Washington Post Gives Scary Demographic Story About Japan, Business Insider

By Dean Baker, CEPR, 29th April, 2012

The Washington Post has a practice of running a story ever month or so about Japan facing a demographic nightmare because its population is living longer. The idea is that this will impoverish the nation's youth, imposing a crushing burden for caring of the elderly. Of course those who know arithmetic know better.

This month's feature began by telling readers:

"The ominous demographics of this aging nation have long been seen by Japanese as a distant concern, not a present-day one. But that mind-set is being called into question by a prime minister who says that a crisis requiring immediate sacrifices has already begun.

In recent months, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has staked his job and bet his support on a tax increase designed to fund Japan’s soaring social security costs.

And the potential tax hike is only a sneak preview of the burdens to come as Japan grows into the world’s grayest society, a nation where two decades from now seniors will outnumber children 15 and younger by nearly 4 to 1.

Economists and government officials say that Japan, in the coming years, will probably raise the retirement age, again increase taxes and trim spending on everything from education to defense, all to care for its elderly.

Young Japanese — those entering the workforce amid two decades of stagnation — will face the greatest burden: They will earn less in real terms than their parents, pay higher pension premiums, receive fewer social services and, eventually, retire with a less-generous pension package."

Okay, let's unpack this one a bit. First, by every measure Japan's economy is operating far below its potential capacity. Why on earth does it need tax increases to pay for anything right now? This makes zero sense.

Read more: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/beat_the_press/~3/6l3E9OX5rPk/washington-post-gives-scary-demographic-story-about-japan-again#ixzz1tWBWrAeh

How soap operas changed the world - One of the many ways to help make a difference

By Stephanie Hegarty, BBC World Service

Soap operas aren't often celebrated for contributing to the good of society. Whether it's the materialism of Dallas or the idle gossip of Neighbours, they are better known for being shallow and addictive than for bringing about social change.

But around the world the genre has succeeded in providing "educational entertainment" - a blend of public service messages and melodrama that has enraptured millions of viewers.

Here are some of the things soaps have achieved.

To read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17820571

Royal Society report 'People and the Planet' - Sir John Sulston FRS - Video Interview

The Royal Society has produced this video in which its working group chair Sir John Sulston explains why it has published the report.

Prince Charles introduces new environmental documentary at Sundance London Film Festival Robert Redford's Sundance London festival gets the royal treatment as The Prince of Wales premieres environmental documentary 'Harmony: A New Way of Looking at Our World'

The Telegraph, Sunday 29^th April, 2012

The film premiered last night at the first Sundance London film festival at the O2 Arena, with introductions by the Prince and the actor Robert Redford, a keen environmentalist and the founder of the original Sundance festival in Utah.

Redford paid tribute to the Prince’s work, describing it as “ahead of the curve” and “profoundly important”.

To read more and see video clip:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/prince-charles/9234516/Prince-Charles-introduces-new-environmental-documentary-at-Sundance-London-Film-Festival.html

Meat Consumption in China Now Double That in the United States

By Janet Larsen, Earth Policy Institute

24^th April, 2012

More than a quarter of all the meat produced worldwide is now eaten in China, and the country’s 1.35 billion people are hungry for more. In 1978, China’s meat consumption of 8 million tons was one third the U.S. consumption of 24 million tons. But by 1992, China had overtaken the United States as the world’s leading meat consumer—and it has not looked back since. Now China’s annual meat consumption of 71 million tons is more than double that in the United States. With U.S. meat consumption falling and China’s consumption still rising, the trajectories of these two countries are determining the shape of agriculture around the planet.

To read more:

http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2012/update102

Governments failing to avert catastrophic climate change, IEA warns Ministers attending clean energy summit in London to be gravely warned about continuing global addiction to fossil fuels

Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, whose latest report is damning of governments across the world. Photograph: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Getty Images

By Fionas Harvey and Damian Carrington, The Guardian 25th April, 2012

Governments are falling badly behind on low-carbon energy, putting carbon reduction targets out of reach and pushing the world to the brink of catastrophic climate change, the world's leading independent energy authority will warn on Wednesday.

The stark judgment is being given at a key meeting of energy ministers from the world's biggest economies and emitters taking place in London on Wednesday – a meeting already overshadowed by David Cameron's last-minute withdrawal from a keynote speech planned for Thursday.

"The world's energy system is being pushed to breaking point," Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, writes in today's Guardian. "Our addiction to fossil fuels grows stronger each year. Many clean energy technologies are available but they are not being deployed quickly enough to avert potentially disastrous consequences."

For full article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/25/governments-catastrophic-climate-change-iea?INTCMP=SRCH

World needs to stabilise population and cut consumption, says Royal Society Economic and environmental catastrophes unavoidable unless rich countries cut consumption and global population stabilises

World population will reach 9 billion by 2050. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

By John Vidal, The Guardian, 26 April, 2012

World population needs to be stabilised quickly and high consumption in rich countries rapidly reduced to avoid "a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills", warns a major report from the Royal Society.

Contraception must be offered to all women who want it and consumption cut to reduce inequality, says the study published on Thursday, which was chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston.


The assessment of humanity's prospects in the next 100 years, which has taken 21 months to complete, argues strongly that to achieve long and healthy lives for all 9 billion people expected to be living in 2050, the twin issues of population and consumption must be pushed to the top of political and economic agendas. Both issues have been largely ignored by politicians and played down by environment and development groups for 20 years, the report says.

For full article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/26/earth-population-consumption-disasters

Mother: Caring for Seven Billion. A must see film

Mother, the film, breaks a 40-year taboo by bringing to light an issue that silently fuels our most pressing environmental, humanitarian and social crises - population growth. In 2011 the world population reached 7 billion, a startling seven-fold increase since the first billion occurred 200 years ago. 

Population was once at the top of the international agenda, dominating the first Earth Day and the subject of best-selling books like “The Population Bomb”. Since the 1960s the world population has nearly doubled, adding more than 3 billion people.  At the same time, talking about population has become politically incorrect because of the sensitivity of the issues surrounding the topic–religion, economics, family planning and gender inequality. Yet it is an issue we cannot afford to ignore.

"Mother is a must-see film on why population growth still matters and what is hindering action to reduce it."

-Hania Zlotnik

Director of Population Division, United Nations

"The film compellingly argues that a fair and just solution is likely to only be found in a complete refocusing of our priorities and societies. Specifically, we must value diversity, human and biological, over the gross national product and human solidarity over competition. Although Fauchere does not show us how to get to this point, Mother leaves viewers with a ray of hope that humanity has the potential to reach such a state. It will also convince them that to do so we must not be afraid to reengage with the population issue and that the time for such renewed engagement is now."

-Review: Science Magazine

Sacha Vignieri

To read more: http://www.motherthefilm.com/

The End of China's One-Child Policy?

Photograph by Holly Wilmeth/Aurora Photos

In China, having a second child can cost a year's salary in fines

By Dexter Roberts, April 19, 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek

Molly Zhang, a 31-year-old account manager in the lighting industry, just had her second son. Now she has to pay a fine likely to total 30,000 yuan ($4,760), roughly equal to her annual salary, for violating China’s one-child policy. “Even for an average white-collar worker in Dongguan, this is a lot of money. But I didn’t want to have just one child,” says Zhang, adding that paying the penalty is necessary to get her child a household registration document, without which education and employment would be impossible.

Last year’s publication of China’s 2010 census, which revealed a much more pronounced decline in births than previously estimated, galvanized 20 or so of China’s top demographers, sociologists, and economists to advocate ending the one-child policy. “It is time to think about removing this policy decided 30 years ago—China’s situation has changed so much,” says Gu Baochang, a demographer at Renmin University of China in Beijing and one of the informal leaders of the group, which has twice submitted petitions to China’s top leaders urging them to reform or end the policy.

To read more: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-19/the-end-of-chinas-one-child-policy

Guardians for the future: safeguarding the world from environmental crisis We are calling for a network of special representatives to help protect the resources and livelihoods of future generations

The World Future Council wants 'ombudspersons for future generations'. Photograph: Nasa/Corbis

Today, vast factory trawlers are vacuuming every living thing off the floor of the oceans. Toxic waste is being dumped in poor communities whose governments turn a blind eye. Millions of acres of irreplaceable primeval forest are purposely being burned every year, to make way for cattle ranches.

These are crimes against the future, crimes that are happening today, in large numbers, all over the world. These are crimes that will not only injure future generations, but destroy any future at all for millions of people. And today, there is in most countries no institution or person with the job of defending the rights of those future generations.

But tomorrow, there could be.

The World Future Council is calling for "ombudspersons for future generations". These would be guardians appointed at global, national and local levels whose job would be to help safeguard environmental and social conditions by speaking up authoritatively for future generations in all areas of policy-making. This could take the shape of a parliamentary commissioner, a guardian, a trustee or an auditor, depending on how it best fits into a nation's governance structure. This person would facilitate coherence between the separate pillars of government to overcome single issue thinking, and hold government departments and private actors accountable if they do not deliver on sustainable development goals.

To read more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/apr/20/guardians-for-the-future-environment

• The authors are members of the World Future Council. Judge CG Weeramantry is former vice-president of the International Court of Justice. Ashok Khosla is president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and co-president of the Club of Rome. Dr Scilla Elworthy is founder of the Oxford Research Group and of Peace Direct.

Population planning imperative, by Mohammad Mohiuddin Abdullah

The Daily Star - 20 April, 2012

The writer is a former Joint Chief, (PRL), Planning Commission. Bangladesh.

The current high population growth rate is absorbing resources required for increased productivity and sustained economic development. Conversely, economic development, improved education and alleviation of poverty are pre-requisites for reduction in child mortality and fertility levels. Arable land, capital and skills are necessary inputs to achieve increased productivity and job creation.

Pressure on arable land is already high at 1,950 people per sq. km., which will rise to 2,600 in the next 12 years. The landless population, currently between 54% 60 %, will increase further. Food production is increasing but progress towards the government's objective of a minimally adequate 16 oz of food grains per capita day, about 1,500 calories, is slow. Investment per potential new work is one of the lowest in the world. Education resources are already fully extended to meet a primary school enrolment ratio of 64%. Around 3.25 million children will be added to the primary school population by 2021, depending on rate of fertility decline. This increased demand on resources will greatly diminish any capacity to extend coverage or improve standards. The rate of unemployment (40%) will be changed. Between now and the year 2021, about 22 million persons will be added to the labour force, aggravating further the existing unfavourable labour market.

Our per capita income is one of the lowest in the world. Estimates have shown that if population continues to grow at the current level of 1.74% (unofficial estimate 1.86%) gross domestic product (GDP) would need to grow at the rate of 12.5% per annum within 2021 to reach the threshold per capita income level of $1,150 by 2021. The generation of adequate resources for investment to achieve the growth rate of 12.5% per annum is a Herculean task for a country faced with serious internal resources constraints and where nearly 48% of development budget is financed out of the external assistance.

It is evident that without a substantial decrease in fertility, improvement in socio-economic conditions will be difficult if not possible to achieve. A significant change in fertility pattern will not occur unless overall development strategies are designed to equally involve both men and women. It is needless to mention here that all our economic effort for development is being negated by the ever-growing mass of population every year. And in the next decades, if steps are not taken now, we will not have sufficient arable land to cultivate to meet our increasing demand for food grains, industry, energy and urban expansion.

To read more:

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=229509

Nigeria Tested by Rapid Rise in Population, New York Times

A market in Lagos, Nigeria, a country whose high birthrates presage a demographic crisis.

By Elisabeth Rosenthal, April 14, 2012

Japan’s population fell by a record last year, underlining the struggle to boost growth and rein in soaring welfare costs in the world’s most rapidly aging society.

The population declined by 0.2 percent to 127.8 million as of Oct. 1, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a report today. Fukushima prefecture, which was devastated by last year’s record earthquake and nuclear disaster, registered the biggest decline, of 1.93 percent.

Japan faces a shrinking workforce as 2012 marks the first year the nation’s baby boomers are set to retire. The world’s third-largest economy has contracted three of the past four years and policy makers including Bank of Japan (8301) Governor Masaaki Shirakawa have said low growth is mainly the result of demographic changes.

Lifelong residents like Peju Taofika and her three granddaughters inhabit a room in a typical apartment block known as a “Face Me, Face You” because whole families squeeze into 7-by-11-foot rooms along a narrow corridor. Up to 50 people share a kitchen, toilet and sink — though the pipes in the neighborhood often no longer carry water.

To read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/world/africa/in-nigeria-a-preview-of-an-overcrowded-planet.html?_r=3&ref=todayspaper

Japan’s Population Declines by Record in Challenge for Growth

By Andy Sharp, April 17, 2012, Bloomberg Business

Japan’s population fell by a record last year, underlining the struggle to boost growth and rein in soaring welfare costs in the world’s most rapidly aging society.The population declined by 0.2 percent to 127.8 million as of Oct. 1, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a report today. Fukushima prefecture, which was devastated by last year’s record earthquake and nuclear disaster, registered the biggest decline, of 1.93 percent.

Japan faces a shrinking workforce as 2012 marks the first year the nation’s baby boomers are set to retire. The world’s third-largest economy has contracted three of the past four years and policy makers including Bank of Japan (8301) Governor Masaaki Shirakawa have said low growth is mainly the result of demographic changes.

to read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-17/japan-s-population-declined-by-largest-ever-0-dot-2-percent-last-year

Republican Propositions on Women's Reproductive Rights: A Move Toward Sharia Law?

By Anisa Noormohamed, The Huffington Post

As Americans, we value the separation of Church and State and indeed this separation is crucial to accommodate the many varied religious beliefs of the American people. We strive to serve as an example of democracy and women's rights but when analyzing the recent dialogue on abortion and contraception by Republicans one has to wonder if the intention is indeed to wage a war on women's rights and whether the Republicans are trying to convert America into a country governed by moral code and religious law.

When we think about countries governed by moral code or religious law, we naturally think of the Muslim countries. In most Muslim countries, Sharia law (Islamic canonical law) is often the basis for government or is used heavily in conjunction with State law. In the countries that adhere to one of four common schools of jurisprudential thought, abortion is outlawed after the soul enters the fetus -- at 120 days. The earliest discussions on the issue date back to the eleventh/twelfth century, when the eminent jurist Al-Ghazali gave his consent for withdrawal as a way to prevent pregnancy in order to save a woman's health and life, avoid financial hardship, or other domestic problems. While many Muslim countries outlaw abortions altogether today, reforms are underway to address the need to supply solutions to women who for different reasons wish to abort and at the same time enact laws that would not contradict Islamic principles. The Grand Mufti of Egypt Jad Al Haq used Al-Ghazali's teachings and by analogy, argued that modern methods of contraception were permissible.

To read more:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anisa-noormohamed/republican-propositions_b_1409377.html

Addressing Climate Change through Diet, By Joe DeCapua, Voice of America

A dead ironwood tree (Prosopis africana) in Senegal, West Africa, is one of many trees that have died due to climate change.

Meat production and consumption are expected to soar by 2050. That’s because the global population is projected to grow from the current 7 billion to 9 billion. But also, the diets of people in many developing countries are changing. Countries with emerging economies are seeing a sharp rise in protein consumption, especially red meat.

Dr. Eric Davidson said changing how people eat can have a dramatic effect on greenhouse gas emissions. People in developed countries, he said, already eat much more protein than the daily minimum requirement.

“In the developed world there’s considerable room for us to manage our portion sizes and the frequency with which we eat meat. We’re not talking about everybody suddenly needing to become a vegetarian. Rather it’s kind of reversing the supersize trend and being more mindful of the impacts of the amount of meat and the types of meat, both for the environment and our own health,” he said.

Davidson is the president and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts.

To read more:

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/decapua-climate-food-fertilizer-13apr12-147305175.html

Delhi's 'child maid' story is a chance to address deeper problems in India Outrage over this case should be channelled into changing Indian society – starting with its approach to family planning

Indian children working at a construction site near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi. Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

By Priya Virmani, The Guardian, Thursday 12^th April 2012

Delhi, India.

A 13-year-old girl employed as a domestic worker by a couple who are doctors is locked up in their house while her employers are on holiday in Thailand. Neighbours hear her frantic screams for help. Her story then makes the national and international headlines.

The "child maid" story shone a light on to the dark recesses of child labour, and the response has been rightly one of outrage. It is heartening to note that the centre of the fury is India, and particularly Delhi – the city of the alleged crime. The international media, however, have also questioned whether the Indian mindset enables and perpetuates the mentality of having "servants".

It was the British, in the days of the Raj, who were known to have a retinue of servants commonly referred to as ayahs (female servants) and bearers (male servants). The British Library archives recount: "The ayahs usually had no contract of employment, despite offering a crucial service to their employers. Some could even be dismissed with no pay." When the British left India in 1947, it was predominantly rural and disproportionately poor. The Indian elite were joined by the middle classes, and together they perpetuated their erstwhile colonialists' tradition of sourcing household help from the much poorer majority, and in a derogative manner. Sadly this practice of having servants that has travelled into coeval times has not precluded the employment of children.

To read more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/12/delhi-child-maid-india-child-labour

Honduras Supreme Court Upholds Absolute Ban on Emergency Contraception, Opens Door to Criminalize Women and Medical Professionals

The Honduras Supreme Court has upheld the country’s absolute ban on emergency contraception, which would criminalize the sale, distribution, and use of  the “morning-after pill” — imposing punishment for offenders equal to that of obtaining or performing an abortion, which in Honduras is completely restricted.



“By banning and criminalizing emergency contraception, Honduras is telling the world it would rather imprison the women of its country than provide them with safe and effective birth control,” said Luisa Cabal, director of international legal programs at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Today’s decision from the Honduras Supreme Court blatantly disregards women’s fundamental reproductive rights and completely ignores the respected medical opinion of experts around the globe. It will cause significant harm in the lives countless women and doctors across the country.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights has been working with local and international women’s rights groups to fight this ban on emergency contraception since it was first passed by the Honduran Congress in April 2009. Then-President José Manuel Zelaya was successfully urged to veto the ban a month after it was passed — immediately making the issue a matter before the Supreme Court. 

However, following the country’s June 2009 coup d’état, the de facto minister of health issued an administrative regulation in October 2009 banning emergency contraception, despite not yet having a ruling from the Supreme Court that would allow criminal enforcement of the ban. 

Nearly three years after the ban was vetoed by President Zelaya, today’s ruling now allows the Honduran Congress to impose the previously proposed criminal punishments on any medical professionals who distribute and sell emergency contraception and any woman who uses or attempts to use the medication to prevent an unintended pregnancy. 


To read more:

http://reproductiverights.org/en/press-room/honduras-supreme-court-upholds-absolute-ban-on-emergency-contraception-opens-door-to-crim

see also

http://www.womenslinkworldwide.org/wlw/new.php?modo=detalle_prensa&dc=163&lang=en

Improving Food Security in the 21st Century: What are the roles for firms and foundations?

Jeff Raikes (CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and Greg Page (CEO, Cargill) present their views on global food security and the roles of the private sector and foundation community at Stanford's Center on Food Security and the Environment's inaugural Global Food Policy Symposium series.

For video series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WidgckQmM68&feature=youtu.be

Africa: Humanitarianism in a Changing World

Dubai — There is "worrying evidence" that the scale and scope of disasters will increase significantly in coming years and "the international community is not prepared," says Ross Mountain, director-general of Development Assistance Research Associates (DARA), a Madrid-based think-tank which advocates better humanitarian policies.

He was speaking at the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development Conference & Exhibition, which ran from 1-3 April.

In vulnerable countries food prices, urbanization, migration, the impact of climate change and population growth are all increasing. But as the challenges grow, the resources available in OECD countries - the traditional donors - to respond to humanitarian crises are shrinking.

"The challenge will be huge," Johannes Luchner, head of the Middle East, Central and South-West Asia unit of the European Commission's humanitarian aid arm ECHO, said at the conference. "We need to do things differently in order to cope with this development."

To read more: http://allafrica.com/stories/201204040898.html

Food and Population, Dr. Hopfenburg's look at the relationship between food and demographic growth

Thanks to PMC for Russell Hopfenburg, Ph.D. of Duke University website link and thesis on the relationship of food availability and human population growth. Dr. Hopfenburg would be glad to receive feedback and respond to questions. A contact email is provided at the end of the essay.

Food and Population Summary

In the broadest sense, the thesis of my work is very simple. The main perspective is that human population dynamics do not differ from the population dynamics of all other species.

For all other species, population changes as a function of carrying capacity. Carrying capacity consists of several variables. For example, for many species, carrying capacity consists of: oxygen, food, water, space, predators / disease. I said: "for many species" because trees, for example, need carbon dioxide, not oxygen, and they don't need food per se. Increases in the carrying capacity cause a population increase. Decreases in the carrying capacity cause a population decrease. Arguably, the most dynamic of the carrying capacity variables impacting a population is food.

Here's a classic example in which changes in the food "carrying capacity variable" cause changes in the population.

http://www.PanEarth.org/world%20food%20&%20human%20population%20growth/player.html

I hope you'll feel free to peruse the www.PanEarth.org website and view the videos and papers available there.

New Documentary Series in the making: THE PEOPLE PROBLEM: ARE THERE TOO MANY OF US? by Jane Turville

Thanks to PMC for this link.


The following announcement comes from Jane Turville, who has a track record of getting her films shown on PBS. Over the next several years, Jane will be creating a four part series (four one-hour segments) that explores population growth under the inclusive umbrella of sustainability - ecological, social, and economic balance. She plans to distribute the finished product to PBS stations nationwide via the National Educational Television Association. You can review her Kickstarter page here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/342263956/the-people-problem-are-there-too-many-of-us

The other day I was talking to a good friend about my new documentary project THE PEOPLE PROBLEM. Now, before I go on, let me tell you a little bit about my friend. He has a degree in biology and has worked in the scientific arena for many years. He has developed products for research laboratories and previously worked at one of America's top universities. All in all, he's a pretty smart guy.   Plus, he's the real deal when it comes to sustainability. He's made more changes to lessen his carbon footprint than anyone else I know. I try really hard, but there is no doubt, he's definitely outdone me.

Yet, during our conversation, he kept coming back to the same comment - "We should just stop having kids."   Over and over again, no matter how I tried to introduce immigration, healthcare, or consumerism into the discussion, he kept returning to "Stop having kids."

This conversation illustrates the two primary reasons why I'm making this film series. First, many people in the environmental and sustainability communities view population growth through a very narrow, specific lens that doesn't allow for an inclusive discussion. Second, those of us (like me) who are interested in exploring population growth, don't know or can't relate to the many issues involved, so we have problems even starting a broader discussion.