Christopher Clugston, author of the NPG Forum paper Whatever Happened to the Good Old Days?, is an ecological and resource economist who has been researching the economics of Non-renewable Natural Resources (NNRs) since 2006. This paper summarizes and updates his 2012 book: Scarcity – Humanity’s Final Chapter? …
Continue ReadingLooking back on 2013, my pick for the most useful and incisive book on our lethal addiction to economic growth and the alternative of a steady-state economy is Brian Czech’s Supply Shock: Economic Growth at the Cross Roads and the Steady-State solution (New Society Publishers, 2013, 389 pages). If you are among the millions of Americans concerned about the destructive …
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Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version An NPG Forum Paper by Lindsey Grant “Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” – Economist Kenneth Boulding, 1977 If there were one message I could imprint on the American mind, it would be this: Perpetual physical growth is impossible on a …
Continue ReadingPrime Minister Tony Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition took power in Australia in September 2013, after winning a convincing election victory over the ruling Labor Party. Labor’s acquiescence in the country’s rapid population growth (which averaged 1.8 percent annually in the period from 2006 to 2011, peaking at 2.2 percent in 2008) …
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version The federal government in Washington may be loathe to make population policy, but  California’s governor and legislature have shown by their latest enactments on immigration that they have no problem at all with that. Making Population Policy in the Largest State The lawmakers’ priority concern appears to be that the state …
Continue ReadingOriginally published in 1998, NPG has revised and republished Overpopulation and Overconsumption: Where Should We Focus? by Michael G. Hanauer.  This paper offers a strong argument for U.S. population reduction, which still rings true today. Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version. Overpopulation and Overconsumption: Where Should We Focus? An NPG Forum Paper by Michael G. Hanauer We Have So Many Choices There …
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Click here for a downloadable, printable PDF version Census Bureau population projections released in late December 2012 and mid-May 2013 diverge substantially from projections released in 2009. The 2009 projections were based on trends up to 2008, when the U.S. was on the threshold of a crippling recession. All four series released since late 2012 maintain the same methodology, fertility …
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I recently ran across the following OpEd by Senator Harry Reid, the current Senate Majority Leader, in the Los Angeles Times. It is of particular interest in light of the current Senate consideration of S744, a proposal to rewrite the immigration laws to legalize illegal immigrants and increase the flow of immigration.
Continue ReadingSenate leaders are rushing to push through SB 744, a bill enticingly titled as the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act.” As the title suggests, the bill is a complex blend of interests favored by diverse and at times clashing constituencies.
Continue ReadingClick here for a downloadable, printable PDF version The once-acclaimed program to restore the Chesapeake Bay has fallen short of every hopeful ambition. For three decades the Bay’s fundamental declines have barely budged, despite billions of dollars spent on cleanup efforts by the federal government and six states that share the 64,000-square-mile Chesapeake watershed. And many experts feel that if …
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