One million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction, endangering ecosystems that people all over
Continue ReadingAbstract: Search the literature; read the news; comb the mission statements and recommendations of various environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and it will become obvious how climate change
Continue ReadingThe summer of 2018 was a moment when the ecological future became our present reality. A heatwave baked the entire Northern Hemisphere, killing dozens from Quebec to Japan. In Europe, nuclear power plants shut down because river water that cools their reactors was too warm. The most destructive wildfires in California’s history turned more than a million acres to ash, while a study in the journal PLOS Medicine projected a five-fold rise i
Continue ReadingWe originally published this NPG Position Paper in 1999. We have published it again because we believe that the problems it addresses are still very much with us, and that our recommended solutions are as pertinent now as they were then.
Continue ReadingFor most of human history population growth and economic growth have moved in tandem. As humans invented agriculture (several times over a period of centuries, according to some archeologists) they managed to produce more food than they could consume.
Continue ReadingIf you are driving down a road at 60 miles an hour and suddenly notice that you are headed straight for a tree, it is good to know this so that you can do something about it. Information about the future we are headed for as a planet is readily available, and makes it clear that it is filled with dangers we can do something about.
Continue ReadingUnlike other advanced industrial countries U.S. population continues to increase, mainly because of immigration. That is a well-known fact. Not nearly so well-known is the role of Sub-Saharan immigrants in driving U.S. population growth. The overall growth of this population has been nothing short of extraordinary:
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The human population on Earth has quadrupled in the past century. It is degrading the capability of Earth’s natural systems to support us. Mathematically, that astonishing growth must stop. How it will stop, and at what level and condition, is thoroughly obscure, but there are changes afoot….
Continue ReadingSave the Earth…Don’t Give Birth The story behind the simplest, yet trickiest, way to help save our endangered planet. by Jonathan Austen An NPG Booknote by Edwin Rubenstein “We humans are young, greedy, inexperienced killer primates. We have recklessly allowed our population and consumption to rise beyond the capacity of the Earth. The rise in human populations is the underlying cause …
Continue ReadingCuban baseball players. A Russian ballet dancer. Joseph Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana. These are the kind of people, fearing persecution in their homelands, who were traditionally granted asylum in the United States.
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