Search Results for: mechai

The environment has losing stories.

on October 26, 2021 in Leadership, Nature, Stories

When myths and stories contradict, the ones that persist aren’t the ones that are right. The ones that people remember and share persist. I’m writing about it after reading this quote from E. O. Wilson: Creation stories gave the members of each tribe an explanation for their existence. It made them feel loved and protected above all other tribes. In return, their gods demanded absolute belief and obedience. And rightly[…] Keep reading →

516: Geoengineering: Prologue or Epilogue for Humanity?

on October 4, 2021 in Podcast

Here are the notes I read from, responding to this op-ed piece and this review for a book I’ve talked to the author about but haven’t read. Geoengineering Prologue or Epilogue for Humanity? Introduction, context Geoengineering is becoming a more common topic as people feel more desperate. The common theme is that when things get serious, we have to put everything on the table, even things that may not work.[…] Keep reading →

516: Geoengineering: Prologue or Epilogue for Humanity?

on October 4, 2021 in Podcast

Here are the notes I read from, responding to this op-ed piece and this review for a book I’ve talked to the author about but haven’t read. Geoengineering Prologue or Epilogue for Humanity? Introduction, context Geoengineering is becoming a more common topic as people feel more desperate. The common theme is that when things get serious, we have to put everything on the table, even things that may not work.[…] Keep reading →

Eugenics, anti-miscegenation, and ecofascism, especially in the United States

on July 18, 2021 in Nature

Hitler was vegetarian. If you want to work on sustainability, you will face people pointing out this history. They don’t point out that he also promoted larger families, but many feel like it checkmates all cases for changing diet. Beyond diet, I’ve talked a lot about population since reading podcast guest Alan Weisman‘s Countdown and learning of guest Mechai Viravaidya‘s lowering Thailand’s birth rate through purely voluntary, often fun, means.[…] Keep reading →

487: Karen Shragg E.D.D., part 1: At last, simple, reasonably talk on (over)population

on July 17, 2021 in Podcast

We can dance around our environmental problems all we want. Understand them enough and we eventually reach overconsumption and overpopulation. These overshoots contribute to everything. We at least talk about overconsumption, even if few are acting. Decades ago, the public talked about population, but didn’t act. Today we don’t talk about it. All the numbers I see suggest the Earth can sustain two or three billion people with roughly western[…] Keep reading →

487: Karen Shragg E.D.D., part 1: At last, simple, reasonably talk on (over)population

on July 17, 2021 in Podcast

We can dance around our environmental problems all we want. Understand them enough and we eventually reach overconsumption and overpopulation. These overshoots contribute to everything. We at least talk about overconsumption, even if few are acting. Decades ago, the public talked about population, but didn’t act. Today we don’t talk about it. All the numbers I see suggest the Earth can sustain two or three billion people with roughly western[…] Keep reading →

Family Planning Success Stories From Around the World (mostly videos)

on March 20, 2021 in Nature

Through voluntary, noncoercive, even fun ways, enabling couples to decide their family sizes, many nations have lowered population growth leading to prosperity, abundance, and stability. Think the opposite of the One Child Policy or eugenics. Most of us don’t know these success stories. Many people would have considered such changes impossible, including myself until recently, or would have thought it resulted from a so-called demographic transition that resulted from economic[…] Keep reading →

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