OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance
OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, it examines forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems leading to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Its vision of 'shrinking toward abundance' inspires pathways of transformation beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors interconnectedness with all beings.
Episodes
The Oceans' Deadliest Animal | Daniel Cáceres Bartra
Oceans are the next frontier of destructive human expansionism and extraction. Peruvian marine biologist and ocean life advocate, Daniel Cáceres Bartra, argues that human population growth and expansionism have already devastated nonhuman life on land, making it critical to protect the oceans before they suffer the same fate. From overfishing to deep-sea mining, Daniel advocates for top-down inte
Policing the Womb | Michele Goodwin
Low-fertility alarmism is rampant in many countries. Who is and isn't encouraged to reproduce has always been a question of power in the US. Legal scholar Michele Goodwin traces a disturbing lineage from the forced breeding of enslaved women and the sterilization of primarily poor white women deemed genetically unfit to the very different reproductive choices available to women on the basis of rac
Creating an Ecocivilization | Jeremy Lent
"There is no alternative" is the story that keeps us trapped in a world that is unraveling. Jeremy Lent, author of Ecocivilization, imagines what becomes possible when we move away from competition, separation, and domination and trust grassroots democracy to build lives rooted in the collaboration, diversity, and mutualism found throughout nature and human history. As disenchantment with the domi
Birthgap Debunked | Nandita Bajaj, Zachary Neal, and Jenna Watling Neal (from The Dissenter podcast)
The "birthgap crisis" isn't supported by the evidence. Population Balance Executive Director Nandita Bajaj joins childfree researchers Jennifer Watling Neal, Zachary Neal, and podcast host Ricardo Lopes in this republished episode of The Dissenter podcast. They take on the claims made in the film Birthgap, from widespread involuntary childlessness and unmet desires for children to the supposed eco
Beyond Human Supremacy | Eileen Crist (REPLAY)
Republished from August 2022. The worldview of human supremacy is driving the human expansionism that is devastating the living world. Philosopher and environmental writer Eileen Crist, author of Abundant Earth: Toward an Ecological Civilization, offers a compelling alternative - reimagining ourselves as "Earthlings" and creating societies that make space for the flourishing of all life. Highlight
The Ghastly Costs of Population Denial | Corey Bradshaw
Humanity is pushing life to the brink. Mathematical ecologist, Corey Bradshaw, explains how our growing population and consumption are driving the depopulation and extinction of countless species while pushing Earth's ecosystems beyond their limits. We explore why overpopulation remains politically taboo, why fears of falling birth rates are misplaced given the evidence of better socioeconomic out
Animals and the Right to Politics | Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka
For millennia, animals have been treated as property or passive recipients of moral concern rather than as political beings with agency. Political philosophers Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka, authors of Animals and the Right to Politics, argue that decades of research reveals that animals are members of complex political societies capable of negotiation, cooperation, and collective decision-makin
The History and Future of Collapse | Luke Kemp
For most of our history, humans lived in relatively egalitarian societies that actively prevented the accumulation of power. Author of Goliath's Curse, Luke Kemp, examines how hierarchical states, 'Goliaths', came to dominate the world. We explore why Goliaths repeatedly collapse, the likely trajectories of today's global Goliath, and what it might take to radically democratize power before histo
Becoming Grounded in Deep Time | Marcia Bjornerud
Every age is the Stone Age. Geologist and author Marcia Bjornerud discusses how thinking like a geologist can cultivate the grounded humility of a deep time perspective. We explore Earth's turbulent history, humanity's emergence as a geologic force, and why humanity and all of life - past, present, and future - is utterly dependent on the rocky planet beneath our feet. Highlights include: Why ge
The Hoax of Lab-Grown Meat | Vasile Stănescu
The uncritical adoption of 'humane', 'cage-free', 'free-range', and lab-grown meat by animal advocates, funded by effective altruism philanthropy and the animal agriculture industry, not only reproduces the myth that meat is normal, natural, and necessary, it represents an ultimate defeat for animals. Vasile Stănescu, animal liberation scholar exposes the 'humane' hoax and explains why the failur
Pronatalism, a Conversation with Nandita Bajaj and Michele Goodwin | Ask a Feminist Podcast
Pronatalism is the oldest form of reproductive control. Population Balance Executive Director, Nandita Bajaj, joins fellow guest and legal scholar Michele Goodwin and host Shoshanna Ehrlich in this republished episode of Ask a Feminist, a podcast from the Signs Journal. They discuss the rise of patriarchy and pronatalism in the first empires, the racist and eugenicist history of pronatalism in the
South Korea's No-Birth Generation | Ji-Hye Jeong
As South Korea's birth rates continue to decline, reporter JiHye Jeong highlights the rising tide of young feminists who are staging a strike against patriarchy. Despite relentless cultural and political backlash, the surge in South Korea's women's resistance movements - from the 2015 feminist 'reboot' to 'escape the corset' and 4B - offers a radical response to the misogynistic forces that compel
Falling Birth Rates are Not a Crisis | Philip N. Cohen
Sociologist Philip N. Cohen debunks the pronatalist claims on both the right and left that falling birth rates spell disaster. Noting that pronatalism is a key feature of authoritarian states, Cohen warns that the adoption of the problematic 'fertility crisis' framing among liberals is paving the way for coercive right-wing policies, and why we must abandon this narrative. We also explore evolvin
Combatting the Extinction Crisis | Stephanie Feldstein and Tierra Curry
Biodiversity is collapsing under the pressures of human overpopulation, overconsumption, and animal agriculture. Tierra Curry and Stephanie Feldstein of the Center for Biological Diversity explain how science, law, and advocacy can protect wildlife and wild places. They also share strategies for combating extinction and staying motivated to act in an age of ecological crisis. Highlights include:
AI and the Decline of Human Agency | Jacob Ward
AI, under the dangerous control of tech oligarchs, is creating a world with shrinking human choice, creativity, and connection. Technology journalist Jacob Ward, author of The Loop: How Technology is Creating a World without Choices and How to Fight Back, describes why restraint and resistance are necessary to fight back against the AI juggernaut. Highlights include: How tech journalism emphasi
Confronting Human Exceptionalism | Christine Webb
The myth of human exceptionalism casts humans as separate from and superior to the rest of life. Primatologist Christine Webb, author of The Arrogant Ape, dismantles this belief, showing how science and culture sustain human exceptionalism - and why replacing it with awe and empathy for the natural world is essential to life's future on Earth. Highlights include: How an early experience with Bea
The Dystopian Delusions of Tech Overlords | Adam Becker
Silicon Valley billionaires, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman, promise salvation through space colonization, immortality, superintelligent AI, and endless growth. Adam Becker, astrophysicist and author of More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity, debunks these profoundly immoral and biophysically impossible delu
Data Grab: The New Colonialism | Ulises Mejias
Data is the resource, and our lives are the territory. Ulises Mejias, co-author of Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back, reflects on data colonialism as a new social order that extends the extractive logic of historical colonialism into our everyday lives. Highlights include: How terms of digital service agreements, written in dense legalese, resemble past colonial pro
Epicurean Simplicity | Stephanie Mills
Shaped by fears of overpopulation and ecological collapse, Stephanie Mills was launched into prominence with her 1969 college commencement vow not to have children. A long-time bioregionalist, Mills reflects on decades of questioning growth and cultivating a rooted relationship with the living world, and explains why bioregional living will become a necessity as global industrial civilization cont
The Dangers of Effective Altruism | Alice Crary
Effective altruism's technocratic worldview narrows our moral imagination and helps sustain human and animal injustice. Philosopher Alice Crary argues that effective altruism (EA) and longtermism, both shaped by Silicon Valley's techno-utopian fantasies, ignore social structures of oppression and offer either incremental welfarism or galactic transhumanism over genuine animal and human liberation.
An "Abundance Agenda" for Nature | Ben Goldfarb
We need an "abundance agenda" for nature. Ben Goldfarb, environmental journalist and author, challenges the techno-fix growth agenda that delivers an abundance of concrete and condos and a scarcity of wildness and wildlife. He urges us to replace extinction-prevention minimalism with a bolder commitment to restoring the abundance of keystone species, thriving ecosystems, and the freedom of wildlif
Leading the Legal Fight for Animals | Jeff Kerr
Animal rights are the next frontier of civil rights. Jeff Kerr, PETA's longtime Chief Legal Officer, leads the organization's bold, precedent-setting legal strategy. From the "monkey selfie" case to freeing animals from experimentation and exploitative entertainment to exposing agribusiness humane-washing, Jeff fights to secure legal recognition of animals as beings with inviolable rights. Highlig
The Rise of One-Child Families | Susan Newman
The one-child family is becoming the fastest-growing family size in many countries. Social psychologist Susan Newman, author of Just One, shares the abundant research challenging long-held myths that only children are lonely, selfish, or spoiled, and why the growing popularity of one-child families reflects greater parental and child satisfaction and ecological awareness. Highlights include: How
Capitalism's War Against Animals | Dinesh Wadiwel
A global war against animals is driven by capitalist exploitation and profit. Dinesh Wadiwel, author of Animals and Capital and The War Against Animals, shows how capitalism treats animals as commodities, raw materials, and self-reproducing labor. He advocates for an anti-capitalist animal politics that builds alliances with social justice movements to advance both animal and human justice. Highli
Humachines, Big Tech, & Our Future | Michael D.B. Harvey
A dystopian fusion of human and machine is being pushed on us by a big tech elite. Michael D.B. Harvey, author of The Age of Humachines: Big Tech and the Battle for Humanity's Future, warns of the 'humachinator' worldview that weds unrestrained technology and capitalism - and what we might do to reclaim a future rooted in democracy and ecological balance. Highlights include: How the 'humachine' b
Radical Alternatives to "Progress" | Shrishtee Bajpai
Across India and around the world, communities are resisting destruction and reclaiming their right to shape their own futures. Shrishtee Bajpai, researcher and activist with the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, reveals how local struggles for self-determination connect across cultures and what is being done to weave a 'pluriverse' of possibilities rooted in social and ecological justice. Highligh
Progress: Humanity's Worst Idea | Samuel Miller McDonald
For 5,000 years civilizations have told themselves stories of progress. Today, the progress myth has become humanity's most dangerous illusion. Samuel Miller McDonald, geographer and author of Progress: A History of Humanity's Worst Idea, illuminates the destructive lineage of progress, why these myths endure, how they enable socially and ecologically parasitic societies, and what values might gui
Complexity and Collapse | The Honest Sorcerer
Modern techno-industrial civilization is running up against the law of diminishing returns - and societal collapse is inevitable. B, author of The Honest Sorcerer blog, reveals why our civilizational complexity carries the seeds of its own destruction. Highlights include: What led B (who also shares his reasons for remaining anonymous) from believing modern civilization would persist for centurie
The Elite's Fixation with Low Birth Rates | Samuel Miller McDonald
From center-left Ezra Klein to right-wing Matt Walsh, the fertility panic is an elite fixation that is rooted in a human supremacist worldview and a deep fear of slowing growth. Samuel Miller McDonald, geographer and author of the book Progress: A History of Humanity's Worst Idea, exposes how our parasitic relationship with Earth lies at the core of ecological overshoot, and why resisting authorit
The Fertility Industry's Dirty Secrets | Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is often seen as a triumph of reproductive freedom, but its origins are deeply entangled with patriarchy, pronatalism, and eugenics. Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos, IVF survivor and author of Silent Sorority and Finally Heard, discusses how under-regulation and cultural obsession with biological motherhood allows the multi-billion dollar fertility industry to obscure the tru
The Omnivore's Deception | John Sanbonmatsu
The meat industry and its defenders promise ethical consumption and sustainable farming, but animal agriculture fuels ecological destruction, entrenches human supremacy, and masks cruelty with comforting myths. John Sanbonmatsu, philosopher and author of The Omnivore's Deception, shatters the myths of "humane meat" and the 'naturalness' of eating meat, and explains why abolishing the animal econom
Pro-Nuclear Propaganda and Our Future | M. V. Ramana
The nuclear industry and its boosters promise clean, abundant energy, but nuclear power delivers expensive electricity while posing catastrophic radiation risks and a constant threat of nuclear war. M. V. Ramana, physicist and author of Nuclear is Not the Solution, explains why respecting the limits of the biosphere means reducing our energy use and rejecting elites' push for endless growth. Highl
Escape from Overshoot | Peter Victor
The world is colliding with the ecological limits of growth - and mainstream economics is still looking the other way. Peter Victor, ecological economist and author of Escape from Overshoot, joins us. Highlights include: How 'the pre-analytic vision' of ecological economics, unlike mainstream economics, recognizes that all economic activity is embedded in the biosphere of Earth; Why population gr
Oscar Winner Fighting for Animals | Louie Psihoyos
Academy Award-winning vegan filmmaker and former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos joins us to share how he is using the power of storytelling to spark transformation for animal rights, human health, and environmental conservation. Highlights include: How The Cove, his Oscar-wining documentary and the first documentary to sweep all the film guilds, inspired activism that helped redu
Hospicing Modernity | Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti
Modernity is dying within and around us, and we need to face that death with courage and compassion. Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti, author of Hospicing Modernity, joins us. Highlights include: How her mixed Indigenous and German heritage in Brazil exposed her to a complex mix of love and violence, deepening her understanding of how socialization and education can perpetuate harmful relationsh
"Hopium" and the Long Defeat | Pamela Swanigan
The rhetoric of "hopium" is failing as ecological overshoot deepens. "Hopium", a colloquial term that is a blend of the words "hope" and "opium" (as though it were a drug), represents a faith in technological and market-based solutions to address our multiple reinforcing crises, despite evidence to the contrary. We're living in the long defeat and we must own and confront it with courage. Award-wi
The "Energy Transition" Delusion | Jean-Baptiste Fressoz
There is no energy transition - only ongoing and symbiotic energy addition. Historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz, author of More and More and More: An All-Consuming History of Energy, joins us. Highlights include: How the symbiotic relationships between wood, coal, and oil have led to increased use of all of them; Why decoupling economic growth from energy and materials use is a delusional myth; How t
Global Conflict, Misogyny, and Resistance | Sally Armstrong
Patriarchy and misogyny fuel global conflicts that further increase the oppression of women and girls. But the resistance of women and girls remains steadfast. Sally Armstrong, award-winning war correspondent, author, and human rights activist, joins us to share their stories. Highlights include: How Sally broke the story about mass rape in the Balkan War in the 1990s that was ignored by male-do
The Sexual Politics of Meat | Carol J. Adams
Our patriarchal culture animalizes women and sexualizes animals, and without compulsory pregnancy among human and nonhuman females, both patriarchy and animal agriculture would fail. Carol Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegan Critical Theory, joins us. Highlights include: How Carol got started on her personal journey to veganism; Why patriarchal cultures associate mascul
From Grief to Regeneration | Sarah Bexell
We have it in us to create a more beautiful, regenerative future that allows both humans and nonhumans to flourish. Dr. Sarah Bexell, professor of social work and co-founder of the Center for a Regenerative Future at the University of Denver, joins us. Highlights of our conversation include: Why captive breeding programs for endangered species are both cruel and ineffective; How the mental health
The Biggest Risk to Humanity | Mathis Wackernagel
Ecological overshoot is the second largest risk to humanity. Not reacting to it is the biggest. Mathis Wackernagel, co-creator of the ecological footprint and co-founder of the Global Footprint Network, joins us. Highlights of the conversations include: How ecological footprint is calculated as a measure of how much of nature's regenerative capacity humanity is using; Why the estimate that we're
New Podcast Name - We are now OVERSHOOT
ANNOUNCEMENT Hello everyone, here we are in 2025 and we have some important news to share. Last year was a really challenging year – we grappled with new climate records, we saw worsening global conflict, and we saw an upsurge in regressive pronatalism. And the year ahead looks like it will include much of the same—which means that all of us will have to remain steadfast, and become even bolder in
The Other Significant Others | Rhaina Cohen
Friendship is not a "nice-to-have" but a core, potentially transformative human connection. Rhaina Cohen, author of The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life With Friendship at the Center, joins us. Highlights of our conversation include: The "friendship recession" and how modern culture undervalues friendships compared to romantic or family ties; Historical and cross-cultural insights into
Animals are Not Ours | Ingrid Newkirk
Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment. For International Animal Rights Day, we are joined by Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and President of PETA, the world's largest animal rights organization. Highlights of our conversation include: The formative experiences that inspired Ingrid to co-found PETA and dedicate her life to animal liberation; PETA's groundbreaking c
Progressive Pathways for a Smaller Population | Hannah Evans and Pam Wasserman
Population dynamics are deeply connected to environmental sustainability and social justice. That's the message of Pam Wasserman and Hannah Evans from Population Connection - the oldest grassroots population organization in the U.S. Highlights include: The origins of Population Connection and its evolution from ZPG (Zero Population Growth) to a broader mission addressing the intersections of popu
Walking with Gorillas | Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka
Healthy and thriving animal communities depend on healthy and thriving human communities. That's the message from this week's guest, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Uganda's first wildlife veterinarian and founder of Conservation Through Public Health. Highlights include: How a scabies outbreak among gorillas reshaped her approach to conservation, linking human health to the health of the gorillas; T
The Poverty of Growth | Olivier De Schutter
Obsession with growth is enriching elites and killing the planet. Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and author of The Poverty of Growth, joins us. Highlights include: Why poverty is about more than low income and how unequal economic growth creates greater social exclusion and status anxiety for the majority of people that growth leaves behind; How glo
The Meat Paradox | Melanie Joy
Eating animals isn't just a personal choice. It's shaped by an invisible belief system, carnism, that conditions people to see eating animals as normal, natural, and necessary. Melanie Joy, social psychologist and author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, joins us. Highlights include: How the three 'N's' - normal, natural, necessary - are used to justify systems like carnism and prona
The Emotional Lives of Animals | Marc Bekoff
Animals feel deeply, and recognizing their emotions could transform how we treat them. Marc Bekoff, animal behavior expert and author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, joins us. Highlights include: How cognitive ethology helps us understand the minds and emotions of animals, and why this understanding is essential for improving their wellbeing; What is wrong with the traditional animal welfare a
Early Warning Systems | Chris Funk
Note: Despite the slightly compromised sound quality, Chris offers absolutely essential insights. Population growth and extreme weather events converge to create growing challenges in vulnerable regions. Chris Funk, climatologist and director of the Climate Hazards Center, joins us. Highlights include: How rapid population growth in already hot and humid regions of Africa increases the number of
The Lies Economists Tell | Joshua Farley
The dominant economic system delivers neither ecological nor social justice. Joshua Farley, an expert in ecological economics, argues for reclaiming our humanity from the destructive grip of mainstream economics. Highlights include: How mainstream economic ideologies disregard planetary boundaries and contribute to ecological damage through unchecked economic growth; A critique of the 'Homo econ
Water Always Wins | Erica Gies
We need to respect what water wants. Erica Gies, journalist and author of Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge, joins us. Highlights include: Erica's personal decision not to have biological children as both a personal choice and a contribution to reducing human pressure on the planet; The concept of 'slow water' and allowing for water's natural cycles on the land contraste
Announcement: New Podcast "Beyond pronatalism | Finding fulfillment, with or without kids"
Hello, this is Nandita Bajaj, co-host of The Overpopulation Podcast and Executive Director of Population Balance. I am excited to share that we've launched a second podcast, Beyond Pronatalism: Finding Fulfillment, With or Without Kids. Please subscribe and share it widely. Episodes drop every two weeks and you can find them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't miss
The Delusion of Decoupling | James Hopeward
Economic growth is failing the planet, and it's time for a change. James Hopeward, environmental civil engineering professor, joins us. Highlights include: Why decoupling economic growth from energy and material use relies on temporary efficiency gains and ultimately fails in a growth-based system, rendering the concepts of absolute and relative decoupling meaningless; How the IPCC treats economi
Animals as Legal Beings | Maneesha Deckha
Our legal system is failing animals by treating them as either property or persons. Maneesha Deckha, Professor and Lansdowne Chair in Law at the University of Victoria and author of Animals as Legal Beings: Contesting Anthropocentric Legal Orders, joins us. Highlights include: Highlights include: Maneesha's personal journey into exploring the links between animal legal studies and critical anima
Most Good and Least Harm | Zoe Weil
Education is critical to solving our biggest challenges - but it needs a new approach. Zoe Weil, co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education and author of The Solutionary Way, joins us. Highlights include: Zoe's personal journey of co-founding the Institute for Humane Education in 1996, and the many programs and resources offered through the Institute; The description of a "sol
The Myth of "Development" | Ashish Kothari
"Development" is destroying the planet and erasing cultural wisdom. Ashish Kothari, environmentalist and author, joins us. Highlights include: How the Western model of development in India, combined with colonialism and globalization, led to incalculable social injustice and ecological destruction; How the elite class within countries reinforces neoliberal and neo-colonial models, exacerbating
Social Ecological Economics | Clive Spash
The global economy is failing socially and ecologically. Clive Spash, an ecological economist and pioneer of social ecological economics, joins us. Highlights include: A critique of mainstream economics for failing to consider not only ecological and biophysical realities, but also pro-social human behavior and relationships, as well as power hierarchies; How economists who have completed multip
Confronting the Population Taboo | Riane Eisler
We need to shift from systems of domination - rooted in control, hierarchy, and violence - to systems of partnership grounded in mutual respect, equity, and care for all life. Riane Eisler, a social systems scientist, futurist, cultural historian and author of The Chalice and the Blade and The Real Wealth of Nations, joins us. Highlights include: Riane's childhood experiences of being a Holocau
Animals in the Anthropocene | Jo-Anne McArthur
The suffering of animals trapped within human systems of exploitation and oppression is hidden in plain sight. Jo-Anne McArthur, animal photojournalist and founder of We Animals Media, joins us. Highlights include: How, motivated by the power of photography to catalyze social change and to raise awareness about animal exploitation, Jo-Anne created a new genre of photojournalism, namely Animal Ph
Highway to Hell: The Dystopian Fantasies of Tech Billionaires | Émile P. Torres
The dystopian visions of ecologically blind tech billionaires are shaping our future in alarming ways. Émile P. Torres, philosopher and historian, joins us. Highlights include: how transhumanism is built on the idea of creating God-like AI to reengineer humanity to achieve immortality, sustain capitalist growth, and colonize space; how the effective altruism's utilitarian approach to philanthr
Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth? | Alan Weisman
How many humans can the planet support without capsizing? Alan Weisman, journalist and author of Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?, joins us. Highlights include: How growth-biased cultures, religions, nationalities, tribes, and political systems are collectively undermining our ability to live within planetary limits; How both the intended and unintended consequences of the G
The Childfree Choice More Prevalent than Reported | Jennifer Watling Neal and Zachary Neal
Childfree adults make up a significant portion of the population, yet they remain largely invisible in policymaking and demographic surveys. Zachary Neal and Jennifer Watling Neal, psychologists and childfree researchers, join us. Highlights include: A discussion of how childfree adults make up a significant portion of the population, yet they remain largely invisible in policymaking and demogra
Catastrophe Ethics | Travis Rieder
Modern life is filled with confusing and often terrifying problems, leaving many of us struggling with how to make morally decent choices. Travis N. Rieder, bioethicist and moral philosopher and author of Catastrophe Ethics, joins us. Highlights include: Why modern life can be both morally exhausting and puzzling and individual action can often seem insignificant within the context of the massive
Breaking Out of the Baby Matrix | Laura Carroll
Pronatalism shapes how we think about parenthood and reproduction, often in ways we don't even notice. Laura Carroll, an expert on pronatalism, the childfree choice, and author of The Baby Matrix, joins us. Highlights include: Highlighted stories of women from Laura's latest book, A Special Sisterhood: 100 Fascinating Women From History Who Never had Children; A discussion of the various pronatal
The Megamachine and Green Growth Delusions | Christopher Ketcham
Techno-industrial extractivism is driving environmental destruction, and the media is complicit in upholding the growth model that sustains it. Christopher Ketcham, author of This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption Are Ruining the American West, joins us. Highlights include: How techno-industrial extractivism plagues modern societies and the media is complicity in failing to challenge
How Men Came to Rule | Angela Saini
Patriarchy has shaped societies across the globe, but how did it take root? Angela Saini, science journalist and author of The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule, joins us. Highlights include: How gendered roles, pronatalism, and militarism – key features of patriarchies – are very recent phenomena within the long span of human history, emerging with the rise of early states and empires and their p
How Population Became a Dirty Word | Diana Coole
When and why did population become a dirty word? Diana Coole, political theorist and feminist scholar, joins us. Highlights include: Why population shaming is the main barrier to open conversations about overpopulation - an major contributor to mounting social and ecological catastrophes, including climate change, biodiversity destruction, resource scarcity, and conflict; How population shaming p
Welcome to the Great Unraveling | Asher Miller & Rob Dietz
Environmental and social breakdown from intersecting crises is accelerating, but how can we navigate it? Asher Miller and Rob Dietz of the Post Carbon Institute join us to discuss their latest report, Welcome to the Great Unraveling. Highlights include: Why human supremacy and ecological overshoot are the root causes of the unfolding 'great unraveling'; How global suffering could increase with th
Animal and Human Liberation | Hope Ferdowsian
Oppression, exploitation, and domination harm both humans and nonhumans, but how can we dismantle these systems? Hope Ferdowsian, president of Phoenix Zones Initiative and a public health physician, joins us. Highlights include: Why the exploitation of animals in food production and research is linked to broader global violence and conflict; How powerful corporate interests fuel issues like hunge
Confronting Overshoot | William Rees
How has blind faith in human exceptionalism, neoliberal economics, and technological optimism led us into a state of ecological overshoot? Bill Rees, population ecologist and co-creator of the ecological footprint analysis, joins us. Highlights include: How human exceptionalism, techno-optimism, and neoliberal economics have blinded us to ecological limits and fueled ecological overshoot; How che
Population Growth, Modern Slavery, and Ecocide | Kevin Bales
Modern-day slavery persists as a global tragedy, violating fundamental human rights and causing widespread ecological destruction. Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery and Research Director of the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, UK and an expert on modern day slavery, joins us. Highlights include: How population growth, pronatalism, religion, economic systems, and war have
Japan's Baby-Making Propaganda | Isabel Fassbender
How has Japan's slightly declining population given rise to a toxic mix of patriarchy, biomedical capitalism, and nationalism? Isabel Fassbender, a Japan-based feminist scholar and author of Active Pursuit of Pregnancy: Neoliberalism, Postfeminism and the Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Japan, joins us. Highlights include: How Japan's panicked response to a slight population decline refl
Population: A Threat Multiplier | Camilo Mora
Human activity is driving climate change, biodiversity loss, resource scarcity, and pandemics, creating compounding crises that demand urgent attention. Camilo Mora, professor and researcher, joins us. Highlights include: Why moving past population denial is critical for addressing our multiple ecological challenges; How population pressures have impacted life in his native Columbia - including t
Overpopulation and the Ethics of Procreation | Trevor Hedberg
What are the ethical implications of bringing new life into existence, both for the child and the planet? Trevor Hedberg, environmental and procreative ethicist and author of The Environmental Impact of Overpopulation: The Ethics of Procreation, joins us. Highlights include: How pronatalism influences procreative decision-making; Why the right to found a family must be balanced with the rights of
Rewilding Nature and Ourselves | Suprabha Seshan
What happens when we renounce our ego and allow nature to become our teacher? Subrabha Seshan, rainforest conservationist and educator, joins us. Highlights include: What the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Kerala, India is doing to serve as an ecological "ark" amid the flood of human expansion; How Subrapha's work combines traditional knowledge and scientific practices to protect endangered pla
Men Confronting Patriarchy | Andrew Kyamagero
Male involvement in family planning is key to changing population dynamics and promoting gender equity in Uganda. Andrew Kyamagero, a Ugandan journalist and family-planning advocate, joins us. Highlights include: How patriarchal norms drive high fertility, child marriage, and low female education and workforce participation in Uganda; Why Western imperialism, both historical and ongoing, continu
The Right to Reproductive Autonomy | Robert Engelman
Reproductive autonomy and empowering choice are key to both human rights and planetary health. Robert Engelman, researcher, writer, former newspaper reporter and author of More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want, joins us. Highlights include: How women have been controlling their fertility for thousands of years through various forms of contraception; What 10,000 years of history reveal abo
Wellbeing Economy | Amanda Janoo
What happens when we stop treating people and the planet like they're here to serve the economy and start treating the economy like it's here to serve us? Amanda Janoo, Economics and Policy Lead at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, joins us. Through clear examples and policy strategies, Janoo illustrates the cultural and metaphysical transformation that can occur within communities when social and
The Dangers of Free-Market Fundamentalism | Naomi Oreskes
Free-market fundamentalism undermines democracy and exploits marginalized communities to benefit a small minority of elites. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University and co-author of The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, joins us. Using her latest book tha
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