As we observe World Population Day 2013 on July 11, we at the GrowthBusters project think this is a time to ensure the public is armed with the facts about population. We put this video together to do just that. I went out with a camera and microphone to talk to the people, to find out what they know and think about the state of the world population. You might be surprised at what I found.

Growth apologists want us to relax about population growth and remain complacent, waiting at least another 100 years for world population to stabilize (if supplies of food, water, energy and scarce resources miraculously keep up). Many people feel the UN population projections are just a fact of life and nothing we can do will end population growth sooner.

The truth is we don’t want to be complacent about the world’s growing population. The scale of the human enterprise (the size of our population and our economies) passed into overshoot (exceeding the Earth’s sustainable carrying capacity) 30 years ago.

This story will give you a quick snapshot.

And the truth is we have the power to not only stop population growth but to contract our population to a sustainable level – within 100 years if we really set our hearts on it, by simply making sure every couple around the world is armed with knowledge of what their family size decisions will mean to their own children, and by ensuring these couples have access to family planning tools like contraception, and by supporting women’s right to have a say in their own reproductive health.

You are welcome to show the video to any audience, at any event. I hope teachers will show this to their classes, parents to their children, constituents to their elected officials.

Special thanks to Nina Paley for the use of her wonderful stork animation.

To learn more about our full world and our culture’s unhealthy growth addiction, check out my documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth. Follow us on facebook and Twitter. And please donate to help us spread the word about our culture’s worship of growth everlasting.

Dave Gardner
Director of the documentary
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth