Watching the clock

October 17, 2006 – 5:54 pm

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 us an opportunity, however, and we’re glad for that. This is an opportunity for popular media to focus attention on human population and its consequences for the quality of human life.

Our growing human population now affects our entire planet, our entire global ecology, all of the ecosystems that keep us alive and healthy. Unfortunately the quality of life that many of those 300 million Americans enjoy now cannot be sustained much longer.

This is an opportunity for us to think about the quality of life we want for our children and our grandchildren. This is an opportunity for us to think hard about the consequences of the decisions we make now. What do we need to do now, today, to ensure the quality of life we want for our children? What do we need to do today to ensure the quality of life we want for our grandchildren in days to come?

Alex de Sherbinin, at Earth & Sky, comments:

One of the things that I think needs to be addressed and thought about, in the context of America turning the clock to 300 million, is our global impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, energy, materials usage, a whole range of things.

I’m hoping that what we can do as a society is … see these as opportunities to come up with novel solutions such as more fuel efficient transport systems. We’re a nation that prides itself on innovation.

Thanks for taking the time to think about this. Let’s keep thinking, shall we? Let’s keep thinking about the ways we can ensure a decent quality of life for our children and grandchildren.


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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 run-off systems.

Several people are being treated for respiratory distress, but so far no people have died. The immediate danger may pass quickly, but what long term effects will result from poisons draining into the ecosystem of a booming suburb?

It’s a sad and scary example of the letter we published recently: Our economy affects the health of our home.

The chemical storage site is operated by a company ironically named The Environmental Quality Company.

It’s located on Investment Boulevard.

Let’s take a moment to consider this: The Environmental Quality Company…on Investment Boulevard.

Does this incident represent our investment in environmental quality?

Does this represent our investment in the quality of our lives?


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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 economy are also significant to us because economic systems are impressive, distinctly human inventions. The global economy is not a part of the natural world per se, nor does it operate like the economy of nature, but rather is an artificially designed, human construction.

Can you think of anything on the surface of Earth that could be even more important than the success of the economy? There are some things that come immediately to my mind: the integrity of the living Earth, the preservation of its biodiversity, and adequately functioning ecosystems. There can be no such thing as successful economic globalization if there is not a healthy planet from which it can derive resources and services.

Read More »


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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 in Durham, N.C. “People say, ‘Not to worry. Technology will solve the problem.’ ”

Mr. Hopfenberg isn’t so sure. “Don’t get lulled into complacency,” he says.

Read the rest of this article at the Christian Science Monitor web site…


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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, subtly and persistently drawing population to that limit. Thus increases in annual food production tend to increase tomorrow’s human population, not necessarily to better nourish today’s population.

Jack Alpert, founder of the Stanford Knowledge Information Laboratory, described the concept of time blindness. Alpert notes that we make decisions based on previous experience. Unfortunately we may not notice when the future will be utterly unlike our past, and the resulting decisions may be disastrous.

A web version of Hopfenberg’s presentation is in progress now.

Please visit Alpert’s web site for more information about time blindness and decision-making.


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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?

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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.


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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


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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


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