Bill Maher and Steven Colbert become the first honorees on the GrowthBusters podcast's "Wall of Excellence." You'll find out why in this episode. We want to thank and celebrate influencers who help alert the public that we are in overshoot, demonstrate sustainable living in their own lives, or help educate the public about important ways we can shrink our footprints.

New co-host Erika Arias introduces herself. She is very interested in the voluntary child-free choice and hopes to do research in this area in the future. She shares a clip from a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher about how it's actually good news that millennials are having less sex and therefore fewer children. Maher is, of course, famous for being bold enough to make "politically incorrect" statements, but Dave thinks talking about overpopulation is finally becoming politically correct after a few decades of "population taboo."

Maher celebrates the declining birth rate in the over-developed world because it is the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. See this Lund University report for the detail: The Four Lifestyle Choices That Most Reduce Your Carbon Footprint.

On the other hand, Senator Mike Lee thinks having more babies will solve climate change. And even CNN prime time host Chris Cuomo gets some criticism here for painting population contraction as a loss of human potential. Dave finds it astonishing that even some very smart people are not aware that we are in overshoot.

Also in this episode, Dave thought he recalled the U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest estimate of the average cost to raise a child in the U.S. is $237,000. We looked that up after recording this episode and the most recent figure we could find is $233,610, a 2015 figure announced in January, 2017.

NOTE: We're looking for a podcast producer, or at least a podcast editor, to help out. Comment here or send us an email.

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

New Rule: Masturbate, Don't Procreate - Bill Maher

Are Millennials Having Less Sex Than Older Generations? A New Report Explores The Phenomenon

Families Projected to Spend an Average of $233,610 Raising a Child Born in 2015 (News release for most recent USDA study we could find)

Expenditures on Children by Families reports by USDA

Senator Mike Lee: More Babies Will Solve Climate Change(Steven Colbert Gives Mike Lee The Mike Lee Treatment)

The World Economy is a Pyramid Scheme, Steven Chu Says

Climate Change Will Take Food Off Your Table(Episode 27 of the GrowthBusters podcast with Michael Brownlee, author of Taking Back Our Food Supply: How to Lead the Local Food Revolution to Reclaim a Healthy Future)

Subscribe (free) so you don't miss an episode: