Moderator Constance Holden, and Panelists Steve Curwood, Robert Engelman, and Tom Horton
Population is the “central cause in all the issues we’re dealing with,” moderator Constance Holden said. Two underlying questions shaped the panelists’ discussion: “Why is population growing?” and “Why is it not covered in the climate change debate?”
Steve Curwood, the executive producer and host of American Public Radio’s “Living on Earth” series, acknowledged the complexity inherent in explaining the causes of population growth, but believed mitigating poverty can have the greatest effect on stabilizing populations, citing the strong social institutions and stable population of Denmark as an example.
Robert Engelman, vice president of programs for the Worldwatch Institute, understands the sometimes toxic nature of discussing population growth. “You can’t tell people how many children they can have,” Engelman said, “but that is not the end of the story.” Engelman advised the session’s attendees to explore the correlates of population growth, and to highlight the shift from parents wanting to have “more children” to “more for their children.”
Panelist Tom Horton, a freelance writer with recent work on population and climate change published for the Abell Foundation, suggested journalists should examine the “growth is good” economic culture of our country when covering the issue.
Throughout the discussion, panelists noted that foreign countries with varying population and consumption patterns can be used as templates for framing policy and discussion in the United States.
Reported by Christopher Cox, Virginia Tech
Original blurb: Once a greenhouse-gas emission "cap" clamps down in a cap-and-trade approach to climate change, what happens when population keeps growing? Does everyone just get less of the rationed good? Or might human numbers have a cap of their own? Does population policy have any role to play in addressing climate change — and, if so, what's the policy? Or is it best to leave the linkage alone? This panel will consider human population growth in a carbon-constrained atmosphere, and how environmental journalists can step bravely where many fear to tread in covering a connection that won't go away.
Comments