Population Connection - June 2005 Charity-of-the-Month

Population Connection
1400 16th Street NW, Suite 320
Washington, D.C. 20036

tel: 1-202-332-2200
fax: 1-202-332-2302
tollfree: 1-800-POP-1956
email: info@populationconnection.org
web: http://www.populationconnection.org/


For nearly forty years, Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth) has been educating people about the hazards of over population.


Mission Statement

Overpopulation threatens the quality of life for people everywhere. Population Connection is the national grassroots population organization that educates young people and advocates progressive action to stabilize world population at a level that can be sustained by Earth's resources.


Statement of Goals

Population Connection believes the well-being and even the survival of humanity depend on the attainment of an equilibrium between population and the environment. Just as the earth and its resources of land, air and water are limited, so are the demands that can be placed upon them.

Continued population growth is foremost among the factors aggravating deforestation, wildlife extinction, climate change and other critical environmental and social problems. It also erodes democratic government, multiplies urban problems, consumes agricultural land, increases volumes of waste, heightens competition for scarce resources and threatens the aspirations of the poor for a better life.

The only acceptable solution to the population problem is through expanding educational, advocacy and service efforts that lower birth rates. Rather than support a larger population at a poorer level, we believe it is preferable to support a smaller population at adequate standards of living.

Population Connection recognizes the gravity of global overpopulation and encourages citizens in every nation to work towards slowing population growth. Recognizing the interdependence of the nations of the earth, we support the development and growth of citizen organizations in other countries dedicated to those ends.

As a U.S. based organization, Population Connection works primarily to educate and motivate Americans to help meet the global population challenge, and to mobilize this support for the adoption of policies and programs necessary to slow global population growth. Because the United States is the chief consumer of the world's resources, slowing its population growth is disproportionately important for protecting the global environment. Because the United States has a major influence on international political, economic and military affairs, reshaping its policies is important for the success of international efforts to slow population growth.

In pursuit of these goals, Population Connection participates in coalitions; influences governmental policies on the international, national, state and local levels; works extensively with the media; engages in teacher training and public education programs; and produces educational materials. We conduct research, interpret and apply the research of others, and provide a population perspective on social and environmental problems.


Achieving a Sustainable Society

Population Connection recognizes the significant roles which consumption, lifestyles, and technology play in determin ing the total impact of human society on the earth. Together, these factors will determine whether we maintain a habitable planet and achieve a sustainable society, i.e., one which meets the needs and aspirations of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

We support efforts to create a sustainable society, both in the United States and worldwide, that integrates an awareness of the central role population plays in meeting this objective. Specifically, for the United States, these include efforts to conserve energy and natural resources and improve efficiency, eliminate our "disposable society" lifestyle, and use the best possible technology to protect the natural and human environment.


Approach

Population Connection recognizes that broad social, economic and political changes may be necessary to slow population growth. We endorse and actively support methods which are voluntary and which are positive enhancements of human rights and conditions.

Population Connection condemns any use of force or violence. Population Connection condemns racism in all of its forms. We will not support or tolerate being knowingly associated with organizations which support or promote the use of force or violence or which espouse racism or racist beliefs.

Population Connection strives to be believable on a complex topic, creative in thinking about the future, concerned for the welfare of all human beings, and forceful but not strident in the presentation of its views.


SPECIFIC POPULATION ISSUES

International Population Leadership

World population now exceeds six billion and at current growth rates could exceed nine billion by 2050. The continued pressures of a growing world population are pushing the world towards global environmental catastrophe.

Population Connection believes that to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life for all, the nations of the world must make slowing population growth a top priority.

The United States should assume a leadership role in international efforts to slow population growth and should set an example by adopting a national population policy which commits the United States to this goal.

We should dramatically expend our foreign assistance efforts to achieve these ends. The United States should be spending at least as much to defend the integrity of our planet from environmental catastrophe as it spends to defend itself from war and nuclear holocaust.

Population Connection believes that the fate of the people of the United States cannot be separated from the fate of the other peoples of the world. We further recognize that slowing population growth will require addressing other social, economic, and political problems including poverty, the status of women, nutrition and health care, hunger, and social justice.

We support both bilateral and multilateral efforts and believe that effective action by the United Nations and its programs is critical to achieving these objectives. We support the active involvement of non-governmental organizations and private voluntary organizations in these programs.


Family Planning

Population Connection believes that quality family planning services should be made available to all people who desire such services. The nations of the world should agree to achieve this goal at the earliest possible date. The developed nations of the world, including the United States, should provide much of the funding necessary to implement this objective.

Population Connection recommends that states remove the existing legal restrictions on contraceptive availability for teenagers and that they enact legislation to guarantee access to both information and services.

Population Connection recommends that the print and broadcast media increase their dissemination of information about contraceptive methods and about means of access to them, for all individuals and couples who need them. We recommend that the mass media accept tasteful advertising of contraceptives.

We recommend that state laws and hospital and physician policies which restrict adults from obtaining sterilization be eliminated to allow sterilization at the discretion of the individual. We recommend that physicians provide information on the available procedures, health risks, and consequences of sterilization to all potential patients to facilitate informed consent.

Population Connection recommends that federal government funding for contraceptive research be increased to reduce health risks to women and men, to provide Americans with better contraceptive devices, and to protect them from unwanted pregnancy.


Abortion and Family Planning

It is a fact of today's world that unwanted pregnancies occur. Many of them are terminated by abortion. Where abortions are not legal, women seek illegal abortions, at great risk to their health and lives.

Population Connection believes that every child should be a wanted child. Achieving this goal would prevent the suffering of families and the social problems that often follow the births of unwanted children.

We therefore support laws and social practices that ensure access for all women to medically safe and affordable abortion services. Specifically:

We endorses the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Roe v. Wade and opposes attempts through legislation, litigation, or Constitutional amendment to weaken or overturn the ruling.

U.S. population assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act should be available to fund abortion services in any country desiring such assistance in accordance with the laws of that country.

Public programs such as Medicaid and federally-financed insurance plans underwriting obstetric services should be modified where necessary to ensure that all women, regardless of income, have access to medically safe abortion services.

Any other legislative or administrative prohibitions at federal and state levels limiting access to abortion should be repealed.

Hospitals that receive public funding should be required by federal law to meet the need for abortion in their areas.

Population Connection by far prefers prevention of unwanted pregnancies to abortion. Thus we support research to improve contraceptive technology. We challenge those who oppose the availability of legal abortion to assist in these strategies for reducing the need for abortion.


U.S. Immigration

Because of its increasing importance and impact on annual population growth, immigration plays a significant role in our goal of stabilizing U.S. population. Immigration goals must be set within a larger framework of a U.S. population policy which aims at slowing U.S. and world population growth and promoting a balance between U.S. population and the environment through increased energy efficiency, conservation of natural resources, and sustainable environmental practices.

It is Population Connection's view that immigration pressures on the U.S. population are best relieved by addressing factors which compel people to leave their homes and families and emigrate to the United States. Foremost among these are population growth, economic stagnation, environmental degradation, poverty, and political repression. We believe unless these problems are successfully addressed in the developing nations of the world, no forcible exclusion policy will successfully prevent people from seeking to relocate into the United States.

We, therefore, call on the United States to focus its foreign aid on population, environmental, social, education, and sustainable development programs. Changing political conditions present opportunities to work cooperatively with other nations to address the root causes of international migration. Studies show that of the people who emigrate to the United States, the majority would have stayed in their home countries had there been economic opportunities or democratic institutions.

Population Connection believes that U.S. immigration policies should focus on reunification of immediate families, and that U.S. refugee policy should reaffirm our commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees. In addition, we support measures aimed at increasing resources for the Immigration and Naturalization Service so that all immigrants, refugees, and asylees are ensured timely due process and to enable the U.S. to enforce measures to prevent fraud and other violations of immigration laws.

We also recognize that there are many issues surrounding the formulation of U.S. immigration policy, including legal, civil rights, economic, cultural, and demographic concerns. Further, we believe that immigrants and refugees should be admitted equitably, without preference to race, national origin, color, religion, gender, or sexual preference.

Population Connection recognizes that the United States should preserve its ability to absorb reasonable numbers of refugees and legal immigrants. In order to accomplish this, the United States needs to maintain control, in a way consistent with basic human and civil rights, over illegal immigration.

Assuming these conditions, Population Connection believes that the United States should adopt an overall goal for immigration as a part of its national population policy. This goal should be set in the context of a federal commitment to plan for demographic changes and to slow population growth.


Population Education

Population Connection supports broad public education about the consequences of continued population growth and the actions people can take to achieve a sustainable balance of people, resources and the environment in the United States and worldwide.

We recommend that school curricula nationwide include information on population dynamics and their implications for society and the world; in addition, information concerning human sexuality, contraception, family size, parenthood, and non-parenthood should be provided.


Status of Women

Women are more than half the world's people. Their role in the world economy and in the conduct of everyday human affairs is often overlooked. Even worse, in many countries women are second-class citizens and live lives of material deprivation more severe than their male counterparts. As an important part of our work, we encourage governmental and private efforts throughout the world to secure for women: equality under the law; equal access to education, jobs and property; participation in development efforts; participation in the political process; access to family planning services; and adequate health care for themselves and their families.

When women are seen exclusively or primarily as child-bearers, they are denied full recognition as human beings in their own right. Not surprisingly, their fertility is usually high as well. High fertility usually accompanies repression of women, and this fact, more than any other, binds together the women's movement and those concerned with slowing population growth. The extent to which women are sovereign human beings in control of their fertility and free to choose how they live their lives will determine the progress of women and the course of population growth.


Incentives, Disincentives and Taxation

We support the removal of all incentives and subsidies for procreation and larger families.


Local Community Growth

We believe that local governments should support and facilitate family planning, population education, and other programs essential to slow population growth. To the extent that other policies and programs are within their legal jurisdiction, we encourage action by local governments to support these goals.

Moreover, local governments have a unique role in the transition to a sustainable population. We recognize that despite best efforts, the population of the United States and the world will continue to grow for the immediate future. In the interim, local governments should seek to limit the impact of that growth upon the environment and natural resources.

We support local and regional planning to accommodate growth, provided that it recognizes the overall importance of slowing population growth at the earliest practicable date. Such planning should seek to achieve minimal impact from new growth and be administered to protect the rights and enhance the opportunities of the disadvantaged, including the poor, the aged, and racial and ethnic minorities.


U.S. & WORLD POPULATION FACTOIDS

8 Countries Contribute Half the World's Growth
Between 2005 and 2050, eight countries - India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, the United States, Ethiopia, and China - are likely to contribute half of the world's population increase.
Source: UN Population Division - 2/25/2005

2004 population growth
At the annual growth rate of 1.2 percent, world population increased by 76 million people in 2004.
Source: Earth Policy Institute - 1/18/2005

Hunger
13 million children in the United States live in households that must skip meals due to economic restraints.
Source: Oakland Institute - 12/14/2004

Maternal Death
One woman dies in childbirth every minute in poor countries.
Source: World Health Organization - 9/30/2004

2030 City Population
By 2030, 60 percent of the world's population will live in cities.
Source: UN Human Settlements Programme - 9/13/2004

U.S. Population Growth
U.S. population is expected to rise 43 percent by 2050 -- from 293 million today to 420 million.
Source: Population Reference Bureau - 8/19/2004

Poverty
Under President Bush, poverty has risen by 7.1 percent. For the first time in 13 years, the poverty rate grew two years in a row, jumping nearly a percentage point from 2000 to 2002 (from 11.3 percent to 12.1 percent). The number of poor grew to 34.6 million people in 2002, including 12.1 million children.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau - 7/26/2004

Abortion and Medical Schools
More than 1/3 of U.S. medical schools do not cover any aspect of abortion in the preclinical curriculum.
Source: Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health - 7/6/2004

Latin America
People under 24 years old constitute half of the population of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Source: International Youth Foundation - 5/25/2004

HIV in South Africa
More than 700,000 South African children aged 14 years and younger are HIV-positive.
Source: Human Sciences Research Council - 5/14/2004

Mining
40 percent of the world's undeveloped forests are currently threatened by mining.
Source: Sierra Magazine - 4/26/2004

Water and Golf
2.5 billion gallons of water are used every day to irrigate the world's golf courses.
Source: Time Magazine - 4/6/2004

Hot Years
2003 was the third-hottest year on record since 1861.
Source: The World Meteorological Organization - 3/18/2004

Joblessness
Since President Bush was inaugurated, there has been a 33% increase in joblessness.
Source: Newsweek Magazine - 3/1/2004

Asthma
In the U.S., the number of asthma sufferers grew by 75 percent between 1980 and 1994.
Source: Grist Magazine - 2/20/2004

Health Insurance
In the first two years of the Bush Administration, the number of Americans without health insurance increased by more than 9%, to 43.6 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau - 2/9/2004

Meat Consumption
Even if the average American eats 20 percent less meat in 2050 than in 2000, total meat consumption in the U.S. will be roughly 5 million tons greater in 2050 due to population growth alone.
Source: State of the World, 2004, Worldwatch Institute - 1/14/2004

Pollution
Since 2001, when Bush took office, the pollution-control industry has seen its sales plummet more than 80 percent.
Source: Mother Jones - 12/24/2003

Old Moms
The average age at which U.S. women are having their first child has climbed to an all-time high of 25.1.
Source: CDC - 12/19/2003

UN Population Estimates
U.N. medium-range population estimates for 2050 are down from 9.4 billion to 8.9 billion. The U.N. estimates population might stabilize at 9 billion by 2300.
Source: U.N. Population Division - 12/9/2003

Maternal Death
95 percent of the estimated 529,000 maternal deaths in 2000 occurred in Africa and Asia.
Source: Popline - 12/3/2003

Abortion Providers
86 percent of all U.S. counties and 94 percent of all rural U.S. counties have no abortion provider.
Source: American Medical Women's Association - 11/24/2003

Teen Births
18 percent of current 15-year-old girls in the United States will give birth before age 20.
Source: Child Trends - 11/18/2003

Schooling
Each additional year of schooling beyond 4th grade results in up to a 20 percent increase in wages for women.
Source: Women's Edge Coalition - 11/14/2003

Economic Slump
During the current economic slump in the U.S., jobs shrank by 1.8 percent, while the working age population grew by 3.4 percent. Had job growth kept up with working age population growth over that period, 6.9 million more payroll jobs would have been filled in October 2003.
Source: TomPaine.com - 11/12/2003

India
India, growing at nearly 2 percent a year, is projected to reach 1.5 billion people by 2050, adding 515 million people in just 50 years.
Source: Plan B, Lester Brown - 11/4/2003

Childless Women
In June 2002, more than two out of five women of childbearing years had no children, a steady increase during the last seven years and a significant jump since 1976 when roughly a third of women did not have children.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau - 10/24/2003

Mud Floors
One child of every three [in the developing world] lives in a dwelling with more than five people per room, or with a mud floor.
Source: Unicef - 10/22/2003

AIDS
Every minute, 5 people under age 25 are infected with HIV.
Source: Environmental Change and Security Project, WWICS - 10/14/2003

Slums
About a sixth of the world's population -- nearly 1 billion people -- live in slums, and that number could double by 2030.
Source: Reuters - 10/7/2003

Health Care
The number of U.S. residents who lack health insurance climbed by 5.7 percent in 2002, to 43.6 million, the largest single increase in a decade.
Source: The Washington Post - 9/30/2003

Fertilizer
The average U.S. citizen uses ten times the chemical fertilizer and pesticides on a lawn than the average farmer does on crops.
Source: the reporter, Fall 2003 - 9/26/2003

Family Planning since 1965
Since 1965, the use of modern family planning methods in the developing world has quadrupled from less than ten percent of couples to 39 percent.
Source: USAID - 9/17/2003

Tax Cuts
The share of income Americans pay in taxes has been flat since Richard Nixon was president.
Source: The New York Times, September 14th, 2003

Pneumonia
In the United States, pneumonia patients receive just 39 percent of recommended care. Nearly 10,000 deaths from pneumonia could be prevented annually through vaccinations.
Source: Rand Review, Summer 2003 - 9/9/2003

More Earths
If everyone in the world consumed like the average U.S. citizen, we would need at least four more planet Earths.
Source: Purchasing Power, World Watch Paper 166 - 9/5/2003

Bangladesh
Children born in Bangladesh have an 8 percent chance of having their birth attended by trained health personnel.
Source: Population Reference Bureau - 9/2/2003

London's HOT
On Aug. 10, the temperature in London reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit -- the first triple-digit reading on record in the U.K.
Source: Eco-Economy Update, Aug. 27, 2003

Russia & Abortion
The number of abortions per year in Russia has declined from a high of 4.6 million in 1988 to 1.7 million last year.
Source: New York Times, Aug. 24, 2003

Hawaii & Teen pregnancy
53 percent of Hawaii's pregnancies are unintended, accounting for 78 percent of teen pregnancies.
Source: NFPRHA Report - 8/15/2003

Population Impact
According to studies by Paul Ehrlich et al reduction in average household size alone will add a projected 233 million additional households to hotspot (ecological sensitive) countries during the period 2000-15. Rapid increase in household numbers, often manifested as urban sprawl, and resultant higher per capita resource consumption in smaller households pose serious challenges to biodiversity conservation.
Nature January 2003

Chickens
There is approximately 1 chicken for each human in the world.
Source: Grist Magazine - 7/28/2003

Coffee
3,300 cups of coffee are consumed every second worldwide.
Source: Grist Magazine - 7/22/2003

Contraceptive use
Worldwide, only 17 percent of sexually active young people use contraceptives.
Source: PLANetWIRE.org - 7/10/2003

War Casualties
90 percent of modern war casualties are civilians -- primarily women and children.
Source: Save the Children - 7/2/2003

U.S. Birthrate
The U.S. birthrate fell last year to its lowest level since records were first kept in 1909.
Source: L.A. Times, June 26, 2003

Child Labor
180 million children aged 15-17, or one child in every eight worlwide, is engaged in child labor.
Source: UNICEF - 6/23/2003

Fish Extinction
Nearly 90 percent of the most prized fish in the oceans are gone.
Source: The Week, June 20, 2003

Extinction
Approximately 25% of the world's mammals and 11% of its birds are at significant risk of extinction as a result of the degradation and destruction of habitats due to the stress of population growth.
Source: National Wildlife Federation - 6/10/2003

U.S. and CO2 pollution
The U.S. is the most car-friendly and climate-unfriendly country in the world. With 4.6% of the global population, the U.S. accounts for almost 25% of global CO2 emissions -- and the proportion is rising fast.
Source: Population Press - 6/3/2003

Education and GDP
If, by 2010, every young child completed primary school, per capita GDP levels in the developing world could be as much as one-third to one-half higher in 2035 than they are currently projected.
Source: World Bank - 5/29/2003

World Population Growth: A Historical Persepective
Today, there are six times as many people alive as at the start of the industrial revolution, 13 times more than when Columbus set sail and 20 times more than during the Roman Empire.
Source: Population Awareness/Scripps Howard News Service. - 5/25/2003

Water Scarcity Worldwide
More than 500 million people worldwide currently do not have have enough clean water to drink. By the year 2025, up to 3 billion people may be living in water-scarce conditions.
Source::Healthy Families and Environment/ Sierra Club. - 3/3/2003

Water Consumption
It takes 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat in modern Western farming systems. It takes 5,214 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef.
Source::Paul Ehlrich and the Population Bomb/ PBS - 2/21/2003

Loss of Biodiversity
Every 20 minutes, the world adds another 3,500 human lives but loses one or more entire species of animal or plant life-- at least 27,000 species per year.
Source: Overpopulation.org - 2/4/2003

Abortion: Staggering numbers
Worldwide, about 46 million abortions occur each year. Twenty million are illegally obtained.Among American women, almost half of pregnancies are unintended. About half of those end in abortion - 1.3 million annually. Of American women obtaining abortions, 52 percent are under 25.
Source: Christian Science Monitor - 1/24/2003

Pregnancy related deaths
One of every 16 African women will die as a consequence of pregnancy whereas 1 in 3700 women in North America will die as a consequence of complications related to pregnancy or childbirth.
Source: UNFPA, Fast Facts. - 1/16/2003




Population Connection
1400 16th Street NW, Suite 320
Washington, D.C. 20036

tel: 1-202-332-2200
fax: 1-202-332-2302
tollfree: 1-800-POP-1956
email: info@populationconnection.org
web: http://www.populationconnection.org/

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