This morning the estimated human population of the United States reached 300 million.
We’ve been watching the planetary population clock for years. In some ways 300 million humans is just one more number, one more statistic, one more blip on a screen that has a lot of troubling information to display.
In one way this offers […]
Author Archives: editor
Watching the clock
October 17, 2006 – 5:54 pm
Health of Apex residents, economy, go hand-in-hand
October 6, 2006 – 11:04 am
Last night a fire erupted at a chemical storage facility in central North Carolina. Thousands of people evacuated the bedroom community of Apex as a cloud of extremely dangerous toxic gas spread. Rain dampened the fire and stopped the gas cloud, but now the chemicals will liquefy and drain into groundwater and stormwater […]
Health of economy, Earth go hand-in-hand
September 20, 2006 – 10:46 am
(This letter was published in the Chapel Hill News, 20 September 2006.)
In newspapers worldwide, seven days a week, we find the presentation of the wealth of the world economy by means of an array of economic indicators. We can see that economic globalization is carefully tracked and watched over.
The interlocking national economies of the world […]
How to slow the population clock
September 13, 2006 – 10:48 am
From the Christian Science Monitor, 3 July 2006:
For decades now, demographers and economists have warned that the number of people on earth is growing too fast to be “sustainable.” But for many, this story is somewhat old, perhaps alarmist.
“We have sort of a cornucopia fantasy,” says Russell Hopfenberg, a consulting faculty member at Duke University […]
Summary of the 2006 Chapel Hill Earth Day Population Summit
September 5, 2006 – 4:19 pm
The evening’s speakers included Russell Hopfenberg and Jack Alpert.
Russell (Russ) Hopfenberg, adjunct Duke professor and author of two peer-reviewed papers about human population and food supply, presented a summary and a synthesis of his papers. Carrying capacity is often viewed as a limit to a population. It also “acts like a magnet”, he notes, […]
Time to recognize resources limited
August 13, 2006 – 4:01 pm
(This letter was published in the Chapel Hill News, 13 August 2006)
Thanks to the teachings of science, our children regularly report to us that Earth is round and finite in space-time. Easy enough.
Then, why is it that grown-ups with responsibilities for ensuring a good future for the young deny one of these facts?
Summary of the 2005 Chapel Hill Earth Day Population Summit
May 5, 2005 – 4:17 pm
Company Carolina, a student theatre group from the University of North Carolina, presented a dramatic reading of Ishmael.
Summary of the 2004 Chapel Hill Earth Day Population Summit
May 5, 2004 – 4:15 pm
Speakers included Jason Bradford, from UC Davis and Washington University; Alan Thornhill, Director of the Society for Conservation Biology; and Russell Hopfenberg, Duke University.
Russell (Russ) Hopfenberg
Jason Bradford
Alan Thornhill
Summary of the 2003 Chapel Hill Earth Day Population Summit
April 23, 2003 – 4:15 pm
Raoul Weiler, Club of Rome
Alan Thornhill, Director of the Society for Conservation Biology
Russell (Russ) Hopfenberg
