Search Results for: viravaidya
Have you heard the phrase “Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution.”? It sounds extreme. Then it makes sense and you can’t see it otherwise. Similarly: nothing in sustainability works except if we first address and solve population. If you’re like most people, including me until I learned of Mechai Viravaidya and his peers, you reflexively think of China’s One Child policy or eugenics when anyone[…] Keep reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →