How does the public conversation about overpopulation differ between Australia and North America? Dave and Erika invited Sustainable Population Australia’s (SPA) Michael Bayliss back for a second episode to compare notes and report on the 2019 bushfires, SPA’s public policy recommendations related to population, and to share personal experiences that inform his work today.

In typically direct Australian fashion, Michael explains well why organizations like Sustainable Population Australia and World Population Balance aren’t focusing their energy exclusively on reducing birth rates in high fertility nations in other parts of the world:

“if you say people from THESE countries have to have less children, but OUR country doesn’t, then that creates resentment across the board for many reasons, and it just diminishes the capacity to work cooperatively with our brothers and sisters from overseas, and entrenches more colonialism…. The only way this is gonna work is if everybody everywhere champions the new norms, despite what your country’s fertility rate is at this very moment.”

SPECIAL NOTE: The important film, Planet of the Humans, has been released and is available to view free at home through May 20. The film is being widely criticized as factually inaccurate by environmental organizations and renewable energy advocates. We think you should see the film. It has important themes that are valid. Planet of the Humans is a call to recognize that humans are “hitting limits on multiple fronts, and that the green technology will not save us.” We need to get “a grip on our out-of-control human presence and consumption.” World Population Balance is planning a webinar to discuss the film and these themes on May 19. Subscribe to our email updates to get the details.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Sustainable Population Australia

Sustainable Population Australia Population Policy

SPA YouTube Channel

The Endless Growth Paradigm

Tough Crowd video

Talking Heads video

The Overpopulation Podcast is produced by World Population Balance, a non-profit organization committed to alerting and educating that overpopulation is the root cause of resource depletion, species extinction, poverty, and climate change. Our mission is to chart a path for human civilization that – rather than causing greater misery – enables good lives on a healthy planet. We advocate and support a smaller, truly sustainable human population – through dramatic and voluntary reduction in birth rates. 

We envision a world where no one suffers in dire poverty and misery for lack of enough food, water, and other basic needs. We see a world where all species thrive and where lower consumption and population are in balance with Earth’s finite resources.

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