When confronted with the issues of world population growth and the resulting impacts, many people feel overwhelmed and powerless. The problem seems so big and so complex that they don't believe they can do anything about it. Individuals can make a difference, in a variety of ways, and on a number of levels.
Consider the example of a mobile hanging from the ceiling. If we exert even a slight pull on any one piece, all the other pieces move as well. This is how seemingly small problems can have a large impact, and how seemingly small solutions can effect positive change in a number of areas. We need to understand the power of our own personal choices, and that small actions can have a large effect. We need the faith, the courage and the commitment to make those choices and take those actions.
While population growth is greatest in developing regions, the industrialized world is extremely important because of our much greater comfort level. In light of the fact that Americans consume almost one quarter of global resources (with only one twentieth of the world's population), the planet would benefit tremendously from reversing even solve population growth in the United States.
There are a number of ways to reduce your own environmental impacts - from recycling, using fluorescent light fixtures and driving less, to planting trees and restoring wildlife habitat. It sounds simple - but even such small steps as turning off the lights when leaving a room and turning down the thermostat on the house or water heater can help. Conserving energy means less has to be generated. Less fuel is burned, and fewer emissions are released into the atmosphere, reducing smog and slowing global warming. Buying a more efficient car not only saves you money, but also saves energy, and reduces pollution. Walking or riding a bike instead of using a car for shot trips is both energy-efficient and healthy.
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Cut down on the amount of garbage you generate. Recycle glass, plastic, paper, ferrous, metals, aluminum and tin cans. See if a local thrift shop or charity will take items you have no use for, rather than throwing them in the trash. Start "pre-cycling" as well as recycling. That means buying only products in recyclable or reusable containers, and limiting purchases of products with excessive packaging. (About one third of all trash thrown away in America is packaging) Start a compost pile for your yard or garden. Composting food scraps and yard wastes keeps them out of landfills, and builds up soil and fertilizes plants.
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Save water by fixing dripping faucets, installing low flow shower heads, and not leaving the water running while brushing your teeth. Even those simple steps can save thousands of gallons a year. Learn about natural landscaping with indigenous plants which require less water, and consider replacing lawns (a major cause of water use, as well as pesticide and fertilizer applications with drought-resistant ground covers).
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Learn about and support environmentally sound industries and technologies, such as sustainable agriculture, sustainable forestry, eco-tourism, and renewable energy such as wind power. Support those activities whenever possible in your community. Buying produce from a local farmer or gardener saves the energy of transporting food products from distant areas, and boosts the local economy. Buying wood products from a sustainable forestry operation saves habitat and promotes biodiversity as does use of alternative building materials.
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It may be necessary to help create positive options in many areas. If there isn't a recycling program in your community, for example, talk to local officials and businesses about starting one. If eco-friendly forestry products are not available from you local lumberyard, ask the owner how to find them and encourage him or her to stock and advertise such materials.
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If pre-cycling is hard to do because of a lack of products and packaging that are environmentally friendly, write to the manufacturers of the products you use most, and ask them to introduce more "eco-friendly" products. Tell them you'll ask you local merchants to carry those products, and will by them if they're available.
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If people support environmentally sound products and services, sales of those products and services will increase. As manufacturers and merchants see increases is sales of a given market segment, they will shift production and merchandising to accommodate that growth.
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If for example, significant number of consumers decide to buy more fuel efficient cars, auto manufacturers will respond by developing and producing more fuel-efficient vehicles. If grocers suddenly discover that shoppers want (and will pay for) local agriculture products produced in a sustained manner, they will stock those products. If growers discover a market for products produced in a sustainable manner, they will shift production to respond to that market.
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Educate yourself about the problems we face. Of course, on one can learn about all the complex issues before us, so choose the ones that you feel are most important. Study them, debate them, and educate others about them. Talk to you friends, parents, neighbors and co-workers about the issues you feel are important.
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Learn how various actions and impacts interact. Explore the connections between population trends, economic and social systems, and regulatory and legislative structures. Be aware of the consequences of your actions on a larger scale. If you leave the lights or television on, for example, somewhere a power plant or hydroelectric dam must burn more fuel or release more water through the turbines to supply the electricity. The end result is more carbon emissions in the atmosphere, or disruptions of fish stocks.
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Join and support at least one environmental organization such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, Worldwatch Institute or the National Wildlife Federation. If you can support more, do so. Choose a group working on the issues most important to you, and become involved in the programs. If you can't afford to give money, give time and effort. Help with mailings, phone trees or petition drives in support of causes you care about. Become a member of a population education organization, such as Population Action International, the Population Reference Bureau or Zero Population Growth. Share their materials with other who are concerned about the environment.
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On a global level, learn about and support programs to educate and empower people-especially women. When women are given the opportunity and materials to control their own fertility, they have fewer children. Even minimal levels of education have proven beneficial in reducing fertility and delaying childbearing. The longer a family waits to have children, the greater their contribution to slowing population momentum. The more education a woman has, the more power she is likely to have in family decisions, the more economic options she has, and the less likely she is to need or want several children.
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Learn about and support programs to help people achieve economic security in a sustainable manner. Enabling people to achieve a secure and sustainable livelihood significantly reduces pressure on the environment and on social structures, and it helps reduces population growth, because numerous children are no longer necessary to help support the family.
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Learn about and support programs to provide health care, especially reproductive and child and maternal care. High rates of infant and child mortality are linked to higher fertility rates. Where child mortality is high, parents often have more children than really want, because they expect some of their children to die.
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Considerable political opposition exists in this country to supplying family planning funding in the developing world. Typically, this is expressed as opposition to abortion. However, since unwanted and mis-timed pregnancies are the principal causes of abortion, reproductive health advocates argue that improving family planning programs would be the single most effective means of reducing abortions.
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Today, nearly 90 percent of national government view family planning programs as integral to the basic services available to their populations. By supporting and funding health care programs that provide appropriate technologies, deliver services effectively, and support positive behavior changes in a culturally appropriate manner, you can help stabilize population and improve the quality of people's lives.
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If families have access to reproductive health care, they can control both the number and spacing of their children. This is a key factor not only in stabilizing population, but also in saving lives. Unwanted or high-risk pregnancies kill tens of thousands of women each year. In some developing countries, maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women aged 15 to 45. An inadequate birth spacing is linked to both child and maternal mortality.
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According to United Nations Demographic and Health Surveys, more than 100 million couples want to control their reproduction, but lack access to safe, affordable means to do so. Because of lack of access to family planning information and materials, the incidence of unwanted or mistimed pregnancies remains high in much of the developing world, reaching 35 percent in Egypt, 55 percent in Kenya and 59 percent in Peru.
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Bringing the issue of population out into political consciousness is extremely important. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper outlining population issues and impacts. Create a poster informing people about these issues. Volunteer for a candidate who supports sustains ability, reproductive health and environmental protection. Write, call, fax or e-mail your state and federal representatives and express your concern about population issues, and ask about their positions on these issues. (Don't settle for a form letter reply. Demand specifics.)
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It is extremely important to remember that most politicians are not leaders, but followers. They generally act to implement change only when their constituents demand it. If citizens want elected officials to support sustainable population and production policies, and to pass legislation to provide funding and implement those policies, they must lobby their representatives to do so. As the richest and most powerful nation on the planet, the Untied States can help stabilize global population both by initiating programs, and by setting an example for other nations to follow. Our legislators must be moved to act.
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When working to protect the environment, stabilize population and improve the quality of people's lives, it's important to remember that every effort you undertake is part of a large context. René Dubos perhaps said it best when he coined the phrase, "Think globally, act locally." Every contribution in your own community has a ripple effect which can spread across the planet, and which supports other efforts. As the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development reported, "efforts to slow population growth, to reduce poverty, to achieve economic progress, to improve environmental protection, and to reduce unsustainable consumption and production patterns are mutually reinforcing."
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We can stabilize world population at a sustainable level, protect and enhance the environment, and balance out the inequalities between nations, individuals and genders. We have the knowledge, the technology and the capital available to do so. What we lack at this point is a vision of the world we would like to create, and the political will to implement it.
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If we fail to recognize the severity of these problems and to implement appropriate solutions, the future of the human species is in dire jeopardy. The choice is ours to make. We must make it now.
