Wow! You are gorgeous and I'm not even your mother!!
Great blog Justine; you've always been a fountain of useful information. A lot of what I've been hearing and reading in terms of sustainability has to do with the ways in which we use natural resources but I'd like to know what your opinion might be concerning the often controversial topic of population control. Our population keeps growing exponentially which means more strain on our planet's resources and consequently, more waste. Some people have suggested a carrot and/or stick approach in underdeveloped countries but what difference would we really be making if one westerner consumes and wastes up to five times that of someone from an underdeveloped country?
I heard Werner Fornos, President of the Population Institute, speak at a conference last Fall. He said that if the 350 million women worldwide who wanted access to family planning resources had it, we could stabilize world population at 8 billion people. Hopefully the next President of the U.S. will release the restrictions on U.S. AID funds and allow them to be used for something beyond abstinence only training in developing nations.
The flip side of this is the consumption that goes on in developed nations. If everyone on the planet used as many resources as the average American, the World would need six planets. The only way this is going to change is if we sell people on the sustainable alternative as better than what we have now. We have to get to green consumption before people will start to consider what it means to be seriously sustainable, just like people need to have a recycling program in place before they start to seriously look at waste prevention.
4 comments:
Wow! You are gorgeous and I'm not even your mother!!
Great blog Justine; you've always been a fountain of useful information. A lot of what I've been hearing and reading in terms of sustainability has to do with the ways in which we use natural resources but I'd like to know what your opinion might be concerning the often controversial topic of population control. Our population keeps growing exponentially which means more strain on our planet's resources and consequently, more waste. Some people have suggested a carrot and/or stick approach in underdeveloped countries but what difference would we really be making if one westerner consumes and wastes up to five times that of someone from an underdeveloped country?
Phil McCants
Hola Justine-
Mucha suerte con tu nueva compania
Lee y su amiga Becca
I heard Werner Fornos, President of the Population Institute, speak at a conference last Fall. He said that if the 350 million women worldwide who wanted access to family planning resources had it, we could stabilize world population at 8 billion people. Hopefully the next President of the U.S. will release the restrictions on U.S. AID funds and allow them to be used for something beyond abstinence only training in developing nations.
The flip side of this is the consumption that goes on in developed nations. If everyone on the planet used as many resources as the average American, the World would need six planets. The only way this is going to change is if we sell people on the sustainable alternative as better than what we have now. We have to get to green consumption before people will start to consider what it means to be seriously sustainable, just like people need to have a recycling program in place before they start to seriously look at waste prevention.
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