"To help solve environmental and social problems by including population size in discussions of those problems.
We work to remove the obstacles that keep population from being seriously and rationally discussed in public discourse,
and to empower people to determine, reach and maintain the best population size for their regions and the planet."
HowMany.org works to raise public awareness by:
Exploring the links among population growth, environmental challenges (including
global warming, urban sprawl, water rights, species extinction, and energy consumption) and social issues (particularly women's rights and access to contraceptives).
Encouraging and facilitating popular discussion about how population and the
environment interact and about the complex links between population growth, poverty and inequality.
Channeling funding toward education and research about population, the environment and family planning.
Howmany.org advocates for:
Advancing understanding of the effects of population growth
Women's rights and gender equality
Improved reproductive health and access to contraceptives
Raising education and economic opportunities
Responsible levels of consumption
Natural resource and habitat conservation
Sustainable livelihoods
Social and economic justice
Population growth is not an inexorable force of nature. By choosing now how many people our regions (and the Earth) should best support, we can choose our
own future.Those U.N. median projections of 10.4 billion by 2050 are not inevitable; we can and must aim for the low numbers of 8.0 billion. This is one instance where we'll have a better future on the low road.
Who we are:
Suzanne York, Senior Writer
Suzanne has a Masters in Public Policy from American University, and has reported on international human rights, globalization, and environmental issues for more than a decade. She spent eight years as research director with the International Forum on Globalization in San Francisco. She is also chair of the Sierra Club's Trade, Human Rights & Environment Team and writes a blog on environment and human rights issues in India. Suzanne's work here focuses on research and writing about population, human rights, and the environment. She enjoys hiking with her husband and two beagles.
Education Director - position open
Last Fall, HowMany.org developed and began to implement an outreach and education program in Bay Area High Schools and Junior Colleges. Complying with CA state standards, the program presents the basics of population dynamics as well as the personal and social implications of our growing numbers. Full Job Description
Searle Whitney
HowMany.org founder Searle Whitney graduated cum laude from Yale University and
holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in psychology / linguistics. He has
lifelong interests in the environment and social justice. This project is motivated
by the realization that unless we take charge of our population size, all gains we
make in environmental and social issues will be overwhelmed by our growing
numbers. Bigger is not better. His other current
passions include oldtime music and gardens.
Mary Garvey
Mary Garvey is a freelance administrative specialist who has worked with
Howmany.org since it's inception. She is committed to the idea that
population awareness can lead to meaningful solutions to global problems.
The Ogallala Aquifer suffered its second-worst drop since at least 2000 in a large swath of the Texas Panhandle, new measurements show. The closely watched figures, published this week by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District, cover a 16-county area stretching from south of Lubbock to Amarillo. The Ogallala wells measured by the district [...]
SANLIURFA, Turkey — I’ve been traveling to Yemen, Syria and Turkey to film a documentary on how environmental stresses contributed to the Arab awakening. As I looked back on the trip, it occurred to me that three of our main characters — the leaders of the two Yemeni villages that have been fighting over a [...]
The 9th Circuit struck down Arizona’s 20 week abortion ban, one of 10 states with 20 weeks assumed to be when a fetus feels pain. Roe v. Wade established 26 weeks, before viable outside the womb, as the legal criterea. North Dakota now bans abortion after heartbeat is detectable, usually about 6 weeks. The safest & most effective way to avoid abortion is to provide free & effective birth control to all women.
WASHINGTON – Global warming and clean energy should be priorities for Congress and the president, a majority of Americans said in a recent survey. In the survey, released Tuesday by Yale and George Mason universities, 70% of American adults say global warming should be a priority for the nation’s leaders, while 87% say leaders should make it [...]
Solar replaces natural gas to coax oil from old wells. Oman’s national oil company will announce on Tuesday that it has begun using a new method of coaxing oil out of old wells: solar power. For years, oil producers have relied on steam, created with natural gas, to heat rock below the surface and make [...]
The Earth is Full
June, 2011 - Thomas Friedman - The title says it all. Maybe now that Friedman has broken the ice,
a few others can also say that the Emperor (of endless, thoughless growth) has no clothes!
[original]
[comments]
Ruling on Contraception Insurance
January 29, 2012 - Obama admin.
finalizes ruling that insurance companies cover contraception without a broad religious
exemption. Half of pregnancies in U.S. are unintended.
[New York Times]
[archive]
Resisting Dickensian Gloom
by Tony Recsei. Forced high density policies don't reduce our carbon footprint or
energy use. This is a very well researched article summarizing many studies. It
was posted on a "smart growth" blog and many people have commented.
Facinating reading.
[article]
[archive]
Smart Growth: The Worst Kind of Sprawl?
Studies find that urban construction is no better for the environment
than the suburban. People have pretty much the same
global footprint either way. Transportation is a small part of it, and is offset
by extra resources to build high rises.
[article]
[archive]
Tikopia: Living within Limits Feb, 2011 -
The history of the Pacific island Tikopia shows that when humans are confronted with
obvious limits to
our resources, we are smart enough to constrain our population and enjoy
comfortable, prosperous lives.
[article]
[archive]
Overpopulation at its worst?
In the Congo's capital, parents only feed their children every other day.
Demand U.S. contribute
to U.N. contraceptive program!
- Jan 10, 2012
[article]
[comment]
Japan's economy stronger than USA's
This is usually obfuscated by using total GDP to measure growth, but per-capita GDP is stronger
in Japan.
- Jan 3, 2012
[article]
[comment]
Conjectures on Human Growth Limits, Jan 2004 -
Ross McCluney's classic survey of ways to address the question of the best population size
for our Planet. Hint: it depends on how we want to live...
[archive]
300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds, Jan 2011 -
Great(!) video on the history and effects of humanity's use of fossil fuels. As supplies
dwindle relative to our population, what will we do?
[short video]
The Critics Deconstructed Intersting article about the attacks against population activists,
and the need for population awareness
[article]
U.N.Predicts 10.1 billion people by 2100 May -
This article corrects some common mis-perceptions about population. It is growing rapidly, but
can be slowed by easy access to contraception, better education for women, and
changing social norms.
[article]
[archive]
Mother: Caring our Way out of the
Population Dilemma, Jan 2011 -
The film follows Beth, an American mother who comes from a Catholic family of 12 and has adopted
an African-born daughter as she
travels to Ethiopia where she meets Zinet, the oldest daughter of a desperately poor family
of 12. Zinet has found the courage to break free from thousand-year-old-cultural barriers,
and their encounter will change Beth forever.
[trailer]
[archive]
The Moral Right to Set Limits, Dec -
It seems right for us each to protect the positive qualities
of our own region, the only place where we have even a modicum of
the political ability to do so. But there is always a nagging question
about that...
[article]
Opposition to Power Line at Fjord Runs Deep, Nov 11 -
A beautiful place. Why run a high-tension power line with 125
foot towers through the middle of it? Another toll of increasing population.
[article]
[archive]
Top 50 Birth Control Blogs.
Sept 2010.
Grouped by Educational, Methods, Population Issues, Reproductive Rights, Religious,
Ethnic & Local issues.
[article]
[archive]
Nobody Ever Dies of Overpopulation, Garret Hardin
or do they? Much of the Pakistani land which
flooded in 2010 is floodplain which was marshland that was
only settled in the last 30 years...
[article]
[archive]
How many People can live on Planet Earth Sept, 2010
Sir David Attenborough asks this question in
this fascinating video (YouTube).
The Last Taboo What unites the Vatican, lefties, conservatives,
environmentalists and scientists in a conspiracy of silence?
Read
The Last Taboo
by Julia Whitty in the June 2010 issue of
Mother Jones: "Who's to Blame for the Population Crisis?"
Climate Change:
Calling Planet Birth
Family size is the great unmentionable in the campaign for more environmentally friendly
lifestyles.
Having 1 less child in the US would reduce carbon emissions 19 times more than
all the E.P.A.'s recommended actions combined. -
[article]
Drop in Birthrates in 2008 is Linked to Recession -Apr 2010
Population growth is not inevitable. When incentives favor postponing having children,
many people do.
[article]
Smart Growth? the smart alternative is No Growth
Although city planners are trained to call some patterns of growth 'smart',
in many areas the only truely smart alternative is No Growth
[article]
Parting the Waters - mid-East wars over Water Rights - March 31, 2010.
30 of the 37 Wars over Water in the past 60 years involve Israel and its neighbors.
Fewer people living in these desert regions would leave more water per person. This should
inform the population policies of all countries involved.
[article]
A Pivotal Moment: Population, Justice & The Environmental Challenge
Dec 23,2009 This new book compiled by Laurie Mazur discusses environmental issues as they affect
equality, justice and sustainability. Regarding the UN's low and high estimates for World
population in 2050 "if we take seriously the twin imperatives of sustainablilty and equity, it
becomes clear that it would be easier to provide a good life - at less environmental cost - for
8 rather than almost 11 billion people."
[Press Release]
