Worldwatch

(Photo courtesy of Gallery of Beltway Schmoozers and Useless Tits)

Robert Engleman
Know-it-all
World Watch Institute
Washington, CP (City of Players)

Are you vexed by human population overshoot? Is 7 billion too much for you? Well you have come to the wrong place. If you want to find help to reduce our population from 7 billion, forget it, because we have already resigned ourselves to 9 billion. But if you want to settle for Plan B, then call our Help Line.

Call 1-800-LESTERBROWN

Voice mail recording:

“Hello, welcome to the World Watch Institute Help Line. All of our representatives are currently busy boring people on the Washington cocktail circuit with bland and ineffectual palliatives to overshoot so that the problems they are hired to solve remain unsolved. Please stay on the line because although your call is not important to us, your donation sure as hell is. We accept Money Orders, Visa or Mastercard and but not any criticisms of our underlying assumptions. However, criticisms of the Chinese One-Child-Per-Family Law which each year has saved humanity from an extra 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are welcome.We are insistent that all human rights must be respected except the right of our species to survive this century if survival means violating our current cultural and ethical guidelines. Things are bad, but not that bad. Just because we have increased our population by nearly 250% in the last half century is no reason to believe that emergency measures are required to deal with our emergency. It's incrementalism or bust baby.

To receive our automated reply to all of your inquiries press 1 followed by the number sign....... You have dialed "1", The World Watch Institute Help Line For Those Looking For Politically Correct and Inadequate Answers To Human Overpopulation Whose Solution Can Only Be A By-Product Of A Social Justice Agenda as approved by a panel of Hartmanite Feminists, Eco-Socialists And Monbiotists Who Couldn't Care Less How Many People There Are.....

Hello, I'm Bob Engleman and welcome to the World Watch Institute’s Demography-For-Dummies-In-A-Nutshell line.

Here it is stupid----- all we want you to know. The Conventional Cant which if repeated often enough will convince polite company that nothing you think is dangerous---to them or their funding sources. Are you ready? Now repeat after me:

Educate women, educate women, educate women.......

Voluntary family planning, voluntary family planning, voluntary family planning........

Women everywhere want only two children, women everywhere want only two children, women everywhere will want only two children....

Stopping at two will do, stopping at two will do, stopping at two will do..........

Chinese methods are stupid and unnecessary, Chinese methods are stupid and unnecessary, Chinese methods are stupid and unnecessary........

If Kerala, Thailand and Bangledesh can do it, so can everyone else, if Kerala, Thailand and Bangledesh can do it, so can everyone else, if Kerala, Thailand and Bangledesh can do it, so can everyone else.........

The Demographic Theory of Transition is a fact, The Demographic Theory of Transition is a fact, The Demographic Theory of Transition is a fact............

Prosperity is the best contraceptive, prosperity is the best contraceptive, prosperity is the best contraceptive......

Sustainable development is not an oxymoron, sustainable development is not an oxymoron, sustainable development is not an oxymoron......

We must find a way to feed 9 billion, We must find a way to feed 9 billion, We must find a way to feed 9 billion......

The birth rate is dropping, The birth rate is dropping, The birth rate is dropping.....

Forget demographic momentum, forget demographic momentum, forget demographic momentum......

2 billion is sustainable, 2 billion is sustainable, 2 billion is sustainable.......And we can take our sweet time in getting there.......And we can take our sweet time in getting there....And we can take our sweet time in getting there......

Don't criticize Green Icons, they are on our side and above reproach......Don't criticize Green Icons, they are on our side and above reproach.....Don't Criticize Green Icons, they are on our side and above reproach........Spare your criticisms for the enemy......Spare your criticisms for the enemy.......Spare your criticisms for the enemy...

For further information, contact our foundation grant-makers who will supply you with all the politically correct solutions that we advocate to satisfy their stipulations.

PS If your concerns relate to climate change, please be advised that Bill McKibben can no longer be reached at 1-800-350.ORG . His new number is now 1-800-400.ORG because that was the only politically realistic number that he could negotiate at the present time. Note, he will not talk about over-population because it is irrelevant---all we need to do is find a way to "de-carbonize" an economy of 9-15 billion people. Appeals can be made to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund at 1-800-1SKY350.ORG

If you find the forgoing offensive and unfair, then please phone in your complaint to:

Tim Murray
1-800-GETSERIOUS

Hello, you have reached the 1-800--GETSERIOUS line. BTW, WTF are you playing at? This is not a drill. Repeat. This is not a drill. We are facing the end of our civilization and/or human extinction---get it? The politically possible is not the ecologically necessary. So make the necessary possible---- or get off the stage. Are you in it for the game---or the result? Then go with the science and let the political chips fall where they may. EFA doesn't tell half the story. It is not about renewables, it is about NON-renewables. Forget for a moment about bio-capacity and start thinking about carrying capacity, the precarious carrying capacity of a global industrial civilization enabled by a diminishing supply of fossil fuels, metals and minerals. Start thinking about how we shrink the population fast enough so that the per capita share of this shrinking resource base does not become so low as to trigger civil massive unrest and global conflict. Can't be done? Fine. Then stop shopping your green delusions and half-measures, shut up and let logic and hard numbers do the talking.

No sooner did Madeline Weld finish her CBC interview about human overpopulation, when the Green-Left brigade swung into action trying to douse the flames ignited by truth. But this time they were too late. The truth got out.

This is a podcast of the 20 minute discussion (and debate) between Madeline Weld and Robert Engleman.
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/media/2011-2012/qq-2011-10-29_04.mp3

While I was not impressed by Engleman's dismissive and somewhat condescending tone----or with his arguments for that matter---- for an exercise in pure denial try this response from Canada's very own Ian Angus, who is allied with fellow ego-socialists like Australian Simon Butler of The Green-Left weekly and Derek Wall of the Green Party of England and Wales http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=5707 . Having just published a 'population-is-a-red-herring--and--old---Malthusian--myth' book and conducted a misinformation tour of Australia, these folks are in fever-pitch to fight off reality wherever it turns its ugly head.

Angus must be kicking himself though, because this time, it appears he and his smear network were asleep at the switch when the CBC invited Madeline to their show. Normally they are vigilant about upcoming media interviews with Malthusians and immigration-reformers and are quick to forewarn the producers, editors and journalists that we are racist, anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-people and apologists for the rich and greedy. That's why we often find that the interview or op-ed that was promised to us has been cancelled without credible reasons given. This time, however, we slipped through before the blacklist could be made operational. This might prove that Angus might have a life after all. Maybe he was distracted by important things------ who knows. But he clearly let his side down on this one. Some Grand Inquistor he is. Writing a letter to the producer AFTER the fact is like closing the barn door after the horse has got away.

Ian, if you are going to fill Joe McCarthy's shoes you are going to have to put all you have into it. Silencing the population debate must be a full-time job. Letting us in the door to exercise our freedom of speech is simply unacceptable. What kind of blacklister are you, any way? I'll bet Betsy Hartman won't even speak to you now.

Never mind, its too late now. The damage has been done. Madeline Weld has spoken the truth and 500,000 Canadians heard it. At last.

Tim Murray

PS Mr. Angus thinks population concerns are purely ideological and without scientific merit. What one wonders then, is what exactly is scientific about his assertion that population numbers are irrelevant. I think he needs to visit an optometrist. He seems to have trouble seeing elephants at close quarters.

On October 29, CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks featured two guests to discuss the world at 7 billion people, Robert Engelman, President of the Worldwatch Institute in Washington and Madeline Weld, President of the Population Institute of Canada.

Podcast of Quirks and Quarks program on World at 7 Billion

The United Nations estimates that on October 31st, the world's population will reach 7 billion. Although the actual number is not certain, it does underlie the fact that our population is growing at an alarming rate. It took until the early 1800's to reach the 1 billion mark, but the last 50 years alone have seen the births of 4 of the total 7 billion This rapid increase raises the question, how many more people can the earth sustain? Or have we already surpassed the earth's capacity? Among the many people asking questions like this are Dr. Madeline Weld, President of the Ottawa-based Population Institute of Canada, and Robert Engelman, President of The Worldwatch Institute in Washington. They discuss how various factors - including access to contraception, the empowerment of women, poverty, consumerism, and the environment - apply to our population growth, now and in the future.