Received: from rivendell.vsta.com (rivendell.vsta.com [204.57.96.15]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.8.5/8.8.4/CNS-4.1p-nh) with ESMTP id OAA16107 for ; Sun, 8 Nov 1998 14:01:19 -0700 (MST) Received: from eglaze.vsta.com (eglazeADSL.vsta.com [204.57.96.81]) by rivendell.vsta.com (8.8.8/8.8.6) with SMTP id OAA19750; Sun, 8 Nov 1998 14:59:38 -0600 (CST) From: "Ed Glaze III" To: "Audubon Population" , "Population Forum, Sierra Club" , "KZPG Overpopulation News Network" , "PPN Listserv" Subject: Sunday news, opinions, and stuff Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 15:02:59 -0600 Message-ID: <01be0b5b$2a5fbf40$516039cc@eglaze.vsta.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.71.1712.3 Earth Worst THE FUTURE IN PLAIN SIGHT: Nine Clues to the Coming Instability. by Eugene Linden (Simon & Schuster: 256 pp., $25) review by MARK HERTSGAARD (excerpt below) His thesis: As climates change, population growth and economic globalization continue, the effects will overwhelm financial systems, food production, disease control and other pillars of the social order. Because these trends are all but irreversible in the short run, writes Linden, humans in the 21st century will "be in the position of watching and understanding events that we cannot control, and that will make the coming instability all the more intolerable." Humanity will eventually make the transition "to stable population growth, to an economic system that neither beggars the Earth nor marginalizes the great bulk of humanity, and to a value system that recognizes the limits of materialism, but these transitions will not come about smoothly." Billions may die along the way. Gloom and doom is a tricky message for an author, but to his credit, Linden does not pull punches for fear of frightening away readers. Nor does he employ the melodramatic tone favored by some environmental Paul Reveres. His voice is urgent but businesslike. He cares about his subject and trusts readers to care too. --------------------------- Greening of the Board Rooms A lot of Republicans in Congress have staked out a pretty clear position on global warming: It doesn't exist. Never mind the evidence. They don't want it to exist, and so it doesn't. -------------------------- Overpopulation 'Two or fewer' measure sends message to slow growth letter to the editor by Ed Patton, Yakima I would like to offer solutions to slow population growth. We should lobby the U.S. Congress to limit the child tax credit after 2000 to two children per family. People who chose to have more than two children after 2000 should be required to pay (out of pocket) for the education of the additional children unless they are adopted. The most cost-effective way to slow growth would be to quadruple the funding for Washington state's very popular, but underfunded, vasectomy program for low-income men. The allocated funds for the fiscal year are used up in the first five months. (This program returns more than $30 for every $1 of taxpayer money invested). This birth-control method is the best way to avoid abortion. Demographers are telling us that the West Coast and British Columbia will easily double their population in the next 50 years. This will bring dire consequences! Is this what we want to leave future generations? A "two or fewer" resolution, which I am trying to get passed by the Legislature, will have a very beneficial impact with respect to growth management; it will raise our consciousness and broaden the dialogue with respect to the issue of population and its connection to environmental problems. By adopting the "two or fewer" resolution, we would be sending a message to the rest of the world that it is time to start lowering our numbers. (One-quarter of the 6 billion people on Earth are between the ages of 15 and 25 -- the prime child-bearing age). I believe this is the most compassionate approach to solving the critical and most complex problem of our time. The speaker of the state House of Representatives has sole discretion as to whether a resolution can be heard. Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, has agreed to sponsor it if at least two Republicans will sign on. Please ask your representative to be a co-sponsor. -------------------------- Urban Sprawl Initiatives NPR All Things Considered for Nov 6 -- Listen to it with RealAudio John Nielsen reports that candidates for political office this week on an anti-sprawl platform generally did well. Environmental groups say the issue of overdevelopment has come of age and propelled many candidates into office over business-as-usual opponents. But at the same time, actually changing the myriad local zoning laws to get more building in urban areas and less development in outer suburbs and farmland will be very difficult. (4:00) ------------------------- Population experts gather in Cairo to report on successes What makes this meeting special, however, is that it is an opportunity for an exchange of information on population successes and failures in 13 countries from a network of Southern nations. Partners in Population and Development, a coalition of developing countries, was created after the Population Conference in 1994. This month, they plan on returning here November 7-12 for their annual board meeting. ------------------------- PEOPLE COUNT: FORGING AHEAD Just got through watching the show. CNN even ran the Easter Island segment commercial-free. Discussed was overpopulation, including overshoot and collapse. Many environmental and social problems were discussed in reference to Easter Island but the show only used it as a warning for the world of today, instead of pointing out our specific problems and what needs to be done. No recommended actions. Check for transcript in a few days. A book I highly recommend is "The Cartoon Guide to the Environment." It covers the overpopulation aspect Easter Island scenario very well. Despite its name it is an excellent introductory book which gets across some advanced ecological principles in a way that even pre-teens will understand. It would make a great Christmas gift for young and old. The Cartoon Guide to the Environment On CNN's World Today there was a report on how the demand for chopsticks is helping deplete China's forests. Transcripts of the show are posted after a couple day. How to eat with chopsticks. Chopsticks and Trade Japan consumes 130 million disposable chopsticks everyday. ----------------------------- Climate negotiators urged to integrate 1994 consensus on population policy ________ Ed Glaze Port Mansfield, TX "If they don't understand the severity of the problem, they won't understand the severity of the solution. Overpopulation must be dealt with."