Women Have Abortions Whatever Their Religion - A Rabbi speaks out

By DENNIS S. ROSS

are in the midst of very painful debates in Congress over family planning and abortion care. It’s time to catch our breath, step back and take a broader perspective: There’s an ongoing search for “common ground” on abortion, dreams of reaching an agreement that, once and for all, satisfies everyone involved. For those seeking this elusive “common ground,” a recently released Guttmacher Institute study [PDF] holds the key.  

The study finds that women of a wide range of faiths have abortions, even when the “official” faith teachings are opposed: So, it’s time to stop pretending and get one step closer to our “common ground:” The abortion will happen. No matter how strongly a woman’s pastor may rail, at the end of the day, she will make up her own mind when her pregnancy goes awry or is unplanned. So here’s the “common ground:” Once the woman weighs all her options – adoption, carrying to term, abortion – and comes to her conclusion, make sure she has the best in medical care and support that she believes is right for her.  

It may come as a surprise that a religious woman would have an abortion – yet, for many, that’s just what happens. She may tell her clergy her story and she may listen carefully to her faith teaching and any advice. Then she turns from the clergy and does what she believes she should, regardless of what any pastor, elected official or radio talk show host thinks. The woman determines and shapes her destiny – and, in another surprise to many, she may in fact have the support of her clergy.  

For full article:

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/sexandgender/4616/women_have_abortions_whatever_their_religion/

Global Commodity Prices: Soaring Worldwide Population Growth and a Can't-Miss Profit Play

BY MARTIN HUTCHINSON, Contributing Editor, Money Morning

If you read the newly released United Nations report on global population trends, you can reach only one conclusion about the long-term outlook for global commodity prices.

They're going higher.

Much higher.

In its report, "2010 Revision of World Population Prospects," published May 3, the UN now estimates that the global population will reach 9.3 billion in 2050, which is an increase of 150 million from the 9.15 billion it projected in its 2008 forecast.

Nor is that the only revision the UN made to its 2008 forecast. Instead of peaking in 2070, as it had previously predicted, the UN now says the world population won't peak until after 2100, when it will reach 10.1 billion - 44% higher than it is today.

The key takeaway: Given this expectation for worldwide population growth, it's clear that the rise in global resources prices we've seen since 2002 is for real, and is likely to continue for the long term.

The effect on global commodity prices will be clear - and dramatic. Oil prices, metals prices and - above all - food prices are likely to be much higher in 2050 (in terms of that era's overall purchasing power) than they are today. BY MARTIN HUTCHINSON, Contributing Editor, Money Morning

If you read the newly released United Nations report on global population trends, you can reach only one conclusion about the long-term outlook for global commodity prices.

They're going higher.

Much higher.

In its report, "2010 Revision of World Population Prospects," published May 3, the UN now estimates that the global population will reach 9.3 billion in 2050, which is an increase of 150 million from the 9.15 billion it projected in its 2008 forecast.

Nor is that the only revision the UN made to its 2008 forecast. Instead of peaking in 2070, as it had previously predicted, the UN now says the world population won't peak until after 2100, when it will reach 10.1 billion - 44% higher than it is today.

The key takeaway: Given this expectation for worldwide population growth, it's clear that the rise in global resources prices we've seen since 2002 is for real, and is likely to continue for the long term.

The effect on global commodity prices will be clear - and dramatic. Oil prices, metals prices and - above all - food prices are likely to be much higher in 2050 (in terms of that era's overall purchasing power) than they are today.

For full article:

http://moneymorning.com/2011/05/17/global-commodity-prices-soaring-worldwide-population-growth-cant-miss-profit-play/

The Myth of Canada's Underpopulation: Lay it to rest

by Madeline Weld

Every so often policy wonks or talking heads hyperventilate about Canada's need for more people. The growth boosters take the crude numbers for Canada's land surface area (about 9.1 million square kilometers) and divide it by Canada's population (34 million) and conclude that there's a desperate shortage of people, a paltry 3.3 per square kilometer. In the summer of 2010, no amount of coverage seemed too much for a proposal by Irvin Studin that Canada could better meet its potential and have more international clout if there were 100 million of us. In January of 2011, Canada's nationally read paper, the Globe and Mail, printed an editorial by Neil Reynolds called "Go forth, multiply and fill the provinces" which urged Canadians to do exactly that.

When Averages Mislead - Latin America

By Pierre LaRamee

Director of Development and Public Affairs
with Ani Kington, Communications Intern 
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

In 2008, as IPPF/WHR's Director of Development and Public Affairs, I began a journey to look at the broader issue of funding for sexual and reproductive health (SRH).  It became apparent that providers of development assistance, including USAID, were abandoning Latin America as they turned their sights increasingly on Africa, and that they were reallocating aid for sexual and reproductive health on the basis of aggregate national statistics.

Latin America, as a region of "middle-income countries" has been steadily losing support, but it is also the most unequal region in the world in terms of the distribution of wealth and income.  If you look beyond the aggregate statistics, specifically at things like contraceptive prevalence and fertility rate, you find that if you compare the top 20%, and the bottom 20% of the population, the gap is very, very large.  In most countries, it is also the case that the rural areas are very much poorer and the indicators for indigenous populations in particular compare quite unfavorably.

The banker trying to put a value on nature Pavan Sukhdev is pushing to create an accounting system that will force companies to assess the damage they're doing

By Jo Confino – The Guardian

It's particularly refreshing to meet a senior banker concentrating his efforts on preserving our natural ecosystems and biodiversity rather than hastening their demise through irresponsible lending.

Pavan Sukhdev, who served on the board of Deutsche Bank's Global Markets Centre in Mumbai and headed up the groundbreaking Teeb (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity) report, is doing for nature what Sir Nicholas Stern sought to do for climate change – putting a value on it.

Teeb, developed under the auspices of the United Nations environment programme, was designed to highlight the growing costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and to draw together expertise from the fields of science, economics and policy to enable practical actions moving forward.

While it was published only last summer, Sukhdev says it is already starting to gain traction. He welcomes Puma's announcement this week of the creation of an environmental profit and loss account, the first corporate to do so.

He also points to last month's launch by the World Bank's Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystems Services (Waves) project.

The objective is the "greening" of national income accounts, as they constitute the primary source of information about the economy, such as GDP, and are widely used for assessment of economic performance and policy analysis in all countries.

Sukhdev says it will take three to five years to create a common methodology for national ecosystem accounting. India has already committed to creating green accounts by 2015 and Sukhdev says that Norway and Australia already have "outstandingly" good information to allow them to generate building natural capital into their accounts.

In some ways Sukhdev sees it as a failure of humanity that we should even be in a position where we have to put an economic value against the majesty of nature herself.

For full article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/pavan-sukhdev-valuing-biodiversity-ecosystem-services

Philippine lawmakers to clash over controversial contraception bill - Asia Pacific News

By Christine Ong

MANILA: A key bill comes up for debate in the Philippines on Tuesday, as lawmakers discuss the future of the country's family planning laws.

The Reproductive Health Bill is expected to lead to heated arguments in the House of Representatives as it pits the conservative pro-Church politicians against the administration of President Benigno Aquino, over the contentious issue of legalising artificial family planning methods in the staunchly Roman Catholic country.


The proposed Reproductive Health Bill has not only sparked a heated national debate between the bill's supporters and its critics, it has also caused a major rift between the influential Roman Catholic Church hierarchy and the administration of President Aquino. 



For full article:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/1129207/1/.html

Will India Continue to Rise Peacefully?

YOGESH JOSHI

The 21st century's great shift of power from West to East is not limited to China alone. The Asian century also belongs to India.

Already the world's fourth-largest economy, India has continued to grow swiftly even after the financial crisis, expanding at 8-9 percent annually. With more than 60 percent of its population younger than 35, it possesses the world's most potent demographic dividend. Its recent affluence has also increased India's appetite for military power. India's annual defense expenditure stands at $30 billion today, or 2 percent of global defense spending, making it the world's biggest importer of arms. From 2006-2010, India accounted for 9 percent of the global arms trade. After the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement, India stands as a de facto nuclear weapons state, and almost all Security Council veto holders have accepted India's candidacy for a permanent seat on the council.

Compared to that of China, few feel threatened by India's rise. The China-threat syndrome defines the new geopolitical reality. In fact, the rhetoric of China's avowedly peaceful rise suggests Beijing is wary of the negative fallout from perceptions of a hostile China. India's rise, in contrast, has been welcomed as a necessary counterweight to China and as a sign of an egalitarian world in the making. The absence of an official narrative on India's global trajectory suggests that even New Delhi's leadership believes that India's rise will be inherently peaceful.

Why is a rising India not considered a threat when a growing China is?

to read full article: http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/8855/will-india-continue-to-rise-peacefully

On campaign announcement day, Gingrich talks immigration

From NBC's Shawna Thomas
On the day that he's expected to announce his run for the presidency, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spent the morning on Capitol Hill speaking at a breakfast hosted by Esperanza USA, which describes itself as “a network of Hispanic Christians, churches, and ministries.”

As Gingrich walked up the stairs of the Russell Senate Office Building, he offered reporters only one word answers on his upcoming candidacy and why he was appearing at this event.

He did say the official tweet announcing his candidacy would be at "nine,” which would be immediately before he is scheduled to appear on Fox News tonight.

Gingrich's address to the Hispanic organization comes the day after President Barack Obama touted the need for immigration reform at an event on the U.S.-Mexico border. According to census data, the Hispanic population has grown by 43 percent over the last ten years -- a huge surge in an electoral population that will be targeted by both Republicans and Democrats in advance of the 2012 election.

For full article: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/11/6625030-on-campaign-announcement-day-gingrich-talks-immigration-

Think Congress's Anti-Choice Legislation Is Extreme? Look at the States.

By Michael B. Keegan - Huffpost Politics

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the latest in a series of extreme, but effectively symbolic, anti-choice measures. Last week's contribution, HR 3, nicknamed "Stupak on Steroids," a bill that if signed into law would eliminate abortion coverage for millions of women paying for insurance out of their own pockets, passed with the support of all House Republicans and sixteen Democrats. HR 3 piggy-backed on another symbolic vote to defund Planned Parenthood and eliminate all Title X family planning funding.

What happened to the Republicans' laser focus on the economy? Why is the House's GOP majority putting in this big effort to show how much they dislike women having reproductive choice -- rather than say, spending their time creating jobs or finding meaningful solutions to the budget deficit? The first reason is clearly to pander to a far-right base at the expense of American women. But the second reason is that sometimes failed efforts to implement extremism on the federal level spawn often successful copycat legislation in the states. And that is exactly what is happening with these bills to strip away women's rights.

The House's attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, for instance, was dead on arrival in the Senate. But now, at least six states have taken matters into their own hands and are attempting to deprive their own residents of Planned Parenthood's services -- often jeopardizing unrelated health services in the process. Yesterday, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a bill that cuts off the $3 million in federal funding that the state directs to Planned Parenthood. Gov. Daniels signed the bill despite the risk that it will cause the state to lose the rest of its federal funding for family planning services. To this potential presidential candidate, making an anti-choice statement is worth the risk of jeopardizing millions of dollars in medical services to low-income residents.

for full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-b-keegan/think-congresss-anti-choi_b_860538.html

Sustainability questions over fish farming - ABC News

PETER CAVE: For years now the world has been warned that overfishing is leading to a chronic shortage of seafood. So in a bid to find a sustainable solution, scientists turned to farming fish.

Now an environmental think tank has produced a report which raises fears about the effects of fish farming.

The Worldwatch Institute says it's having a serious impact on the food chain.

For full article: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3211297.htm

The world population will top 10 billion by end of century - Russian experts voice concern

The Voice of Russia.

A UN report says that the population of the world will be 9 billion by 2050 and will exceed 10 billion toward the end of the century. The compilers of the document point to the problems of food and drinking water for such astronomical numbers of people. Russian experts say that the developed countries should start solving the problems right now.

The population of the world will be 7 billion by the end of this year and 1 billion people will be added to the population of the planet in the last ten years. After 2050, the world population would reach a peak at 9.5 billion and world remain stable at this level. Some experts though believe that the planet’s population would then start to come down steadily.

The compilers of the UN report based their conclusion on the average development of the demographic trend in the world, but according to  John Bongaarts, vice president of the “Population Council”,  changes in the world population are difficult to predict since they are influenced by the rates of birth and death, factors that are difficult to forecast.  Life expectancy in the developed world is nearing its biological limit, but it is  quite possible that it will exceed the one hundred mark by the end of the 21st century, meaning that the population of the planet could hit the 11 billion mark.

Russian experts agree with the UN report, stressing that the world will face huge problems in the future.  Sergei Zakharov of the Higher School of Economy’s Institute of Demography advises the world to begin to think about the possibility of an over- population of the planet now:

For full article: http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/05/10/50085400.html

Rael: 'Overpopulation Is the True Cause of Fukushima!' -

LAS VEGAS, May 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a recent speech given in Japan, Rael, spiritual leader of the International Raelian Movement (IRM) commented on the Fukushima problem, saying that the Japanese government indeed made a mistake by building a plant so close to the ocean with such vulnerability to tsunamis, but he also said the Japanese government didn't have much choice since it has 120 million citizens expecting power.

"The problem facing humanity is that we need too much electricity because we have too many people on Earth; it is overpopulated," Rael explained.

The concept of having too many humans on Earth is not new to Raelians. The threat linked to overpopulation was clearly described in the Message given to Rael in 1973, when he met the scientists who created life on Earth, according to the Raelian scriptures.

"With our present technology, Earth shouldn't have more than 3 billion people. But we now have more than twice that number," Rael said in his recent speech. "Right now, almost all of the world's governments are criminals, not because they create nuclear plants, but because they keep pushing people to have more children – and those additional want to have more electricity and hence more facilities like Fukushima. The Fukushima crisis is a result of overpopulation!"

According to Rael, if there were only 60 million people in Japan, there would be no need for risky plants like Fukushima.

"The Japanese government is urging Japanese families to have more children," Rael said. "That's the real crime, not building Fukushima. The only responsible policy would be to say to every human being, as the Message of the Elohim conveyed in 1973, 'Have less children!' But we are having more children instead! If humanity survives – and we are not sure it will survive – maybe millions of people will die because of this mistake. And if we do survive, future humanity on Earth will judge us, those living now, and say, 'How stupid they were!'"

Rael said the United Nations should not be attacking Libya or Syria, or checking for nuclear bombs in North Korea. The emphasis should be on population control, he said.

For full article:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rael-overpopulation-is-the-true-cause-of-fukushima-121514854.html

Philippines still divided on reproductive health bill

By Jojo Malig, abs-cbnNEWS.com

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine society remains divided on the reproductive health (RH) bill, if the heated debate on "Harapan" aired by ABS-CBN and ANC on Sunday night is any indication.

Key proponents of movements either supporting or rejecting the RH bill took part in the discussion, which was hosted by Julius Babao and Karen Davila.

The debate sought to clarify issues about the bill now pending in Congress, amid vitriol spilled by both sides on social media, the pulpit, on the streets, and elsewhere.

House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, one of the proponents of the measure now called Responsible Parenthood-Reproductive Health Bill, fired the first salvo in the debate.

He cited United Nations data showing that 11 women in the country die every day due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.

He also mentioned surveys made by Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia showing that a majority of Filipinos support the RH bill.  "Ang RH bill ay hindi tungkol sa religion. Ito ay tungkol sa karapatan, kalusugan, at kaunlaran," he said.

Lagman added that it is not only about contraceptives but also maternal health, abortion prevention, HIV-AIDS management prevention, and efforts to stamp out violence against women.

Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, who is opposing the bill, took the opposite road and said he and the other guests would not be present at the debate if their mothers followed family planning.

He also claimed that contraceptives raise breast cancer rates and do not prevent HIV infections, citing Thailand.

Golez also said the Philippines' population growth rate is going down. "Di na kailangan ng RH para bumaba."

He and Lagman would trade barbs later on during the debate over Golez's statistical data, with his fellow lawmaker from Bicol accusing him of fabricating figures.

The 2 legislators were not the only ones on the hot seat.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' Fr. Melvin Castro drew raised eyebrows when he said tubal ligation, a popular medical method involving the cutting women's Fallopian tubes to prevent them from becoming pregnant again, is considered as a sin by the church.

For full article:

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/05/08/11/philippines-still-divided-reproductive-health-bill

The most surprising demographic crisis -A new census raises questions about the future of China’s one-child policy

The Economist.

DOES China have enough people? The question might seem absurd. The country has long been famous both for having the world’s largest population and for having taken draconian measures to restrain its growth. Though many people, Chinese and outsiders alike, have looked aghast at the brutal and coercive excesses of the one-child policy, there has also often been a grudging acknowledgment that China needed to do something to keep its vast numbers in check.

But new census figures bolster claims made in the past few years that China is suffering from a demographic problem of a different sort: too low a birth rate. The latest numbers, released on April 28th and based on the nationwide census conducted last year, show a total population for mainland China of 1.34 billion. They also reveal a steep decline in the average annual population growth rate, down to 0.57% in 2000-10, half the rate of 1.07% in the previous decade. The data imply that the total fertility rate, which is the number of children a woman of child-bearing age can expect to have, on average, during her lifetime, may now be just 1.4, far below the “replacement rate” of 2.1, which eventually leads to the population stabilising.

Slower growth is matched by a dramatic ageing of the population. People above the age of 60 now represent 13.3% of the total, up from 10.3% in 2000 (see chart). In the same period, those under the age of 14 declined from 23% to 17%. A continuation of these trends will place ever greater burdens on the working young who must support their elderly kin, as well as on government-run pension and health-care systems. China’s great “demographic dividend” (a rising share of working-age adults) is almost over.

In addition to skewing the country’s age distribution, the one-child policy has probably exacerbated its dire gender imbalance. Many more baby boys are born in China than baby girls. China is not unique in this; other countries, notably India, have encountered similar problems without coercive population controls. But Chinese officials do not dispute that the one-child policy has played a role. China’s strong cultural imperative for male offspring has led many families to do whatever they must to ensure that their one permissible child is a son. In the earliest days of the one-child policy, this sometimes meant female infanticide. As ultrasound technology spread, sex-selective abortions became widespread.

For full article:

http://www.economist.com/node/18651512

Demography and Destiny - Council on Foreign Relations

by Isobel Coleman

This week, the United Nations Population Division released new projections for the world’s population. Since they were last done in 2008, the UN’s projections have been revised upwards: fertility rates are just not falling as fast as earlier predicted. The new report says that by 2050, the world will mostly likely have 9.3 billion people, up from around seven billion this year. This is an increase of 156 million people over the UN’s last estimate for global population in 2050.

Projecting population trends out to 2050 has some measure of certainty because everyone who will be forty years old in 2050 is already born. But the report also projects population out to 2100, which has much greater uncertainty. Even small variations in fertility can lead to big changes. The UN’s medium variant (the “best guess” of demographers) has global population reaching 10.1 billion in 2100. But the high variation (which assumes fertility of just half a child more than the medium variant) projects a figure of 15.8 billion. The low variant (which assumes fertility of just half a child below the medium variant) has population peaking at 8.1 billion in 2045 and then declining to under 6.2 billion by the end of the century. The difference between the high and low variants in 2100—more than 9.6 billion people—is almost 40 percent greater than the world’s total population today.

US, China need each other despite rivalry - Gulf Times

By Steven Mezias/Abu Dhabi

In 2016, the Chinese economy will be bigger than the US economy; should we care?
A recent International Monetary Fund report data predicted that China would surpass the US as the largest economy in 2016.  Although the report itself was low key, it elicited some dire reactions.  For example, one published comment predicted that the next US president would have the dubious honour of presiding over America’s fall!  This tone continued with alarming statements about the future of the global military and monetary order. 

The projection has also triggered a debate about what measures are appropriate for such a comparison, for example gross domestic product versus purchasing power parity or national versus per capita comparisons.  
In the end, however, I believe reaction to the projection should be tempered in the same way that one learns to handle a birthday after passing a certain age.  It is simply a demarcation point in a longer continuous process; overreacting to being a year older hardly constitutes a sensible response to the inevitable process of aging. 
A process that facilitates reflection about the roles of China and the US in the global economy would suggest supplanting quick reactions to a single statistic with reflection about the roles of China and the US in the global economy.

Such analysis should address how their roles have been changing over past decades and will continue to change over the coming decades. This will likely prove a far more useful exercise than fixating on the relative sizes of the two economies. 

For full article:

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=432975&version=1&template_id=46&parent_id=26

Professor Stephen Mezias is Abu Dhabi campus Academic director, INSEAD Business School.

Nervous times for rulers as Singapore considers change

Today, 2.3 million Singaporeans will head to the polls for the 11th general election since independence in 1965. Unlike days past, the outcome of this election is shrouded in uncertainty.

Battlelines have been drawn across 26 of the 27 constituencies. This includes all 12 of the single-member wards and 14 of the 15 group representations constituencies. The latter comprise between four and six individuals with caveats to ensure minority (non-Chinese) participation. In all, opposition candidates will contest 82 of 87 parliamentary seats. Their potency will be measured in swing votes.

The electoral threats to the ruling People's Action Party are embodied in voters' perceptions and grievances - including rising prices, hubris of the ruling party, million-dollar ministerial salaries, overpopulation and better treatment for foreigners - and credible opposition challenges. The opposition has capitalised on such sentiments and framed them as election issues to woo undecided voters. The ostensible calm hanging over the city state is perhaps a mask. There will be no illegal public forums and gatherings beyond designated venues. Street protests exist only on television screens.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/nervous-times-for-rulers-as-singapore-considers-change-20110506-1ecip.html#ixzz1LgpASk8E

By Samuel Chan - was an associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He is a PhD (politics) candidate at the University of NSW, Australian Defence Force Academy.

10,000,000,000 - A new global population prediction is worrying - Nepal

Source: The Kathmandu Post)Nepal, May 5 -- Ten billion is a huge number. Especially when it means 10 billion mouths to feed, 10 billion bodies to clothe and 10 billion jobs to provide. That is the reaction by many to a report released by the UN on Tuesday forecasting a world population of 10.1 billion by 2100. Prior to the new calculations, the population was expected to level off around nine billion in the middle of the century.

These revised numbers are raising concerns about the Earth's carrying capacity. With problems that are undeniably aggravated by population like climate change, water scarcity and food security plaguing much of the globe, the idea of three billion more people is frightening indeed. Nepal is officially an "intermediate fertility country" with a fertility rate of 2.8 births per woman as opposed to a low fertility country like Taiwan (0.91 births) or a high fertility country like Ethiopia (5.2 births). According to a 2003 UNFPA projection, Nepal's population should surpass 34 million in 10 years.

Compared to 10 billion, this might not seem like such a huge figure, but the effects of overpopulation are already obvious here. The electricity and water situation is bad, university lecture halls re jam packed and there are far from enough jobs to go around. If things don't change, and another five million people are added, things can only get worse. As Nepal's population swells, more and more people will look for better opportunities abroad. But despite concerns in low fertility countries about a declining work force to care for the growing ranks of the elderly, the fear of losing the ethnic majority is keeping immigration restrictions high. Besides, the growth in high fertility countries far outweighs the declines in low fertility ones.

For full article: 

http://www.istockanalyst.com/business/news/5125033/10-000-000-000-a-new-global-population-prediction-is-worrying

6th May - National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

by daadmin

Today is National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. As we know from a recent episodes of “Teen Mom,” “16 and Pregnant” and other shows, teen pregnancy and dating abuse can have a lot of to do with one another. We want to share some interesting facts.

Social Movements Will Achieve Little Unless We Embrace the Realities of Petrocollapse - Alternet

By Jan Lundberg

Until then, we will still see commentators ignoring the larger forces of change, calling for reforms and the fixing of an unfixable system or at best a changing of the guard.

Popular protest against rulers in many parts of Africa and Asia has spread faster than most anyone would have dared hope. Ferment in other countries may well materialize and mount, including the U.S. However, while the recent uprisings have potential and are well stoked by rampant oppression and greed, we are no longer in a 19th or 20th century set of social or ecological conditions. The attainment of peace and prosperity can no longer be fully addressed with revolutions or social movements. The decades of economic growth from cheap oil -- producing wealth for some, not bringing peace -- cannot be replicated.

The common people have always just wanted peace and prosperity, but are pushed beyond a certain point by relentless opportunists seizing greater power. This results in eventual revolt, but new immutable factors in social change include the deteriorating health of the biosphere, cultural breakdown, and economic collapse.

Big Banks Face Criticism For Speculative Role In Global Food Crisis - Huffington Post

By Maxwell Strachan

Today, rising food prices are wreaking havoc in the developing world. While some blame overpopulation, and others ethanol, another culprit has emerged of late: banks and the role of speculative commodity indexes.

The primary danger of the indexes, according to a new article by Frederick Kaufman in Foreign Policy, is that they fundamentally alter the food market by transforming key stapes into a financial asset that performs more or less like a stock. So while billions worldwide scramble to find money pay for food, food prices are often subject to intensified distortions of supply and demand from speculative markets.

Since 1999, when the government first deregulated the commodities market, Kaufmann explains, investors have flocked to investing in food. The basis for that excitement is a Goldman Sachs-developed innovation known as the commodity index. Today, Kaufmann says, it's a tool that has been replicated throughout the banking industry.

Govt must set up population board: Flannery - Sydney Morning Herald announces good move

By Matthew Sadler

Professor Tim Flannery, the head of the federal government's climate commission, has called on the government to create an independent body to set a population target.

In an address to the the Australian Academy of Science, Prof Flannery said the group should be free of the power blocs which push for a larger population such as religions, government and industry.

The body, set up like the independent Reserve Bank, would initially set a population target for 2030 and revise the target every two to three years.

"No one is doing this sort of job at the moment," Professor Flannery said in Canberra.

50 Million Environmental Refugees By 2020, Experts Predict - Huffington Post

This past week, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), experts warned that, "In 2020, the UN has projected that we will have 50 million environmental refugees," the AFP reports.

A refugee is currently considered by the UN High Commissioner on Refugees to be a person who is fleeing persecution due to their race, religion, nationality, etc. There is no mention of the environment as a reason to flee. And yet, if you have no water from a drought, have no food due to flooding, or if your home is quite simply underwater, what other option do you have but to flee?

This is not a distant concern that can be put on the backburner, categorized by deniers as just another hyped up global warming fear. This is happening. Now.

For example, there is currently a drastic increase in migrants flooding Southern Europe. Why? Food shortages have a lot to do with it, according to a report by Karin Zeitvogel of the AFP. Professor Ewen Todd explains, "Already, Africans are going in small droves up to Spain, Germany... but we're going to see many, many more trying to go north when food stress comes in. And it was food shortages that put the people of Tunisia and Egypt over the top."

What do food shortages have to do with climate change? Warmer winters keep pests alive, allowing them to carry plant diseases in the spring. Greenhouse gases and air pollution affect a plant's structure, reducing its ability to defend against pests and diseases. Heavy rainfall carries animal waste into human food, spreading even more disease. 2.2 million people die every year in developing countries from food and water-borne diseases.

For full article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/22/environmental-refugees-50_n_826488.html

China population turning-point to spur inflation:state economist - Reuters

China's census results show the world's second-biggest economy is nearing a demographic watershed that will auger wage rises, higher inflation and relatively lower growth, a prominent government economist said in comments published on Thursday.

Ba Shusong, a senior economist at the State Council Development Research Center, which advises the central government, said the 2010 census data issued last week, together with a clutch of other statistics, showed China's supply of abundant cheap labor would start shrinking soon.

"The current data show China has already crossed the Lewis turning point, and at the same time the window of the demographic dividend will soon close," Ba wrote in the Economic Information Daily.

China Declares Victory Over Rapid Population Rise as Focus Shifts to Aging - Bloomberg

China declared victory over rapid population growth as the release of its decennial census signaled the focus will turn to managing the impact of a faster- than-expected rise in the number of older people.

China had 1.34 billion people as of Nov. 1, the Beijing- based National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. While still the most populous country, the higher birth rate of India’s 1.2 billion people puts it on course to take the title when the South Asian nation holds its next census in 2021.

Success in capping the population growth through the three- decade-old one-child policy presents China’s leaders with another problem as the swelling ranks of retirees create pressure to boost social welfare programs and pose a risk to the economic growth needed to fund them. The over-60s make up 13.3 percent of the population, 1 percentage point more than forecast and half as much again as in India, United Nations data show.

“The working age population is due to start falling within the next three or four years,” said Jim Walker, managing director at Hong Kong-based Asianomics Ltd. and former chief economist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. “These 9, 10 percent growth rates people have become accustomed to are not sustainable for very much longer.”

Investors should put their money in countries where the prospects for return on equity are highest, such as India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, he said.

Can the Earth sustain 10 billion people?

That's our possible population by 2100, though a writer who predicts a "population crash" says not to panic

BY PETER FINOCCHIARO

Demographers estimate that the human population will eclipse 7 billion by the end of October -- only 12 years since we crossed the  6 billion-person threshold. And while experts long predicted that the global population would level out at 9 billion by mid-century, the United Nations has now adjusted those projections upward. According to a new report, we can expect 10.1 billion people on Earth by 2100. 

The U.N. attributes the additional billions in part to faster-than-expected growth in Africa -- whose population could triple in the next 90 years -- even as fertility rates in the developed world continue to decline. The figures raise questions once more about the sustainability of such a massive population growth.

English journalist Fred Pearce argues in his recent "The Coming Population Crash: And Our Planet's Surprising Future" that the world's population is peaking -- and that the "population bomb"  has been defused. (He argued the merits of his theory in an interview with Salon last April.) And despite the U.N.'s new theories, Pearce is sticking by his thesis. We spoke to him by phone Wednesday afternoon.

You've said that global population is likely to stabilize in the coming years -- that there will be, in fact, a "population crash." Does the fact that the U.N. has adjusted its projections upward have any impact on your central thesis?

Can the United States Feed China?

By Lester R. Brown at Earth Policy Institute

In 1994, I wrote an article in World Watch magazine entitled “Who Will Feed China?” that was later expanded into a book of the same title. When the article was published in late August, the press conference generated only moderate coverage. But when it was reprinted that weekend on the front of the Washington Post’s Outlook section with the title “How China Could Starve the World,” it unleashed a political firestorm in Beijing.

The response began with a press conference at the Ministry of Agriculture on Monday morning, where Deputy Minister Wan Baorui denounced the study. Advancing technology, he said, would enable the Chinese people to feed themselves. This was followed by a government-orchestrated stream of articles that challenged my findings.
  
The strong reaction surprised me. In retrospect, although I had followed closely the Great Famine of 1959–61, during which some 30 million people starved to death, I had not fully appreciated the psychological scars it left. The leaders in Beijing are survivors of that famine. As a result of that traumatic experience, no leader could acknowledge that China might one day have to import much of its food. China, they said, had always fed itself, and it always would.

The UN revises its estimates upwards - World Population to Reach 7 Billion in October 2011, 10 Billion by 2100

World Population to reach 10 billion by 2100 if Fertility in all Countries Converges to Replacement Level

UNITED NATIONS, May 3 – The world population is estimated to reach 7 billion in October 2011 and projected to increase to 10.1 billion in the next 90 years, according to estimates in the 2010 Revision of World Population Prospects, the official United Nations population projections, released today. Most of this growth is expected to come from high-fertility countries: 39 in Africa, nine in Asia, six in Oceania and four in Latin America

Currently, 42 pecent of the world’s population lives in low-fertility countries, countries where women are not having enough children, on average, to ensure that each woman is replaced by a daughter who reaches reproductive age. Intermediate-fertility countries, where women, on average, are having between 1 and 1.5 daughters, account for an additional 40 percent of the world population. The remaining 18 percent lives in high-fertility countries where women, on average, have more than 1.5 daughters.

The highest potential for future growth is in high-fertility countries where it is projected, using the medium variant standard for long-term projections, that between now and 2100, the population in high-fertility countries will more than triple, increasing from 1.2 billion to 4.2 billion. Low and high variants projections produce smaller and larger projected populations. If the fertility follows the high variant projection, overall population in high-fertility countries could increase four or five fold instead of just tripling.