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RESOURCES

ORGANIZATIONS

Population Reference Bureau: Publishes annual World Population Data Sheet, which reports on population growth and projections, fertility rates, demographic data, and correlations between population and poverty, health, environment, etc., with data broken down by nation.

United Nations Population Fund: International development agency that works in 150 nations around the world on many issues surrounding population, including reproductive and sexual health, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and strategies for stabilizing population growth and achieving sustainable development.

U.S. Census Bureau: Collects and publishes detailed survey data on U.S. population, demographics, economics, housing, legislative districting, etc.

Guttmacher Institute:Conducts and publishes nonpartisan research on reproductive issues, pregnancy, contraception, abortion, sexual attitudes and behaviors, etc.

Global Footprint Network:Provides original research, data and analysis on human impact on the Earth.


DOWNLOADABLE PUBLICATIONS

Reproduction and the Carbon Legacies of Individuals (Oregon State University): Quantifies and compares the relative greenhouse gas impacts of births in developed nations vs. those in developing nations.

Drought in the Southeastern United States (Columbia University): Makes the case that severe recent water shortages in the Southeastern United States were driven largely by unsustainable population growth rather than meteorological variability.

Women’s Empowerment and Population Stabilization Go Hand in Hand (Population Connection): Lays out the basic case for empowerment of women as a primary strategy for stabilizing global population.

Nature’s Place: Human Population and the Future of Biodiversity (Population Action International): Detailed report on the relationship between unsustainable human population growth and biodiversity decline and extinction.

U.S. Population, Energy, and Climate Change (Center for Environment and Population): Overview of trends in population, demographics and energy use in the United States and their relationship to climate change.


ARTICLES AND OPINION

The Last Taboo, Julia Whitty, Mother Jones (May/June 2010)

I Am the Population Problem, Lisa Hymas, RH Reality Check (August 2011)

Special Section: 7 Billion, National Geographic Magazine


BOOKS

The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich
The bestselling book, published in 1968, brought the population issue to the foreground. Written with Ehrlich’s then-uncredited wife, Anne Ehrlich, the book was both widely acclaimed and controversial; the Ehrlichs have gone on to write some of the best-researched studies, papers and books on human population. Meanwhile, global population has doubled since The Population Bomb was published.

Wildlife in America by Peter Matthiessen
Although written as a paean to endangered and extinct North American species, this 1959 book by award-winning writer and activist Matthiessen leads us along the paths of human expansion, making a resounding case for the detrimental effect that humans have had on species survival.

A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice and the Environmental Challenge, edited by Laurie Mazur
This collection of essays on population growth from nearly every angle it's discussed has become an essential resource for activists across the board. Environmental impacts, demographers' dilemmas, immigration, women's empowerment and the struggle for reproductive justice are all in this one book, which also holds a whole lot more.


TALKS AND LECTURES

Hans Rosling, “Global Population Growth.” July 2010, TED Talk.

Mechai Viravaidya, “How Mr. Condom made Thailand a better place.” September 2010, TED Talk.

Paul Ehrlich, “The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment.” June, 2008, Long Now Foundation.

Banner photo courtesy Flickr Commons/William Cho