The news that China’s massive population dropped by nearly a million people last year was almost universally reported as a “crisis.” In this episode we unpack the news coverage and take journalists to task for completely overlooking the fact that, in an overpopulated world, population contraction should be greeted with a collective sigh of relief.
The population news was accompanied by an announcement that China’s economy grew by only three percent, less than half the previous year’s 8.1 percent. This, too, was reported as bad news for China. Of course, obsession with GDP growth is what’s driving China’s recently-found determination to convince its citizens to start birthing more laborers. And globally the GDP growth fetish is killing the planet.
Dave explains how China’s efforts to keep its population growing are an effort to perpetuate a Ponzi scheme, and this is not the behavior of a good global citizen. “We need to make one-child families the norm, for the next hundred years, if we want those children to have any shot at a decent life.”
We give special attention to the reporting of Steve Inskeep on NPR’s Morning Edition, as well as Geoff Bennett of PBS NewsHour. These journalists should have a much more comprehensive understanding of limits to growth and the unsustainability of perpetual economic and population growth.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
China’s Population Can Still Prosper - by Catherine Bowen and Vegard Skirbekk
https://www.wired.com/story/china-fertility-population-decline-demography-economics/
Mainstream Media Blindness to China’s Depopulation Dividend - by Jon Austen, in our Ending Overshoot publication on Medium
https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/mainstream-media-blindness-to-chinas-depopulation-dividend-419e708e460
Now Here’s What We Call an Eco-Superhero - Episode 76 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/eco-superhero/
Join the GrowthBusters online community
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GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
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The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
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43 Paul Ehrlich - Uncensored on Earth Day 50th Anniversary
42 The Silver Lining of COVID Induced Recession
41 Bury Mom in the Back Yard? The Ins & Outs of Green Burial
40 Is GrowthBusters a Good Earth Day Movie?
39 You Have to Stay Poor – I’m Having a Steak
38 Sustainable New Year’s Resolutions
37 A Finer Future?
36 Don’t Make Me Stop this Spaceship!
35 Decoupling Nonsense
34 Coming Out as Childfree
33 Is the End Near?
32 Welcome to Overshoot: Have a Nice Day
31 We're in Deep: Earth Overshoot Day 2019
30 Overshoot Playlist: Top 10 Environmental Songs
29 Avengers: Endgame – I Cut the Population in Half; Don’t Make Me Do This Again
28 Masturbate, Don't Procreate
27 Climate Change Will Take Food Off Your Table
26 Running Out of Gas
25 How to Have a Green Wedding
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