World Resources Institute report
Footprint Calculator
Move the Date
Solutions to accelerate the shift to one-planet living
For further exploration:
Overshoot Index (2016)
Past Earth Overshoot Days
Mentioned or recommended by Wackernagel:
The One Planet Life by David Thorpe
The Challenge of Man’s Future by Harrison Brown
The Next Hundred Years: A Discussion Prepared for Leaders of American Industry published in 1957
by Harrison Brown, James Bonner, and John Weir
Invisible Walls: Why We Ignore the Damage We Inflict on the Planet — and Ourselves by Peter Seidel
(According to Wackernagel, “This was such a fabulous book; I believe the first ever to so clearly lay out the psychological and cultural barriers we are up against in the transformation to sustainability.”)
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What’s the soundtrack of human civilization’s time on Earth? If we were to put ten songs into a time capsule to help historians in the future piece together what the hell humankind was doing as the planet crumbled beneath our feet, the ten songs in this episode would tell half the story. We’ll have to share another ten songs in a future episode to tell the rest of the story. So here’s our top ten (five curated by Erika and five picked by Dave).
Music licensing restrictions prevent us from sharing these songs in full on our normal podcast episode, so we’ve posted a special episode with the complete songs at a site that licenses the music for us. Listen to the full-music version here.
Also, doing this episode inspired us to create a special public playlist on Spotify. You can hear all these songs, plus the runners up, at the GrowthBusters Spotify Playlist.
Let us know what important songs you feel we left out in this podcast or on our Spotify playlist (we’ll add them). Comment on this page, or on the GrowthBusters Podcast Facebook page, or email us.
We’re posting videos (in most cases, the official video) to these songs at this episode's page on the GrowthBusters website. These videos can also be found on the Overshoot Playlist: Top 10 Environmental Songs playlist on YouTube.
10. Love Song To The Earth – Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, and many more (2015) “See mama earth is in a crazy mess…. She under crazy stress”
website: www.lovesongtotheearth.org
9. Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell (1970) “Paved paradise, and put up a parking lot.”
8. Mercy, Mercy Me – Marvin Gaye (1968) “How much more abuse from man can she stand?”
7. First World Problems – Weird Al Yankovich (2014) “My house is so big, I can't get WiFi in the kitchen”
6. Sleeping In – Postal Service (2003)
“People thought that they were just being rewarded… for mailing letters with the address of the sender. Now we can swim any day in November”
5. How Far We’ve Come* – Matchbox Twenty (2007)“Where you going man you know the world is headed for hell? I guess we're gonna find out, Let's see how far we've come”*
4. Gone – Jack Johnson (2011)
“What about your soul? Is it cold?
Is it straight from the mold, and ready to be sold?”
3. Full Steam – David Gray & Annie Lennox (2009) “We all saw it coming but we still bought it”
2. Idioteque – Radiohead (2000) “We're not scaremongering. This is really happening”
1. Road to Hell – Chris Rea (1989) “This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway. Oh no, this is the road…to hell”
LINKS:
This episode with the complete songs included (at MixCloud)
Overshoot Playlist: Top Environmental Songs playlist on YouTube
GrowthBusters playlist on Spotify
Joshua Spodek’s podcast, Leadership and the Environment Ep 183: Reusing and Recycling Are Tactical, Reducing is Strategic
Ep 123 Dave Gardner : Busting the Growth Myth
Initiative – new book by Joshua Spodek
Our Moral Obligation to Conceive Just One Child
(Ep 7 of The Overpopulation Podcast, with Travis Rieder)
Toward a Small Family Ethic by Travis Rieder
What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
Jake Fader Music (Jake wrote and recorded the GrowthBusters theme)
Carlos Jones (Carlos sang the GrowthBusters theme)
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Did the heroes solve a problem or make it worse? Did super-villain Thanos in the blockbuster movie, Avengers: Infinity War, solve the overshoot problem when he killed off half the beings in the universe to end overpopulation? Should the Avengers undo his deed if they can? Dave and Erika dissect Avengers: Endgame and how it treats these sustainability issues.
We’re looking for a podcast editor or producer with great audio editing skills. If you’re interested, email us.
LINKS:
The Science of Avengers: Endgame Proves Thanos Did Nothing Wrong by JV Chamary
Do Only Villains Care About Overpopulation? We dissected last year’s Avengers: Infinity War in GrowthBusters episode 15.
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Bill Maher and Steven Colbert become the first honorees on the GrowthBusters podcast’s “Wall of Excellence.” You’ll find out why in this episode. We want to thank and celebrate influencers who help alert the public that we are in overshoot, demonstrate sustainable living in their own lives, or help educate the public about important ways we can shrink our footprints.
New co-host Erika Arias introduces herself. She is very interested in the voluntary child-free choice and hopes to do research in this area in the future. She shares a clip from a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher about how it’s actually good news that millennials are having less sex and therefore fewer children. Maher is, of course, famous for being bold enough to make “politically incorrect” statements, but Dave thinks talking about overpopulation is finally becoming politically correct after a few decades of “population taboo.”
Maher celebrates the declining birth rate in the over-developed world because it is the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. See this Lund University report for the detail: The Four Lifestyle Choices That Most Reduce Your Carbon Footprint.
On the other hand, Senator Mike Lee thinks having more babies will solve climate change. And even CNN prime time host Chris Cuomo gets some criticism here for painting population contraction as a loss of human potential. Dave finds it astonishing that even some very smart people are not aware that we are in overshoot.
Also in this episode, Dave thought he recalled the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest estimate of the average cost to raise a child in the U.S. is $237,000. We looked that up after recording this episode and the most recent figure we could find is $233,610, a 2015 figure announced in January, 2017.
NOTE: We’re looking for a podcast producer, or at least a podcast editor, to help out. Comment here or send us an email.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
New Rule: Masturbate, Don’t Procreate - Bill Maher
Are Millennials Having Less Sex Than Older Generations? A New Report Explores The Phenomenon
Families Projected to Spend an Average of $233,610 Raising a Child Born in 2015 (News release for most recent USDA study we could find)
Expenditures on Children by Families reports by USDA
Senator Mike Lee: More Babies Will Solve Climate Change(Steven Colbert Gives Mike Lee The Mike Lee Treatment)
The World Economy is a Pyramid Scheme, Steven Chu Says
Climate Change Will Take Food Off Your Table(Episode 27 of the GrowthBusters podcast with Michael Brownlee, author of Taking Back Our Food Supply: How to Lead the Local Food Revolution to Reclaim a Healthy Future)
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Will you be able to feed your family in ten or fifteen years? Mass starvation in industrialized countries due to climate change – in the near future – is not something we read or hear about. But it’s a real probability, according to Michael Brownlee, author of Taking Back Our Food Supply: How to Lead the Local Food Revolution to Reclaim a Healthy Future. In this fascinating conversation Brownlee explains that not only is the global industrial food system the largest contributor to climate change; it also will not be able to feed us as we weather the storm.
In the face of this, Michael believes “we need to stop participating in the current system, and build regional, localized food systems…. Building our own regional food system is a matter of life and death.” And that involves much more than farmer’s markets and CSAs. Brownlee also wrote The Local Food Revolution: How Humanity Will Feed Itself in Uncertain Times, published in 2015. He and partner Lynette Marie Hanthorn have launched the online Local Food Academy, to identify, train and support leaders of the local food revolution.
The newest book, Taking Back Our Food Supply, will be available in book stores beginning around Earth Day (April 22, 2019).
Michael Brownlee aptly described our situation in this paragraph from The Local Food Revolution:
“Today we are living in a moment of historic transition. We are moving from a food and farming system that erodes soil, wastes water, diminishes biodiversity, wastes fossil fuels, spews carbon, relies on mechanization, modifies genes, pollutes water and air, poisons the land, depletes the spirit, destroys community, and creates economic disparity ... to a food and farming system that restores and rebuilds soil, recycles and conserves water, increases biodiversity, sequesters carbon, produces its own energy, relies on human labor, breeds for resilience, saves seeds, purifies the water and the air, heals the land, feeds the spirit, builds community, and creates economic parity."
Audition to become a co-host of the GrowthBusters podcast.
LINKS:
Taking Back Our Food Supply by Michael Brownlee
Local Food Academy
The Local Food Revolution by Michael Brownlee
Michael Brownlee episodes on Conversation Earth radio series & podcast:
Surviving a Hostile Climate on Local Food
Local Food Revolution
Running Out of Gas - GrowthBusters Episode 26
Forum - Tackling the Population Taboo: Creating a Sustainable Future for Children
Writing by Michael Brownlee:
Igniting a Revolution in the Way Humanity Feeds Itself
Reclaiming the Future: How to Lead the Local Food Revolution in Your Community (free e-book)
GrowthBusters Earth Day Screenings:
Colorado Springs, CO – April 8 at the Tim Gill Center for Public Media
Pittsboro, North Carolina – April 23 at the Chatham Community Library
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What if we told you the coming climate catastrophe MAY not turn out to be as bad as we all thought? I’m not sure I’m ready to buy that, but one of our guests on this episode tells us just that. IPCC worst-case scenarios seem to forget peak oil. Limited fossil fuel supplies on the planet could be a factor. But don’t break out the champagne; we still have enough fossil fuels to screw things up pretty badly. See what you think!
Our two guests for this episode:
Dr. James Ward, a sustainability science and ecological engineering researcher and educator from the University of South Australia.
Professor Paul Sutton from the Department of Geography & the Environment at the University of Denver.
We recorded this conversation just a week before Ward and Sutton were scheduled to present at the Global Scenarios Forum in Denver, March 11-13, 2019. They planned to present data and suggestions that the IPCC has up to this point not considered the full range of possible economic scenarios in evaluating various outcomes. The forum will inform scenarios used by the International Panel on Climate Change.
James Ward’s research indicates there is likely not enough recoverable coal, oil and natural gas to drive the worst-case climate change scenarios.
Paul Sutton is using nighttime satellite imagery to map and estimate human population distribution, energy consumption, economic activity, urban extent, CO2 emissions, and ecological footprints. He also teaches population geography and ecological economics.
Our conversation covered limits to growth, climate change, peak oil, and economic growth. Is the future “all about growth?” Climate change is just one part of a bigger picture need for us to shift away from our expansionist mindset. An economy that’s “already transgressing planetary boundaries” cannot be expected to “multiply by a factor of ten,” we’re told. Ward tells his classes that “growth is viewed as inevitable, possible, and desirable, and it’s none of those things.”
We have a good discussion of “the decoupling delusion” (believing we can divorce economic growth from resource depletion and negative environmental impacts). Just switching our growth-obsessed society to renewable energy won’t ensure the survival of our civilization.
Paul shares about the Grand Challenge Impact 2025 urban sustainability group he’s a part of, and how difficult it is for scientists and other sustainability advocates to wrap their heads around the idea that our population needs to contract.
Also:
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Which countries are today using more than their share of biocapacity, and which are not?
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James talks about the 3 D’s: denial, despair and delusion.
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Fantasies of the future. A pod metropolis on Mars? (Listening to PODcasts, no doubt.)
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Sutton: Killing all the bees will create jobs and grow GDP and tax revenue. “The idiot lights on the economists’ dashboard are jobs, GDP, tax revenue.”
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Al Bartlett’s explanation of exponential growth
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Ward: “We’ve got one planet here; we’ve got to get it right.”
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Running out of Soylent Green
Ultimately, we arrive at the conclusion that we need a cultural change. We need to figure out how to “thrive and enjoy a future that’s not based on growing.”
LINKS:
The Influence of Constrained Fossil Fuel Emissions Scenarios on Climate and Water Resource Projections
Soylent Green Trailer
Global Footprint Network
The Decoupling Delusion: Rethinking Growth and Sustainability
Wellbeing Economy Alliance
Doughnut Economics
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Love is in the air on Valentine’s Day, so this seems the perfect time to learn what you can do to green up your wedding. With over 2 million weddings per year just in the U.S., greening your wedding can make a real difference. The Center for Biological Diversity’s Sarah Baillie shares low-impact wedding tips from the new Wildlife-Friendly Wedding Guide. Listen for more tips and information. And by all means get the guide if you have a wedding to plan!
Your choice of wedding location can make a big difference. So can menu choices. Did you know a vegetarian menu has 75% less emissions than a meat-based menu? For a vegan menu the reduction is 90%. And have you considered that renting attire for the wedding party vs. buying can substantially cut your wedding’s impact? Attending a wedding has its share of impacts and costs. According to LendEDU, the average wedding attendee spends $1,386 per wedding.
LINKS:
The Wildlife-Friendly Wedding Guide
Center for Biological Diversity
Population & Sustainability Program (of Center for Biological Diversity)
Valentine’s Day in Times Square (Center for Biological Diversity action)
Dave’s documentary about bystander behavior
Endangered Species Condoms
So Kind registry (a registry and wishlist service that encourages the giving of homemade gifts, charitable donations, secondhand goods, experiences, time, day-of-event help and more)
The Good Beginning registry (an online registry for donating to charitable causes throughout the world)
Rapid Population Growth in West, South Comes at High Cost to Wildlife (Press Release about U.S. Census Announcement)
As Weddings Become More Elaborate, Guests Send More Regrets
Loop circular shopping platform
When you’ve had a tough day and need some comfort, do you go for a long hike and commune with nature, or do you get on Amazon? What gives us joy, yet what do we strive to achieve? Are we in dominion over nature, or are we part of nature? Suez Jacobson (believe it or not, an economics professor) shares why she produced the film Wild Hope, which premieres February 23, 2019 at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival.
The film includes Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, George Monbiot and several other luminaries, including Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario.
Host Dave Gardner also engages Jacobson in a fascinating conversation about the shortcomings of college-level economics education. She also shares how she has begun teaching economics.
“The more clearly we can focus on the wonders and realities of the universe around us, the less taste we will have for its destruction.” - Rachel Carson
LINKS:
Wild Hope film
Wild Hope Premiere: The Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF), Golden, CO, February 23
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
The Impossible Hamster video
Reimagining Economics 101 – paper by Suez Jacobson
The Greenpeace PolluterWatch Charles Koch University Funding Database
Economists and educators mentioned by Suez who are doing excellent work:
Tim Jackson
Kate Raworth – Doughnut Economics
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer
TEDx talk by Robin Wall Kimmerer
How do we handle the despair of knowing we may not win this battle with climate change (which is really a battle with ourselves)? Should we keep fighting? And if we do, WHO needs to be making the drastic changes we know are needed to avoid the worst of climate change disaster? Is it you and me? The big corporations? Or is it our elected policymakers? Are we assuming too much personal responsibility for goosing climate change or not enough? Are we in such a dire situation that we shouldn’t even bother “greening” up our lives, because that is so far from enough?
In this episode former UK Guardian columnist and author of All You Need is Less, Madeleine Sommerville, joins host Dave Gardner to ponder these questions.
LINKS:
Spaceship Earth Passenger Safety Briefing (short GrowthBusters film)
All You Need is Less (Madeleine Sommerville’s Guardian Column)
All You Need is Less: The Eco-Friendly Guide to Guilt-Free Green Living and Stress-Free Simplicity (Madeleine Sommerville’s book)
In our conversation, Madeleine mentioned she felt she could only write so many times about buying green products. Well, what about NOT buying? The next day I read 5 Things You Need (No Purchase Required) To Go Zero Waste by Lindsay Miles (her blog is Treading My Own Path: Steps Toward a Sustainable Lifestyle. She’s written a few e-books, including Enough is Enough: 18 Ideas for Embracing a Life with Less Waste and Less Stuff, and Beginners Guide to Living with Less Plastic). Check it all out.
Sweet Madeleine blog
Neoliberalism has Conned Us into Fighting Climate Change as Individuals by Martin Lukacs
(The article Madeleine mentioned about the danger of assuming a lot of personal responsibility for climate change)
How to Cope with the End of the World by Madeleine Sommerville
You Are Stealing Our Future (15-year-old Greta Thunberg at COP24)
Greta & Svante Thunberg - Straight Talk (Discussion at COP24 with Greta Thunberg)
To brush up on just how long some scientists have been trying to get the world into motion on greenhouse gas reduction, read:
Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change by Nathaniel Rich
When you think of laundry, typically you’re after the whitest whites, and no shrinkage. How about we think outside the box and “green” our laundry practices by shrinking their footprint? This episode answers your questions and offers advice on how to minimize the environmental impact of washing your clothes. Also an often forgotten, but important aspect, of making recycling work.
Did you know 75 to 90 percent of the energy your washer uses goes to warming up the water? You can save $60 or more per year on your energy bill by washing in cold water, according to Consumer Reports. But not all laundry detergents work well in cold water. We address that in this episode and offer additional information in the links below.
LINKS:
Heidi Bischof’s Earth Ethic blog at Medium
After recording this podcast, Heidi found this indicating laundry pods are probably safe for people and planet:
Detergent Pods are Handy, but Can I Use Them With a Clean Conscience? – Grist’s Ask Umbra
Also, here’s a related tip not discussed in the podcast: Washing your dishes by hand probably wastes water!
Why You Should Never Wash Dishes by Hand
Two products designed to capture plastic microfibers in our washing machines:
The Cora Ball
Guppyfriend Washing Bag
Essential Working Group Guide to Laundry Detergents
Why Are You Still Washing Your Clothes In Warm Water?
6 Reasons to Cold-Water Wash
9 Ways to Save Energy Doing Laundry
The Best Laundry Detergent
Life expectancy is declining in one of the richest countries on Earth, the U.S., due to suicides and drug overdoses. Several noted millionaires have checked out in the last few years. Why? Do you fear you’re a failure because you aren’t ahead of the Joneses? Are you unhappy because you don’t have it all? Are you short on time or money? Are you constantly scrapping for something you don’t have? The conversation in this episode may start you on a course that can set you free and bring you peace of mind.It may be your key to sustainable living. GrowthBusters’ Dave Gardner is joined by Jennifer Cohen and Gina LaRoche, authors of The Seven Laws of Enough: Cultivating a Life of Sustainable Abundance for a discussion of “Sustainable Abundance.”
Also in this episode: David Attenborough’s recent COP 24 address on behalf of the people of the world. Plus, do you want help reducing your carbon footprint? There’s a new UN social media program that may help.
LINKS:
Join or make a one-time donation to GrowthBusters (yes, we’re a 501C3 nonprofit!)
GrowthBusters Podcast Facebook Page
Video of David Attenborough Address
United Nations Facebook Page
United Nations ActNow Bot
Book: The Seven Laws of Enough
Scarcity Assessment
Seven Stones Leadership
A climate emergency has finally been declared. Grace and Dave explain the bad news from the IPCC and evaluate media, public and policymaker response. Has sugar-coating the news and projections in the past been useful? Is it time to “take the gloves off?” Some say even this new, alarming report is understating the seriousness of what we face.
What should we be doing about it? Now that denial of the science is pretty much behind us, what stands in the way of an appropriate response? Is apathy an issue? Saturday Night Live may have summed up our predicament a little too accurately. The agenda includes the Trump administration’s approach to climate.
Plus: World premiere announcement of a new documentary, To Kid or Not to Kid, at Doc NYC, World Vasectomy Day is a thing, and a new segment featuring Heidi Bischof, the head and heart of Earth Ethic.
LOTS OF LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE'S DISCUSSION:
Documentary World Premiere: To Kid or Not to Kid
World Vasectomy Day
IPCC Report Executive Summary: GLOBAL WARMING OF 1.5 °C
UN Report on Global Warming Carries Life-or-Death Warning - AP Story
8 Things You Need to Know About the IPCC 1.5˚C Report by Kelly Levin, World Resources Institute
Saturday Night Live Weekend Update
Can Civilization Survive What’s Coming? By Jeff Goodell in Rolling Stone
Climate Change Threatens Extinction but Politicians Only Care About Next Election by former London Mayor Ken Livingstone
“I Simply Don’t Care’ About Climate Change
The Trump Administration Knows the Planet is Going to Boil. It Doesn’t Care by Bill McKibben
Talking points: 1.5°C = No Fossil Fuels from 350.org
Heidi Bischof on Medium
Saving the Planet: How to Find Your Missing Why by Heidi Bischof
Less Is More: Bringing Back Quality And Simplicity To Our Kitchens (And Our Lives) by Heidi Bischof
Earth’s Population is Skyrocketing. How Do You Feed 10 Billion People Sustainably?
The Adorable Optimism of the IPCC by Peter Watts
Overwhelmed by Climate Change? Here’s What You Can Do by Matthew Taylor and Adam Vaughan at UK Guardian
Eco Crises: Doom & Gloom, Truth & Consequences by Kristine Mattis
Yes, they are related. Our business-as-usual response to Hurricane Florence last month starts the conversation. (This episode was recorded before Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida panhandle.) Grace and Dave do also share some good news: climate change is getting more attention (of course the recent IPCC report has turned that volume up to 11, and we’ll discuss that in the next episode).
Also in this episode: Does Dave need to shut up already about using condoms? How reliable are various forms of contraception? A challenge to the top environmental NGOs to start telling the truth about the unsustainability of economic growth. And a politician startles the world by quitting because his government isn’t doing enough about the climate.
NOTE: Dave heard back from Final Straw about his problem getting the cleaning squeegie out of his straw. They informed him he had purchased a "bootleg" product made by someone else. The real Final Straw is scheduled to start deliveries in November.
LINKS:
New York Timess: ‘It’s Back’: Underwater Yet Again, the Carolinas Face a New Reality
The Guardian: World is Finally Waking Up To Climate Change, Says 'Hothouse Earth' Author
World Bank Video: What a Waste 2.0: Everything You Should Know About Solid Waste Management
How Global Footprint Network is working to improve data
Living Planet Report
CASSE challenges NGOs
Final Straw
The 5 Best Reusable Straws
France24 The Debate episode about Hulot: Hulot Slams the Door: Popular Environment Minister Quits Macron Cabinet
Is Earth Overshoot Day meaningful? How sound is ecological footprint and biocapacity data behind it? Dave and Grace examine a critique from Robert B. Richardson, Associate Professor of Sustainable Development at Michigan State University.
Plus: This summer’s heat and fires are NOT “the new normal.” (It will get worse. Sorry.) More forest fire destruction comes with climate change. If you want to be a green hero, recycling is not nearly enough. How women who decide not to have children are treated. Men should take more responsibility for contraception.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
The Conversation: Yes, Humans are Depleting Earth’s Resources, but ‘Footprint’ Estimates Don’t Tell the Full Story
Earth Overshoot Day episode (#16) of the GrowthBusters podcast
Overshoot Day Website
Global Footprint Network Ecological Footprint Data
Calculate Your Footprint
To Kid or Not to Kid documentary
The Race of Our Lives Revisited by Jeremy Grantham
James Hansen’s Temperature Updates
Science Says: Hotter Weather Turbocharges US West Wildfires
We should NOT be celebrating (or pursuing) 4.1% economic growth, according to co-host Dave Gardner. Listen to this podcast to find out why pursuing GDP growth today is suicidal. Also on tap, listener comments about Earth Overshoot Day (the subject of our last podcast), and more single-use plastics we want to avoid. Dave stumps us with this question: What single-use disposable item do we want to see used more widely? Try to guess before Dave gives you the answer halfway into this episode.
In this episode we hear U.S. President Donald Trump brag about economic growth at a 4.1% annualized rate. Even his sharpest critics celebrate robust growth, as we hear from Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe. Many economists responded to this news that they don’t think we can keep that growth rate up, but their reasons differ from Dave’s. On a finite planet, perpetual growth in economic throughput is impossible.
Here’s the spreadsheet Dave discusses in this episode:
Forget an economy 1 million times the size of today’s, do you think one planet Earth can support even twice today’s level of resource extraction, energy use, and waste (including carbon) emissions?
Here's one of the GrowthBusters videos mentioned in which Dave gives away Endangered Species Condoms:
One of the Endangered Species Condoms packages courtesy of the Center for Biological Diversity:
Explore the relationship between economic growth and sustainability at these websites and books:
Economics in a Full World by Herman Daly in Scientific American
The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy
Limits to Growth (1972 MIT Study)
Degrowth
Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train: Errant Economists, Shameful Spenders, and a Plan to Stop Them All
Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Crossroads and the Steady State Solution
Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources
OTHER LINKS MENTIONED:
Sustainability News+Views (newsletter we recommend)
Laura Carroll (we mentioned her tweet and book)
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth (documentary Dave recommended - and directed!)
The Single-Use Plastics You Never Thought About and 13 Simple SwapsBy Heidi Bischof on Medium
Collapsible Straws:
A collapsible straw to attach to keychain
https://finalstraw.com/ (subscribe and order links don't seem to be working; we've reached out to see what's going on here)
Another collapsible straw
Endangered Species Condoms (Center for Biological Diversity)
Did you know we are in overshoot? What does that mean, and what should we do about it? Also in this episode, which has a smaller footprint – milk, or milk alternatives like almond milk? Dana informs us that, “Eating food is one of the worst things you can do for the environment.” Are some health departments preventing bulk filling of reusable containers? Carrying reusable utensils and napkin on your travels. And choosing carefully the trash can in which to deposit your refuse.
August 1, 2018 is Earth Overshoot Day. Data collected and analyzed by the Global Footprint Network tells us this is the date when humanity’s annual demand on nature begins to exceed what Earth’s ecosystems can regenerate in the entire year. If it falls anytime before December 31, it means we’re using more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate - through activity like overfishing, overharvesting forests, and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ecosystems can absorb.
According to Global Footprint Network’s co-founder, Mathis Wackernagel, “Our current economies are running a Ponzi scheme with our planet…. We are borrowing the Earth’s future resources to operate our economies in the present. Like any Ponzi scheme, this works for some time. But as nations, companies, or households dig themselves deeper and deeper into debt, they eventually fall apart.”
Dana and Dave interview random people to find out:
- Are they aware of Earth Overshoot Day?
- Do they know we’re in overshoot and what that is?
- What are their ideas for delaying the date?
Check out our Overshoot Day interview video here.
Please share it, and let us know what you’re doing to #movethedate. We welcome your comments, emails and tweets. And watch the GrowthBusters podcast Facebook page or Global Footprint Network’s page for the #MoveTheDate live stream on August 1 at noon U.S. Eastern Daylight Time.
LINKS:
Overshoot Day Website
GrowthBusters Earth Overshoot Day Video
Video: Earth Overshoot Day Falls on August 1, 2018
Footprint Data
Solutions
Share your actions
Footprint calculator
The Four Lifestyle Choices that Most Reduce Your Carbon Footprint (Lund University study)
When It Comes to Nut Milk, What’s the Most Sustainable Option?
Is Almond Milk Bad for the Planet?
Environmental & Social Impacts of Soy
Benefits of Pea Milk
Drink Pea Milk and Save the World: But What If The Peas are Shipped from France?
In Avengers: Infinity War the villain Thanos wants to solve overpopulation by exterminating half the population of the universe. Whenever overpopulation pops up in the movies, it’s always a villain with an inhumane solution. Dave and Dana discuss whether this helps or harms the cause of achieving a sustainable human population (yes, the world IS overpopulated today, and the forecasts are to add several billion more). Aren’t there humane, noble solutions to overpopulation?
Plus: Are we hardwired to reproduce? Population control, Paul Ehrlich, Thomas Malthus, Dan Brown’s Inferno novel and movie, Soylent Green, ZPG, and Dave’s Top 10 Overpopulation Films also come up. (See links below)
A number of listener comments are included. Thanks for writing in. Your comments are welcome either via posts on the episode page at GrowthBusters.org or Libsyn, on the GrowthBusters Podcast Facebook page, or on Twitter.
Also in this episode: Listener comments about disposable straws and the movie, Downsizing (episode 13 of the GrowthBusters Podcast).
LINKS:
Maybe Thanos Was Right (by Sparky, at Medium)
Thanos’ plan in Avengers: Infinity War has historical precedent, but he applies it wrong (by Alessandra Potenza, at The Verge)
Inferno (the novel)
Inferno (the movie)
Soylent Green
ZPG
Top 10 Population Films of All Time
While the U.S. announced intention to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement is bad news, it seems to have inspired a lot of carbon-reducing promises at other levels across the country. And that is good news. Dana and Dave lament the biggest hurdle in the path to a survivable climate – the fact that economic growth is the number one public policy goal around the world. In many cases it is the one thing policymakers won’t sacrifice in efforts to curb the growth of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
We seem to be putting all our eggs in the technology basket, hoping we can run an ever-growing economy on more and more solar, wind, geothermal and hydro power and use technology to shrink that mushrooming global economy’s carbon footprint. Some economists think we can do that. Many scientists do not. Ozzie Zehner, in his 2012 book Green Illusions, noted several studies that indicate we might need to change our ways beyond just switching power sources.
“Alternative energy is not a free ride, just a different ride...and there’s no reason to believe it will offset fossil fuel use in a society that has high levels of consumption and is growing exponentially.” – Ozzie Zehner
“…many of us, like Koningstein and Fork, have been asking the wrong questions of renewables. We’ve been demanding that they continue to power a growth-based consumer economy that is inherently unsustainable for a variety of reasons (the most obvious one being that we live on a small planet with finite resources). The fact that renewables can’t do that shouldn’t actually be surprising.” – Richard Heinberg
The most optimistic economists believe we can “decouple” economic activity from environmental impacts. A number of realities intrude into that daydream. For a more thorough exploration, see the links below.
The GrowthBusters team also wonders why few, if any, climate-focused environmental groups are pushing citizens to modify their own lives to shrink their carbon footprints. We also remind ourselves that we face limits to growth in many areas beyond our climate’s capacity as a carbon sink.
Plus, in the earth-shattering sustainability news department, did you know the cardboard core of your roll of toilet paper is recyclable? And, finally, Dana explains to Dave why she is a pescatarian.
LINKS:
Paris deal: a year after Trump announced US exit, a coalition fights to fill the gap
The decoupling delusion: rethinking growth and sustainability
Ozzie Zehner’s ‘Green Illusions’ Ruffles Feathers
Study suggests choice between green energy or economic growth
Our Renewable Future
Can the world thrive on 100% renewable energy?
Imagine you can live large – trophy house, fancy toys, caveman diet – but the costs are miniscule. Would you find that appealing? Or would you rather simplify your lifestyle and make your footprint the thing that’s miniscule? Is downsizing simply a way to supersize your consumption without maximizing your footprint? The latest episode of the GrowthBusters podcast examines these questions, as explored in the film, Downsizing.
“Downsizing may be about a small world, but it is an audacious, out-sized peach of a picture.” Ian Freer, Empire Magazine
The film, starring Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig, is now available for rent and purchase – on Amazon, GooglePlay and YouTube. The DVD is available on Netflix. GrowthBusters director Dave Gardner is joined by new co-host Dana Hicky to discuss the film, and that means overpopulation, overshoot, overconsumption, and climate change are on the agenda.
Are we humans capable of doing the right thing and scaling back our footprint? If so, will we scale back our consumption or curb our procreation? The fact is, we’re so far into overshoot we need to do both. Is the film a pretty accurate mirror of how most of us think about “the good life?” Does Downsizing do a good job of raising these issues without preaching and putting off the audience?
Also on tap: Are you still allowing restaurants to serve your drink with a disposable plastic straw?
LINKS:
Downsizing Feature Film
Surfrider Foundation DitchTheStrawPDX Campaign
The 5 Best Reusable Straws
YouTube Video: Straw Lodged in Sea Turtle’s Nose
Are human beings too stupid to manage the planet? Just asking the question invokes some misplaced conceit; we’ve wreaked havoc on the Earth largely because of our assumption that Earth is all about us. The truth is, we have no business trying to “manage” the planet. But, the scale of the human enterprise has become so gargantuan, that – in many respects – we ARE managing the planet (managing it into oblivion). In the newest episode of the GrowthBusters podcast, we discuss a Raw Story interview with the great, great grandson of Charles Darwin. One of Chris Darwin’s thoughts is that we are poorly equipped to manage the planet. Of course he is right. Chris has launched an app called Darwin Challenge. He’s also focusing a lot of attention on the destructive, unsustainable nature of our appetite for meat. Listen to this episode of the podcast and find out what the GrowthBusters team thinks about managing the planet, the importance of veganism, and the role of human numbers in the sustainability of human civilization. In the process you’ll learn about a few cool apps, plus the role of batteries, cell phones and air conditioning in achieving a sustainable lifestyle. Share Your Opinion: I’d like to find out what you think we’re doing right on this podcast, and I’d like to know what bugs you, what you wish we’d do, or what you think we could do better. I invite you to join a one-time listener focus group, to share your thoughts. If you’d be willing to give us your opinion, please send an email to podcast@growthbusters.org and we’ll send you details on how you can participate. LINKS: Raw Story: Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson reveals Earth is undergoing a catastrophe that barely anyone even knows about https://www.rawstory.com/2018/04/charles-darwins-great-great-grandson-reveals-earth-undergoing-catastrophe-barely-anyone-even-knows/ The Darwin Challenge https://www.thedarwinchallenge.org/ Go Green & Celebrate Nature With These 5 Apps https://play.google.com/store/apps/topic?id=editorial_environment_apps_us JouleBug app https://joulebug.com/ Transition Network https://transitionnetwork.org/ Transition United States http://www.transitionus.org/
America’s love affair with big, gas-guzzling vehicles is up for discussion. Is your environmental impact in mind when you decide whether to buy a pickup truck or SUV? How about when you choose your coffee-maker? EPA plans to rollback auto fuel efficiency standards. Then: Are there ways to make K-Cups more sustainable? Is Dave an “eco-god?” What’s greener – running your car’s air-conditioning, or baking in a hot car? Plus: the joys of composting (and you don’t need to have your own garden to do it). Links: The movie: http://www.growthbustersmovie.org EPA Moves to Weaken Fuel Efficiency Rules: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/02/598888447/epa-moves-to-weaken-landmark-fuel-efficiency-rules Ultimate Guide to Recycling K-Cups: https://www.consumerreports.org/recycling/recycle-k-cups-nespresso-capsules-coffee-pods/
One more reason to avoid factory-bottled water, why Californians may have to allow high-rise buildings in their quiet residential neighborhoods, and why we’re now being encouraged to give up traditional meats and start eating insects. Kaitlyn and Ben are on Spring Break, so GrowthBusters director Dave Gardner goes solo in this episode (episode #10). Explore the growth/sustainability issue in more depth at http://www.growthbusters.org Get the film, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, at http://www.growthbustersmovie.org Links mentioned in this episode: World Health Organization to Review Reports of Microplastic Contamination in Bottled Water https://www.salon.com/2018/03/15/world-health-organization-to-review-reports-of-microplastic-contamination-in-bottled-water/ GrowthBusters Podcast Episode 9: Would You Eat a Bug to Save the Planet? https://www.growthbusters.org/would-you-eat-a-bug-to-save-the-planet/ Legislation Would Allow More Home Building Along Transit Routes to Reduce Gas-Guzzling Commutes https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/business/energy-environment/climate-density.html?emc=edit_th_180316&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=576424480316
To what extremes are we willing to go to fit more and more people and bigger and bigger economies on a finite planet? It seems we’re willing to give up many freedoms, conveniences, safety and security, but we’re not willing to acknowledge we’re overpopulated or overconsuming. Addressing those root causes is not an option. So, get ready to give up that dream home, meat, golf, rock concerts and air travel; and start whipping up a batch of cricket smoothies. The GrowthBusters team discusses the newest footprint-shrinking strategies and whether we’ll adopt them before things are “semi-apocalyptic.” How far will we go, before we’re willing to strongly suggest limiting our offspring and settling for a smaller, stable and sustainable economy? GrowthBusters is a public education project and documentary film. Their mission is to find the cure for growth addiction, so future generations can live decent lives on a planet with healthy life-support systems. Explore these issues, comment on this podcast, and see the film at http://www.growthbusters.org Links mentioned in this episode: Video: Would You Eat Bugs for Protein? https://youtu.be/yAEcuBDsvgU Save the Planet, Eat an Insect by David Suzuki https://davidsuzuki.org/story/save-planet-eat-insect Movie: Soylent Green https://smile.amazon.com/Soylent-Green-Charlton-Heston/dp/B001QUM4IY GrowthBusters Podcast on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GrowthBustersPodcast/ GrowthBusters on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Growthbusters
A new study reveals some men feel environmental stewardship is not manly. Is this just one more reason we should leave the women in charge? Or should we market green behavior the same way we sell pickup trucks? The GrowthBusters team explores the ins and outs of masculinity and femininity in relation to being green. Also: Ben does something shocking with carrots. For links to the study and stories, see the complete show notes at: https://www.growthbusters.org/trashing-the-planet-is-macho/
Are children bad for the health of the planet, and therefore human civilization? Should we stop making them? Or do we need to step it up and make lots more than we’re currently making (does anyone have a good recipe)? Or does the intelligent answer lie somewhere in-between? The GrowthBusters podcast team doesn’t shy away from tough topics when the fate of human civilization hangs in the balance. In this episode, Ben, Kaitlyn and Dave discuss recent news headlines about fertility rates and offer their opinions on the views of Matt Lewis (The Daily Beast) and Travis Rieder (Berman Institute of Bioethics). Over 15,000 of the world’s scientists also weigh in. Here are links promised during the conversation: Travis Rieder piece at NBC News Digital: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/science-proves-kids-are-bad-earth-morality-suggests-we-stop-ncna820781 Matt Lewis piece at The Daily Beast: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-fertility-rate-is-way-down-and-yes-thats-a-huge-problem World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity – A Second Notice: https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/doi/10.1093/biosci/bix125/4605229
Is reducing child-tax credits to encourage smaller families a good idea? Is it “coercive” public policy? Would it be good for your city to be the winner in the Amazon Headquarters Sweepstakes? Do undiscovered joys grace your life when you begin stepping up to trim your footprint on the planet? Special guest Joshua Spodek, author of Leadership Step by Step, shares why he’s launching the podcast Leadership and the Environment. Plus: turning down the heat and skipping toilet flushes. Here’s the website mentioned to check out Spodek’s new podcast: http://joshuaspodek.com/podcast Explore these issues further at http://www.growthbusters.org
One of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., Bend, Oregon has doubled in population over the past two decades. Still, it has at least some intelligent thinking about growth. Tom Hickmann, Bend Oregon’s director of engineering and infrastructure planning, shares the fast-growing city’s somewhat unique approach to city planning, and discusses Oregon’s requirement that cities accommodate growth. According to Tom, cities get challenged if they have a “pattern and practice of rejecting growth.” Tom shares the newest infrastructure planning tool, genetic algorithms, explaining how it allows cities to plan better and grow more efficiently. Planners can put the values of the environmental, development, engineering and general residential communities into this planning model to guide a community’s decisions. Co-host Dave Gardner wonders if unaffordable housing might ultimately influence couples to limit the number of children they conceive. The GrowthBusters team also shares some of their own methods of shrinking their footprints – related to showers, wardrobe and coffee. Explore these issues at http://www.growthbusters.org
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma highlight the fact that cities have prioritized growth over safety, valued concrete over nature, and bought into the myth of prosperity from growth over sustainability. Dave, Kaitlyn and Ben discuss the civic addiction to growth. What would be more appropriate metrics for success than high rates of population growth? Also: Living with your parents is green. So is patronizing restaurants that source locally, and skipping the plastic bags offered in the produce department. Links of Interest: Does Population Growth Mean a City is Thriving? http://www.governing.com/topics/urban/gov-population-city-growth-thriving.html Conversation Earth interviews: http://www.conversationearth.org/episode-list Learn more and explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org Media analysis at http://wwwgrowthbiasbusted.org Movie at http://www.growthbustersmovie.org
Are Prince William and Kate Middleton setting a bad example by having a third child in an overpopulated world? Should we do away with child tax credits and dependent deductions? Plus: Rising numbers of visitors are clogging America’s most beautiful natural places. Fees, reservation systems and vehicle bans are among proposed solutions. Are they temporary band-aids when your population is growing? Co-host Dave Gardner has the ultimate solution. Also discussed: recycling plastic grocery bags, cloth napkins, dairy-free ice cream and reusing beer pong cups. Ben Bacher and Kaitlyn Hickmann co-host. Learn more and explore the issues at http://www.growthbusters.org Media analysis at http://wwwgrowthbiasbusted.org Movie at http://www.growthbustersmovie.org
The Colorado River rarely flows all the way to its delta, and the state of Colorado has determined demand for water will far outstrip supply if anticipated population growth continues. Yet the state advertises for people and companies to move to Colorado. The GrowthBusters team discusses this with Gary Wockner, executive director of Save the Colorado. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has been one of the most pro-growth governors the state has had, in Wockner’s view. But no one is willing to talk about the population growth issue. Wockner raises the issue of having growth pay its way. He shares how a statewide tax being considered to fund water projects is actually a growth subsidy. Growth addiction and our predilection to dam rivers are also on tap. Also: Global Footprint Network’s new footprint calculator. How small does your ecological footprint need to be if you want to use no more than your share of the Earth’s biocapacity? Follow GrowthBusters on Facebook and at http://www.growthbusters.org
New study reveals conceiving one fewer child eclipses all other CO2 reduction strategies. Why Japan’s birth dearth isn’t bad news. What countries are overpopulated? Should the overdeveloped world focus on cutting consumption or reducing births? Could we downshift to a simpler lifestyle? Family planning cuts in the U.S. and how that won’t reduce abortions. Reducing our footprint: are the small things worth doing? Kaitlyn’s pet peeve about veganism. Does peeing in the shower save water? The GrowthBusters team is Dave Gardner, Kaitlyn Hickmann and Ben Bacher. They bring you the latest thinking on living sustainably in a growth-addicted world. For more information, explore http://www.growthbusters.org.
In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, what keeps us convinced that growth leads to widespread prosperity? It's a never-ending stream of pro-growth propaganda in the media. Dave Gardner finds a wealth of examples of pro-growth media bias in his local paper over less than a month's time. Explore this subject further at http://www.growthbiasbusted.org, and support this podcast with a donation at http://www.growthbusters.org/donate
How the growth machine games the system in your community. Real estate developers, homebuilders, construction companies and banks are most likely pulling the strings. They use the myth of prosperity from growth to con us, and election contributions to wield undue influence over public policy. The result? The public pays much of their cost of doing business. Community watchdog Walter Lawson joins growthbuster Dave Gardner to share details about pressure from developers in Colorado Springs to reduce the public's right to appeal land use decisions.
GrowthBusters director Dave Gardner examines the insanity of watching water levels in Lake Mead drop while campaigning to grow the population in places like Arizona and Nevada. Also, why no mention of overpopulation or population growth by the UN on World Population Day?