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The type of world in which
our ancestors lived for

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hundreds of thousands of years

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women probably had four to
six children in a lifetime.

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Half of those children would die
before they could reproduce.

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So the only thing we can
be sure about

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in human population studies

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is that for the last 100,000 years,

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people on average,

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had two children to succeed them.

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Or there would have been a population
explosion a thousand years ago.

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In just the last nanosecond
of human history,

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which began ten thousand years ago
with the advent of agriculture,

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we began to change the way
we looked at the earth;

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something that we separated
ourselves from.

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It is the basis for our
civilization today.

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We have spread notions
of proper sanitization

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as we have vaccinated for diseases,

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as we have provided for famine relief

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and basic levels of health care,

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we see an unintended consequence

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of our best intentions.

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By adding fossil fuels
to our agriculture,

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we have allowed population
to simply skyrocket.

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Almost 100 million babies will come
into the world this year.

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The rate increases.

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More babies mean finally,
still more babies.

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When these have reached
the age of 40

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the world will have doubled
its numbers.

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Helpless, harmless infants.

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In the 1960’s,

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population was growing at an
unprecedented rate,

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the highest in human history;

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as famine developed in South Asia

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spreading fear to the rest
of the planet.

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these are harsh words.

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They serve to describe the
coming crisis

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in population and food supply

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that’s aptly called

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the "population explosion.”

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I started talking about
the population issue

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because it hadn’t been discussed.

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People had not made the connection
between what was happening

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to the environment

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and the fact that our population
was growing like a skyrocket

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and that’s where “The Population
Bomb” came from.

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Ann and I wrote it in about
5 weeks of evenings.

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It was a political track basically.

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The world started grasping the
urgency of the situation.

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Advocacy groups, such as
Zero Population Growth,

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emerged in the US in the 1960s.

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For the first time,

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population growth was linked
as a major factor

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responsible for the global
environmental crisis,

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at the first Earth Day in 1970.

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Probably, the burning
of fossil fuels, right?

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Probably cars, I would imagine.

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Meat.

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Meat?

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Meat?

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Garbage.

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That's like the main thing,
in my opinion.

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Oh, people.

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Oh, people.

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The number of people.

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-OK, that's true.
-People are consuming.

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We're growing.

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40 years later,

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the environmental message
has not changed.

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Apart from a few persistent groups,

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population growth is barely
being mentioned.

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It’s as if the issue has been diluted

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among all the others;

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even though population growth

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and human consumption

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are the major factors

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in our on-going environmental crisis.

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Oohh...

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About...uh...1 billion.

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-Maybe over a billion?
-Yeah.

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What do you think the population
of the planet is today?

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More.

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A lot more.

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It was 3.7 billion...

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in 1970,

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and now it’s 6.8 billion.

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Oohh...

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Way off.

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The problem is not that
we haven’t had

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an environmental movement

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and that not that some
effective things

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haven’t been done.

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It’s a big cultural change,

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but not fast enough.

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Since the first Earth Day we have had
a fivefold increase in recycling,

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yet, we are producing more
trash than we did in 1970.

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And this is pretty well
agreed upon today

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by conservation biologists
and ecologists,

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people who study this...

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as we spread out we
disrupt habitat

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whether we destroy it or
simply disrupt it,

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it is eliminating species
now at rates

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unheard of since the fifth
mass extinction

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and that was the one that wiped
out the dinosaurs.

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The distinguishing characteristic
of this mass extinction

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is that it is the only one caused
by one species

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and we’re it.

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The human species
is quite

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unique in the sense

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that our consumption pattern

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is not just driven by our appetite.

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An elephant has a similar
consumption pattern

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no matter what.

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But people,

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they can decide not only,
how to eat

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but also how big their houses are,

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how much else they consume,
how many clothes they have, etc..

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So, there is no inherent limit to

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consumption for an individual.

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We have a compound problem
of rapidly growing populations.

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At the same time as

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our demand for resources
is increasing

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but the size of the planet is not.

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Now we are at global overshoot.

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Our demand is larger

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than what nature can regenerate.

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And there is no need to

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think about anything like
limits because

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we’ve never had to encounter them.

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We see ourselves as this tiny,

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pimple on a pumpkin.

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Our world population dynamic today,

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is much different than in 1970.

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Although it is growing
at a much lower rate,

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it is more than ever at the
center of our global crises.

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We are adding about

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50 Million new middle class
each year;

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modeling their consumption habits

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from the unsustainable lifestyle
of the developed world.

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A triumph for progress and poverty,

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but a ticking bomb for
our civilization.

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The world is already giving us
warnings and clues

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about the looming global crises

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that we can’t afford to ignore.

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Agriculture has always been

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susceptible to

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supply side shocks

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caused by climatic conditions.

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We’re seeing a different
situation now;

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the demand for agricultural crops

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is on a strong upward trend.

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What we’re seeing in the
world today is

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the demand for food,

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now driven by three forces;

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one is population growth,

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the second is rising affluence,

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2-3 billion people

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trying to move up the food chain

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consuming more grain intensive
livestock products,

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and the conversion of grain
into fuel for cars.

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The grain required

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to fill a 25 gallon SUV tank
with Ethanol,

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would feed one person for a year.

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Norman Borlaug,

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who won the Nobel peace
prize in 1972

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for bringing about the
Green Revolution.

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He saw

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the Green Revolution as a way of

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buying, maybe thirty years,

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in order to,

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solve the population problem

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and he said if we don’t do that,

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we’re going to have
a terrible situation.

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And the fact that we’re peaking
in oil production,

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which is a key aspect of agriculture
almost everywhere,

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availability of food globally
is going to plummet.

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The big issue

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is going to be water.

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We see in some countries now, where

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farmers are using virtually all

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the technologies available
to raise yields.

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The market realizes that
things are tightening up.

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As one observer said,

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"Land has become the new gold.”

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And the more affluent
importing countries

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like China, like South Korea
and even India now

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are acquiring large chunks of land
around the world.

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It’s enormous in scope.

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Rising food prices,

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00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,470
combined with rising unemployment,

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00:11:08,636 --> 00:11:12,306
have sparked riots and
political unrest.

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00:11:14,808 --> 00:11:15,710
Every year,

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there are about 78 million
more people

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00:11:19,213 --> 00:11:21,048
living on the planet.

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That’s about 220,000
people everyday

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00:11:25,686 --> 00:11:30,358
competing for both natural resources
and for economic opportunities.

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Stretching further the capacity
of the world to sustain us.

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More than half of the world
population,

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the majority in the developing world,

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is under the age of 28

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00:11:43,638 --> 00:11:44,771
and is either at,

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00:11:44,971 --> 00:11:48,241
or will be at, a reproductive age
in the next few years.

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00:11:48,943 --> 00:11:52,213
Depending on the kind of choices
these youth will take,

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00:11:52,380 --> 00:11:53,348
humanity,

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00:11:53,515 --> 00:11:55,350
according to the UN projections,

205
00:11:55,516 --> 00:11:57,518
could be as low as 8 billion

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00:11:57,685 --> 00:12:01,856
or as high as 10.5 billion by 2050.

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00:12:03,156 --> 00:12:05,993
A variance that could
make all the difference

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00:12:06,126 --> 00:12:07,728
as we are beginning to reach

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00:12:07,895 --> 00:12:09,696
many thresholds on the planet.

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00:12:11,933 --> 00:12:14,401
Population doesn’t turn
around on a dime.

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00:12:14,601 --> 00:12:15,736
Population is continuing
to grow,

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00:12:15,870 --> 00:12:18,406
there’s a momentum in
population today.

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00:12:18,573 --> 00:12:19,573
Even if...

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00:12:19,973 --> 00:12:22,110
all the couples in the world
were to decide today

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00:12:22,276 --> 00:12:24,578
that they were not going to have
more than two children

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00:12:24,845 --> 00:12:26,580
it’s estimated that world population

217
00:12:26,715 --> 00:12:28,750
would continue to grow
to about 8 billion.

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00:12:28,950 --> 00:12:31,920
That momentum means that
we have got to,

219
00:12:32,020 --> 00:12:33,821
under almost any circumstances,

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00:12:33,988 --> 00:12:37,191
continue to find ways to feed
that many people.

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00:12:52,673 --> 00:12:55,176
Loulou we have it ready. You guys can
eat at the little table.

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00:13:09,423 --> 00:13:11,458
I think when I grew up and...

223
00:13:11,491 --> 00:13:13,595
met JP, who is my
husband and

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00:13:13,728 --> 00:13:14,761
we were going to have kids

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00:13:14,861 --> 00:13:17,465
and we had our first child and
that was great, a little boy.

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00:13:17,498 --> 00:13:20,101
We had our second child a little
girl and that was great.

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00:13:20,501 --> 00:13:21,736
And then I kind of thought...

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00:13:21,903 --> 00:13:23,571
you know I was kind of imagining
we’d have more,

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00:13:23,738 --> 00:13:25,240
but then we had talked about it.

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00:13:25,940 --> 00:13:27,975
JP is from a small family of two,

231
00:13:28,141 --> 00:13:32,146
and he said he really believed
in the replacement.

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00:13:32,313 --> 00:13:33,648
That we wouldn’t expand
the population.

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00:13:33,815 --> 00:13:35,616
That it was a really
big belief of his

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00:13:35,783 --> 00:13:37,918
and I could fully get
behind that and

235
00:13:38,085 --> 00:13:39,853
understand that intellectually,

236
00:13:40,055 --> 00:13:42,556
but there was a feeling in me
that was like...

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00:13:42,723 --> 00:13:44,325
you don’t really have a family
if you can't ...

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00:13:44,525 --> 00:13:46,961
have a baseball team
at any given moment.

239
00:13:48,095 --> 00:13:49,830
So I wanted to have a bigger family

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00:13:49,996 --> 00:13:53,935
and JP is a very, kind of
a rare, willing mate

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00:13:54,101 --> 00:13:56,203
in that he was up for that too.

242
00:13:56,203 --> 00:13:58,906
Adoption seemed like a great way
for our family to grow

243
00:13:59,073 --> 00:14:01,341
in a way that didn’t impact
population.

244
00:14:02,343 --> 00:14:03,811
So we adopted our youngest daughter,

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00:14:03,811 --> 00:14:04,645
Lorato,

246
00:14:04,778 --> 00:14:06,313
from South Africa.

247
00:14:06,848 --> 00:14:07,481
And I have to say...

248
00:14:07,648 --> 00:14:09,916
it feels...better to me
to have three kids.

249
00:14:10,085 --> 00:14:11,518
Two felt kind of puny to me.

250
00:14:11,686 --> 00:14:13,355
It didn’t feel like enough.

251
00:14:22,630 --> 00:14:25,033
So I was approached by the
producers of this film,

252
00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:27,401
to be involved because
of the work

253
00:14:27,535 --> 00:14:29,703
that I have been doing
with children’s rights.

254
00:14:29,870 --> 00:14:32,206
With some friends I co-founded
Mothers Acting Up.

255
00:14:32,540 --> 00:14:35,376
Which is a movement that
invites mothers to

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00:14:35,876 --> 00:14:38,746
see themselves as advocates
for the world’s children.

257
00:14:40,181 --> 00:14:44,085
I was intrigued to learn more about
how this issue was impacting

258
00:14:44,485 --> 00:14:46,855
children's issues and women's issues.

259
00:14:54,395 --> 00:14:57,798
The population explosion has
immediate dangers for us

260
00:14:57,965 --> 00:14:59,666
and for our children.

261
00:14:59,833 --> 00:15:03,203
You know when this issue first burst
into public consciousness,

262
00:15:03,705 --> 00:15:06,708
population was growing,
incredibly rapidly.

263
00:15:07,241 --> 00:15:10,078
People were making really
dire predictions.

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00:15:10,211 --> 00:15:11,645
The world responded,

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00:15:11,713 --> 00:15:12,846
things changed,

266
00:15:13,013 --> 00:15:14,815
a lot more women got access
to contraceptives.

267
00:15:14,915 --> 00:15:17,018
Population growth rates came down,

268
00:15:17,085 --> 00:15:19,386
pretty dramatically all over
the world.

269
00:15:19,620 --> 00:15:23,625
And so people said: "That problem
is largely solved.”

270
00:15:25,726 --> 00:15:29,596
For the last few years the UN has
been revising its predictions

271
00:15:29,896 --> 00:15:33,635
upwards, in both developing
and developed nations.

272
00:15:34,335 --> 00:15:36,336
If we now assume the problem
is solved and

273
00:15:36,436 --> 00:15:38,506
fail to pay adequate attention to it

274
00:15:38,740 --> 00:15:41,943
we’re going to see all of that
work undermined.

275
00:15:43,210 --> 00:15:46,080
Over the past few decades,
the debate about population

276
00:15:46,246 --> 00:15:48,315
has been pushed to the side.

277
00:15:48,583 --> 00:15:51,753
One reason is the ongoing
stigmatization of the issue,

278
00:15:52,186 --> 00:15:55,323
mainly coming from human rights
abuses by several countries

279
00:15:55,490 --> 00:15:59,026
that have used forced sterilizations
and other coercive means

280
00:15:59,193 --> 00:16:00,895
to lower their growth rate.

281
00:16:02,796 --> 00:16:07,301
The topic of population is also
a victim of it’s own success.

282
00:16:07,835 --> 00:16:11,071
The growth rate of the world
has been nearly cut in half

283
00:16:11,238 --> 00:16:14,175
over the past 50 years.

284
00:16:15,610 --> 00:16:16,811
The developed world,

285
00:16:17,011 --> 00:16:18,846
primarily Europe and Japan,

286
00:16:18,980 --> 00:16:23,183
have seen their decreasing numbers
and the aging of their population

287
00:16:23,316 --> 00:16:26,186
as a threat to their prosperity.

288
00:16:27,355 --> 00:16:30,025
In many countries they
are paying people

289
00:16:30,191 --> 00:16:32,893
what I call bribes
to have babies.

290
00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,096
Thinking that if they get
the birth rate up,

291
00:16:35,263 --> 00:16:37,665
they’ll have more working adults

292
00:16:37,831 --> 00:16:40,701
to help support the aged population.

293
00:16:41,670 --> 00:16:45,173
Having babies on top of
an aging population

294
00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,641
that is relatively healthy

295
00:16:48,241 --> 00:16:49,910
and can work much longer years

296
00:16:50,078 --> 00:16:52,113
than the standard retirement age,

297
00:16:52,246 --> 00:16:54,548
that was set during the time
of Bismark,

298
00:16:54,748 --> 00:16:57,085
is a crazy way to try to
solve that problem.

299
00:16:59,220 --> 00:17:03,123
If you increase the retirement
age by a couple of years,

300
00:17:03,290 --> 00:17:05,126
by just about two years
or two and a half years,

301
00:17:05,293 --> 00:17:08,796
this actually covers the
costs of the old people.

302
00:17:09,830 --> 00:17:11,766
In addition if you have a lot of

303
00:17:11,866 --> 00:17:13,000
young people coming along...

304
00:17:13,100 --> 00:17:14,801
we don’t have jobs for the people

305
00:17:15,003 --> 00:17:16,336
in Europe and Japan now.

306
00:17:20,975 --> 00:17:22,876
While the population issue
is being raised

307
00:17:22,943 --> 00:17:25,746
among some governmental
entities and NGOs

308
00:17:26,046 --> 00:17:28,916
it is still a taboo subject
within societies.

309
00:17:29,683 --> 00:17:31,551
the dominant message has been,

310
00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:33,788
population's over with,
don’t talk about it.

311
00:17:33,955 --> 00:17:35,656
It’s really taboo.

312
00:17:35,890 --> 00:17:39,626
Even those concerned people who
are sitting in traffic jams saying,

313
00:17:39,793 --> 00:17:41,328
"I know there’s a problem"

314
00:17:41,395 --> 00:17:43,431
have been afraid to speak out

315
00:17:43,598 --> 00:17:45,066
and it’s really a reflection

316
00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:48,101
of people's fear of being
out of line

317
00:17:48,301 --> 00:17:50,938
with what is socially acceptable.

318
00:17:59,313 --> 00:18:00,448
My mom and my dad,

319
00:18:00,615 --> 00:18:03,116
just got married right
at the end of WWII.

320
00:18:03,216 --> 00:18:05,586
My mom was a good Catholic,
my dad was a Protestant

321
00:18:05,686 --> 00:18:08,221
who converted over to Catholicism.

322
00:18:10,591 --> 00:18:13,093
There was a time when
my brother was...

323
00:18:13,260 --> 00:18:15,296
my oldest brother, was 4 years old.

324
00:18:15,296 --> 00:18:17,231
And he fell into a pond...

325
00:18:17,265 --> 00:18:19,566
through the ice in upstate New York.

326
00:18:20,301 --> 00:18:23,671
And my mom at that point prayed
to God and she said,

327
00:18:23,838 --> 00:18:26,875
"If Mike lives, I promise I won’t do
the one sin that I am doing,

328
00:18:27,041 --> 00:18:28,476
which is birth control,"

329
00:18:28,643 --> 00:18:30,845
that she was planning on doing.

330
00:18:33,681 --> 00:18:35,150
My brother Mike lived,

331
00:18:36,316 --> 00:18:38,620
so my mom said she wasn’t
going to use birth control.

332
00:18:41,455 --> 00:18:43,391
So you end up with ten kids...

333
00:18:43,558 --> 00:18:45,493
and that’s what happens when
you have this happy...

334
00:18:45,993 --> 00:18:48,830
loving relationship and
no birth control.

335
00:18:48,996 --> 00:18:50,798
There was this feeling of plenty,

336
00:18:50,965 --> 00:18:52,800
like you were in the center
of the universe

337
00:18:52,966 --> 00:18:55,003
when you were at home
with the whole family,

338
00:18:55,203 --> 00:18:56,871
like it was a really good
feeling of,

339
00:18:57,038 --> 00:18:58,506
a lot of plenty of...

340
00:18:58,673 --> 00:19:00,308
enough.

341
00:19:09,283 --> 00:19:10,585
-Brazil.
-Most Populous?

342
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:13,388
Indonesia

343
00:19:15,490 --> 00:19:17,158
Can we phone a friend?

344
00:19:18,191 --> 00:19:19,626
Here, the US.

345
00:19:20,295 --> 00:19:22,796
Right now it’s the 3rd most
populous country?

346
00:19:22,996 --> 00:19:24,098
Really?

347
00:19:38,011 --> 00:19:40,648
Although the US isn’t the
fastest growing country,

348
00:19:40,748 --> 00:19:43,050
with only about 1% growth,

349
00:19:43,551 --> 00:19:46,153
it is the highest in the
industrialized world.

350
00:19:46,386 --> 00:19:48,456
After including net migration

351
00:19:48,590 --> 00:19:53,160
the US grows by about 2.7
million people each year.

352
00:19:54,095 --> 00:19:56,998
But the problem goes beyond
these numbers.

353
00:20:01,736 --> 00:20:02,703
If everybody,

354
00:20:02,870 --> 00:20:03,671
worldwide,

355
00:20:03,838 --> 00:20:06,040
lived American lifestyles,

356
00:20:06,540 --> 00:20:08,810
today...it would take about

357
00:20:08,976 --> 00:20:11,045
close to 6 planets like earth

358
00:20:11,211 --> 00:20:13,415
to regenerate all the resources

359
00:20:13,581 --> 00:20:15,450
we consume in the United States

360
00:20:15,583 --> 00:20:17,285
and to absorb the according waste

361
00:20:17,418 --> 00:20:19,086
and that would be entire planets,

362
00:20:19,253 --> 00:20:21,856
leaving nothing for other species.

363
00:20:22,623 --> 00:20:25,460
It’s a model that is not
globally replicable.

364
00:20:25,626 --> 00:20:27,895
Of course, some areas can use more

365
00:20:27,995 --> 00:20:29,630
than what their areas can regenerate

366
00:20:29,796 --> 00:20:30,531
because of trade

367
00:20:30,831 --> 00:20:33,368
but not all countries can
replicate this model

368
00:20:33,635 --> 00:20:36,270
of being net importers
of ecological services.

369
00:20:36,436 --> 00:20:39,273
Just physically, mathematically,
it doesn’t add up.

370
00:20:41,008 --> 00:20:44,511
The lifestyle of average
residents in India

371
00:20:44,711 --> 00:20:46,715
could be replicated around the world;

372
00:20:46,981 --> 00:20:49,016
possibly even at the population size

373
00:20:49,183 --> 00:20:50,651
of about 8 billion people.

374
00:20:50,785 --> 00:20:53,855
But that means eating much much
lower on the food chain

375
00:20:53,955 --> 00:20:56,423
with very little extra energy
to either heat

376
00:20:56,623 --> 00:20:59,960
or cool houses or to
drive cars around.

377
00:21:01,461 --> 00:21:03,030
We’ve got to set an example

378
00:21:03,196 --> 00:21:05,200
and stop our own population growth,

379
00:21:05,500 --> 00:21:08,436
if we are going to have any
moral basis for lecturing

380
00:21:08,636 --> 00:21:10,771
to the people in other
countries and say,

381
00:21:10,938 --> 00:21:13,875
You’ve got to stop your
population growth.

382
00:21:14,308 --> 00:21:16,911
The rich countries, broadly wrought,

383
00:21:17,078 --> 00:21:18,580
pointing to the poor countries
and saying,

384
00:21:18,746 --> 00:21:20,448
"The problem is population growth."

385
00:21:20,615 --> 00:21:22,683
"You should get your populations
under control.”

386
00:21:23,216 --> 00:21:24,551
The poor country is saying

387
00:21:24,685 --> 00:21:27,421
"No, the problem is inequity,

388
00:21:27,588 --> 00:21:28,823
and you should get your

389
00:21:28,956 --> 00:21:30,625
over consumption under control.”

390
00:21:30,791 --> 00:21:32,760
So here this kind of fight goes on.

391
00:21:32,926 --> 00:21:36,130
The solution we have is,
OK, grow like us.

392
00:21:40,235 --> 00:21:41,601
We have fetishized,

393
00:21:41,803 --> 00:21:42,970
we have worshipped,

394
00:21:43,136 --> 00:21:47,341
we have created an ideology
out of growth,

395
00:21:48,108 --> 00:21:51,245
that has now, taken over

396
00:21:51,411 --> 00:21:53,515
our economic planning and
development.

397
00:21:55,716 --> 00:21:58,553
Our economy has grown highly
dependent on people,

398
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:01,621
or more precisely on consumers.

399
00:22:01,790 --> 00:22:05,593
It always needs more to sustain
its endless appetite for growth,

400
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,663
and always manages
to find more of us.

401
00:22:08,830 --> 00:22:11,031
We became its lifeblood.

402
00:22:16,636 --> 00:22:18,540
The people who are promoting
growth

403
00:22:18,706 --> 00:22:21,308
are the people who make
the profits from it.

404
00:22:21,475 --> 00:22:24,445
You know, the one thing that
people don’t understand

405
00:22:24,611 --> 00:22:27,081
and the developers like
to hide is that

406
00:22:27,215 --> 00:22:29,916
the growth never pays for itself.

407
00:22:30,085 --> 00:22:33,788
Your taxes have to go up to pay
the cost of this growth.

408
00:22:35,523 --> 00:22:38,393
Local officials still sort of see

409
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:40,228
all growth as good.

410
00:22:41,461 --> 00:22:42,963
Research has shown that sprawl

411
00:22:43,130 --> 00:22:45,966
ends up costing more money
than it will ever bring in.

412
00:22:46,233 --> 00:22:48,035
You need more police
and more parks

413
00:22:48,201 --> 00:22:50,471
and more fire departments
and more schools

414
00:22:50,605 --> 00:22:52,473
and expanding the sewer system,

415
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:54,608
another water treatment
plant probably.

416
00:22:54,741 --> 00:22:56,210
More everything.

417
00:22:56,476 --> 00:22:57,878
If the growth was paying
for itself,

418
00:22:58,045 --> 00:22:59,880
there would be money
in the bank

419
00:23:00,048 --> 00:23:02,250
to pay for a downturn in the economy,

420
00:23:02,450 --> 00:23:04,551
to keep the state government going,

421
00:23:04,718 --> 00:23:06,553
but that hasn’t happened.

422
00:23:06,721 --> 00:23:07,288
Everyone,

423
00:23:07,455 --> 00:23:08,456
the cities, the states,

424
00:23:08,623 --> 00:23:10,558
are all turning to the federal
government

425
00:23:10,725 --> 00:23:12,693
to get money from the feds

426
00:23:12,860 --> 00:23:17,365
because the federal people don’t
have any responsible limit

427
00:23:17,531 --> 00:23:20,401
on the appropriations
and on their budgets.

428
00:23:20,701 --> 00:23:24,605
So what we are having then is
essentially a ponzi scheme

429
00:23:24,771 --> 00:23:28,476
in which you have people
contributing every year,

430
00:23:29,076 --> 00:23:32,613
which goes to the benefit
of few a people,

431
00:23:32,780 --> 00:23:36,785
but it really means that the taxes
have to go up for everybody.

432
00:23:50,431 --> 00:23:55,803
Look at GDP, gross domestic product,
gross national product, GNP.

433
00:23:56,103 --> 00:23:59,406
These measurements would
actually be funny

434
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,043
if the consequences
weren’t so serious.

435
00:24:03,711 --> 00:24:05,013
They include...

436
00:24:05,180 --> 00:24:07,915
as measures of economic health,

437
00:24:08,148 --> 00:24:13,455
activities that actually
harm and even take life.

438
00:24:13,855 --> 00:24:15,423
Selling cigarettes,

439
00:24:15,590 --> 00:24:17,658
the
medical bills...

440
00:24:17,825 --> 00:24:21,095
they are wonderful for GDP.

441
00:24:21,830 --> 00:24:23,798
An old stand of trees...

442
00:24:23,965 --> 00:24:26,868
has no value until it’s
chopped down.

443
00:24:27,068 --> 00:24:29,036
But the fact that we
can’t breathe

444
00:24:29,203 --> 00:24:30,238
without it...

445
00:24:30,338 --> 00:24:32,073
has no value.

446
00:24:33,575 --> 00:24:35,410
That’s the economist’s view
of the world,

447
00:24:35,576 --> 00:24:37,411
but if you talk to natural scientist

448
00:24:37,578 --> 00:24:39,380
whether ecologists or

449
00:24:39,546 --> 00:24:40,648
meteorologists

450
00:24:40,815 --> 00:24:43,016
or biologists more broadly

451
00:24:43,183 --> 00:24:44,351
or agronomists

452
00:24:44,518 --> 00:24:46,353
or hydrologists

453
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:48,590
and they see a very
different world.

454
00:24:48,756 --> 00:24:51,058
They see a world where
we are overshooting

455
00:24:51,225 --> 00:24:52,860
the earth’s carrying capacity

456
00:24:53,026 --> 00:24:54,528
in one area after another.

457
00:24:54,995 --> 00:24:56,965
We have a market that’s dishonest

458
00:24:57,131 --> 00:24:59,600
it’s only covering part of the cost

459
00:24:59,766 --> 00:25:01,535
of the price of goods and services

460
00:25:01,936 --> 00:25:03,805
and we need to fix that

461
00:25:03,971 --> 00:25:05,706
otherwise...

462
00:25:05,873 --> 00:25:07,541
we will eventually face

463
00:25:07,675 --> 00:25:08,676
bankruptcy.

464
00:25:10,611 --> 00:25:11,946
Biologists, chemists and

465
00:25:12,113 --> 00:25:13,180
many other scientists

466
00:25:13,348 --> 00:25:14,748
believe that we can develop

467
00:25:14,881 --> 00:25:16,016
new sources of food

468
00:25:16,183 --> 00:25:17,385
and new kinds of food.

469
00:25:17,518 --> 00:25:18,686
They say that the sea

470
00:25:18,820 --> 00:25:20,155
can give us more food.

471
00:25:20,288 --> 00:25:22,290
That we can develop large
areas of new land

472
00:25:22,956 --> 00:25:25,960
but many among these experts warn us
that there are limits

473
00:25:26,093 --> 00:25:27,361
to the worlds resources.

474
00:25:27,495 --> 00:25:29,163
There is only so much fresh water,

475
00:25:29,363 --> 00:25:31,465
so much timber, coal, oil,

476
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:33,401
minerals of all kinds.

477
00:25:36,671 --> 00:25:37,738
Julian Simon

478
00:25:38,005 --> 00:25:40,941
had a PhD in economics
and business

479
00:25:41,108 --> 00:25:43,711
and he was on the faculty at the
University of Illinois

480
00:25:43,878 --> 00:25:45,813
in the department of economics.

481
00:25:46,213 --> 00:25:47,915
Julian Simon says

482
00:25:48,081 --> 00:25:50,551
that human beings are
the ultimate resource.

483
00:25:51,018 --> 00:25:52,453
The more people you have,

484
00:25:52,620 --> 00:25:56,056
the more Einsteins you’ll have
to solve human problems.

485
00:25:56,223 --> 00:25:59,960
You don’t solve human problems
by raising Einsteins

486
00:26:00,128 --> 00:26:02,430
in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria.

487
00:26:03,931 --> 00:26:05,433
He wrote an article

488
00:26:05,633 --> 00:26:07,735
and in this article he said
we have the

489
00:26:07,901 --> 00:26:09,536
knowledge and the resources

490
00:26:09,736 --> 00:26:13,841
so that we can continue to grow
for 7 million years.

491
00:26:14,241 --> 00:26:18,746
Suppose the world population grew
just 1% per year,

492
00:26:18,946 --> 00:26:21,750
which is roughly the present
rate of growth,

493
00:26:21,750 --> 00:26:24,185
for 7 million years.

494
00:26:24,351 --> 00:26:26,220
How large would the world
population be?

495
00:26:26,386 --> 00:26:29,290
Now, that’s a nice problem
in arithmetic because

496
00:26:29,456 --> 00:26:32,193
you can’t do on a hand
held calculator,

497
00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:33,461
it will overflow.

498
00:26:34,495 --> 00:26:36,731
He couldn’t do the arithmetic
to know

499
00:26:36,898 --> 00:26:39,666
that long before that, at any rate
he could imagine

500
00:26:39,833 --> 00:26:41,635
there would be more people
than there are

501
00:26:41,803 --> 00:26:43,471
elementary particles in
the universe,

502
00:26:43,671 --> 00:26:45,273
but it didn’t make any difference.

503
00:26:46,506 --> 00:26:48,876
People loved him in Washington.

504
00:26:48,943 --> 00:26:51,411
He was a high level advisor
in the White House.

505
00:26:51,746 --> 00:26:54,815
He was a high level advisor
in the Congress

506
00:26:55,083 --> 00:26:56,918
until the day he died.

507
00:27:02,990 --> 00:27:06,828
When you’re giving every human being
on the planet a decent life.

508
00:27:06,995 --> 00:27:10,331
That is a full belly and
good nutritious food,

509
00:27:10,998 --> 00:27:11,900
shelter,

510
00:27:12,066 --> 00:27:12,766
clothing,

511
00:27:12,933 --> 00:27:14,035
clean water to drink,

512
00:27:14,335 --> 00:27:15,236
health care,

513
00:27:15,836 --> 00:27:17,138
time for amusement,

514
00:27:17,271 --> 00:27:18,973
education for their kids,

515
00:27:19,273 --> 00:27:20,941
then tell me about

516
00:27:21,175 --> 00:27:23,845
what the advantages will be
to having even more people.

517
00:27:24,078 --> 00:27:25,713
But until you’re taking care

518
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:27,481
of the people we have now,

519
00:27:27,781 --> 00:27:29,850
stop giving me this crap
about how easy

520
00:27:29,983 --> 00:27:32,286
it will be to support more
and more people.

521
00:27:46,566 --> 00:27:48,536
The more that I learned about
the population issue,

522
00:27:48,703 --> 00:27:51,171
I felt like I wanted to go to

523
00:27:51,338 --> 00:27:55,343
a place on our earth where
it’s really a top issue.

524
00:27:56,945 --> 00:28:00,515
I was given the opportunity to go
back to Africa with the film.

525
00:28:44,625 --> 00:28:46,995
I work on children’s
rights issues

526
00:28:47,228 --> 00:28:49,163
and the impact on children
is enormous.

527
00:28:49,330 --> 00:28:51,331
With that many children being born

528
00:28:51,531 --> 00:28:53,535
how are their basic needs
going to be met?

529
00:28:56,838 --> 00:28:58,873
Just walking out in the streets
of Addis and I...

530
00:28:59,006 --> 00:29:02,276
stopped to give one woman who was
begging a one Birr note,

531
00:29:02,710 --> 00:29:05,313
which is worth, I don't know,
not even 10 cents,

532
00:29:05,413 --> 00:29:07,581
and then more people started
to come because

533
00:29:07,748 --> 00:29:08,950
they saw that I was giving
money in...

534
00:29:09,116 --> 00:29:10,418
maybe larger increments
than usual

535
00:29:10,618 --> 00:29:14,655
and I just got surrounded by so many
people who needed money

536
00:29:14,821 --> 00:29:16,390
and to just eat and to feed
their babies

537
00:29:16,556 --> 00:29:17,625
who were on their backs and...

538
00:29:17,791 --> 00:29:20,128
you start to feel the impact
of overpopulation.

539
00:29:20,328 --> 00:29:22,963
That there are so many people
spilling into the urban centers

540
00:29:23,096 --> 00:29:25,200
to just...get what they
need to live

541
00:29:25,366 --> 00:29:27,001
and to feed their children.

542
00:29:51,793 --> 00:29:53,728
It is difficult or impossible

543
00:29:53,895 --> 00:29:56,965
to achieve economic development
as long as

544
00:29:57,131 --> 00:29:58,700
birth rates are very high

545
00:29:58,866 --> 00:30:00,301
in the least developed countries.

546
00:30:00,701 --> 00:30:03,571
Education and health
cannot keep up

547
00:30:03,905 --> 00:30:06,040
and poverty goes right
along with this.

548
00:30:07,408 --> 00:30:08,976
You look at some of the poorest
countries in the world

549
00:30:09,143 --> 00:30:10,945
already incapable of meeting

550
00:30:11,111 --> 00:30:13,013
the most basic needs
of their citizens,

551
00:30:13,180 --> 00:30:14,515
and they’re scheduled
to double,

552
00:30:14,848 --> 00:30:17,285
population wise, in the
next 30-40 years.

553
00:30:17,451 --> 00:30:18,686
They just can’t keep up.

554
00:30:21,055 --> 00:30:23,791
This rapid population growth
is certainly linked to

555
00:30:24,258 --> 00:30:25,660
political instability,

556
00:30:25,826 --> 00:30:27,895
resource competition,

557
00:30:28,061 --> 00:30:29,763
the global food crisis.

558
00:30:32,033 --> 00:30:35,503
If you think that this is
an isolated problem

559
00:30:35,703 --> 00:30:37,838
and it’s only Africa’s problem,

560
00:30:38,740 --> 00:30:40,375
think again.

561
00:30:51,518 --> 00:30:53,355
The American housewife...

562
00:30:53,521 --> 00:30:55,090
who has a more important,

563
00:30:55,256 --> 00:30:57,191
a more responsible occupation?

564
00:30:57,525 --> 00:30:57,925
Wife,

565
00:30:58,091 --> 00:30:58,693
Mother,

566
00:30:58,960 --> 00:30:59,460
Laundress,

567
00:30:59,626 --> 00:31:00,328
Counselor,

568
00:31:00,495 --> 00:31:01,195
Maid,

569
00:31:01,395 --> 00:31:02,063
Chef,

570
00:31:02,330 --> 00:31:03,365
Purchasing Agent.

571
00:31:03,598 --> 00:31:07,301
All of these are her duties
at one time or another.

572
00:31:08,503 --> 00:31:10,571
When you think back to the 50’s

573
00:31:10,738 --> 00:31:13,441
the expectation was that a
woman would stay home,

574
00:31:13,875 --> 00:31:15,176
run a household,

575
00:31:15,343 --> 00:31:16,510
raise the children

576
00:31:16,678 --> 00:31:18,211
and her husband would go off and
work

577
00:31:18,380 --> 00:31:19,413
and bring home the bacon.

578
00:31:28,321 --> 00:31:29,956
Uh...I wanted the pills.

579
00:31:30,125 --> 00:31:31,258
I see...

580
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:35,296
Well, the introduction of the pill
in the 1960’s was huge.

581
00:31:35,830 --> 00:31:38,433
Women could choose the timing

582
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:40,935
and the number of births.

583
00:31:41,435 --> 00:31:44,371
They had the means and
the opportunity

584
00:31:44,571 --> 00:31:48,241
to delay childbearing indefinitely...

585
00:31:48,610 --> 00:31:50,878
and many of us did.

586
00:32:00,621 --> 00:32:03,123
There is still a lot of societal
pressure

587
00:32:03,290 --> 00:32:04,758
to have children.

588
00:32:05,226 --> 00:32:06,026
When you say,

589
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:07,928
"I’m childfree by choice,"

590
00:32:08,095 --> 00:32:10,365
there is an assumption that
you are that way

591
00:32:10,531 --> 00:32:11,766
because you hate children

592
00:32:11,933 --> 00:32:13,233
or you’re heartless or

593
00:32:13,401 --> 00:32:14,101
cold or

594
00:32:14,601 --> 00:32:16,905
there is an assumption that...

595
00:32:17,071 --> 00:32:18,873
something is seriously wrong,

596
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:20,408
not just physically,

597
00:32:20,575 --> 00:32:22,610
but mentally or emotionally.

598
00:32:23,276 --> 00:32:24,911
When I talked to people

599
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,415
about their birth control
methods,

600
00:32:27,581 --> 00:32:28,850
most of them told me

601
00:32:29,016 --> 00:32:31,786
they had sought permanent
sterilization

602
00:32:31,953 --> 00:32:34,655
and this is very, very tough
for women

603
00:32:34,855 --> 00:32:37,291
particularly younger women in
their 20’s and 30’s

604
00:32:37,458 --> 00:32:38,993
that are seeking tubal ligations.

605
00:32:39,826 --> 00:32:41,395
Many doctors will say,

606
00:32:41,561 --> 00:32:44,865
will ask you to undergo
a year of counseling...

607
00:32:45,033 --> 00:32:46,701
at your own expense,

608
00:32:47,035 --> 00:32:48,836
before they give you a tubal ligation

609
00:32:49,003 --> 00:32:51,205
or they’ll just flat out
refuse

610
00:32:51,371 --> 00:32:52,773
your request for one.

611
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:54,141
Often it is,

612
00:32:54,375 --> 00:32:55,576
"Oh you’re too young...”

613
00:32:55,743 --> 00:32:57,345
"You haven’t had any children yet..."

614
00:32:57,511 --> 00:32:59,613
"You’re likely to change your mind.”

615
00:32:59,780 --> 00:33:02,483
No one challenges a
young woman who says,

616
00:33:02,650 --> 00:33:03,985
"I want to have three children.”

617
00:33:04,151 --> 00:33:06,453
If you say, "I don’t want
to have any children,"

618
00:33:06,620 --> 00:33:08,923
you will be challenged in the
medical community...

619
00:33:09,090 --> 00:33:11,025
and in the mental health
community.

620
00:33:23,338 --> 00:33:25,340
We live in a sex soaked society,

621
00:33:25,506 --> 00:33:27,475
but we don’t really like
to talk about sex.

622
00:33:27,641 --> 00:33:29,276
We certainly don’t want
our children

623
00:33:29,476 --> 00:33:30,311
to hear about sex.

624
00:33:30,778 --> 00:33:31,511
Even though...

625
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,313
sex sells all our products,

626
00:33:33,481 --> 00:33:34,748
sex is all over T.V.

627
00:33:34,915 --> 00:33:37,085
Sex is what everybody
loves in the movies.

628
00:33:37,251 --> 00:33:39,120
So, it’s a weird dichotomy.

629
00:33:40,155 --> 00:33:42,723
In the United States,
remember that

630
00:33:42,890 --> 00:33:45,160
40% of pregnancies are
unintended.

631
00:33:45,326 --> 00:33:47,861
Our teenagers have the
highest birthrate

632
00:33:48,028 --> 00:33:49,396
in the developed world

633
00:33:49,563 --> 00:33:51,298
and yet we make it very
hard for them

634
00:33:51,431 --> 00:33:53,266
to get family planning
in many states.

635
00:33:53,935 --> 00:33:55,736
We should be looking at reducing

636
00:33:55,903 --> 00:33:58,005
the number of unintended
pregnancies

637
00:33:58,171 --> 00:34:00,008
by making it easier to get
family planning

638
00:34:00,175 --> 00:34:01,341
in the United States.

639
00:34:06,781 --> 00:34:07,815
It is not widely known

640
00:34:07,981 --> 00:34:09,683
that there are a very large
number of

641
00:34:09,850 --> 00:34:11,218
barriers standing between

642
00:34:11,385 --> 00:34:13,755
women and the means and
the information

643
00:34:13,921 --> 00:34:15,623
to contraception that they need

644
00:34:15,790 --> 00:34:17,858
in order to manage
their childbearing.

645
00:34:19,060 --> 00:34:20,161
In almost all countries,

646
00:34:20,295 --> 00:34:21,395
the desired family size

647
00:34:21,561 --> 00:34:23,565
is lower than the
actual family size.

648
00:34:23,731 --> 00:34:24,398
in huge surveys,

649
00:34:24,565 --> 00:34:26,533
the demographic and
health surveys.

650
00:35:00,101 --> 00:35:01,501
According to published studies,

651
00:35:01,703 --> 00:35:03,438
it is estimated that

652
00:35:03,605 --> 00:35:06,073
215 million women worldwide

653
00:35:06,340 --> 00:35:08,443
who wish to have smaller families

654
00:35:08,576 --> 00:35:10,745
don’t use modern family planning.

655
00:35:11,145 --> 00:35:13,013
Largely because of informational

656
00:35:13,180 --> 00:35:14,515
and cultural barriers.

657
00:35:15,916 --> 00:35:19,420
Many of these women don’t
want or intend to use it

658
00:35:19,586 --> 00:35:21,588
because they have heard
it is dangerous,

659
00:35:21,756 --> 00:35:23,358
male partners are opposed,

660
00:35:23,525 --> 00:35:25,460
their religion is opposed,

661
00:35:25,726 --> 00:35:27,661
or they are leaving decisions

662
00:35:27,828 --> 00:35:30,365
on the number of children
up to God.

663
00:35:32,366 --> 00:35:35,303
According to the UNFPA,

664
00:35:35,436 --> 00:35:36,871
if those women met their needs

665
00:35:37,038 --> 00:35:41,308
it would reduce population
growth by 28%

666
00:35:41,608 --> 00:35:44,511
and at the same time
would save lives

667
00:35:44,678 --> 00:35:46,580
and advance human rights.

668
00:35:48,115 --> 00:35:49,016
Every day

669
00:35:49,183 --> 00:35:49,983
800 women

670
00:35:50,151 --> 00:35:52,520
and more than 20,000 children

671
00:35:52,686 --> 00:35:55,223
die from preventable causes.

672
00:35:55,390 --> 00:35:56,991
Every 2 minutes

673
00:35:57,158 --> 00:35:58,626
a women dies

674
00:35:58,793 --> 00:36:00,528
at what should have been

675
00:36:00,695 --> 00:36:02,130
a joyful moment.

676
00:36:02,263 --> 00:36:04,298
And millions of women

677
00:36:04,465 --> 00:36:06,433
are unable to choose if,

678
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:08,436
when and how many

679
00:36:08,603 --> 00:36:10,905
children they should have

680
00:36:11,638 --> 00:36:13,975
because they lack modern ways

681
00:36:14,141 --> 00:36:15,776
of contraception.

682
00:36:17,911 --> 00:36:19,780
For anybody who thinks
that poor people

683
00:36:19,946 --> 00:36:22,216
want large families in Africa,
for example,

684
00:36:22,383 --> 00:36:24,585
then they better look again
and notice

685
00:36:24,751 --> 00:36:27,088
that Africa has an
enormous

686
00:36:27,255 --> 00:36:29,456
number of abortions
every year

687
00:36:29,656 --> 00:36:31,225
and a lot of those are
unsafe and

688
00:36:31,391 --> 00:36:33,160
a lot of those do a lot
of damage.

689
00:36:34,295 --> 00:36:35,996
We are loosing every year

690
00:36:36,163 --> 00:36:38,533
about 350,000 women

691
00:36:38,700 --> 00:36:40,901
from maternal death.

692
00:36:41,301 --> 00:36:44,371
13% of those women die

693
00:36:44,538 --> 00:36:46,340
because of unsafe abortions.

694
00:36:46,775 --> 00:36:47,875
So that’s the mathematics.

695
00:36:48,041 --> 00:36:49,476
The numbers are out there.

696
00:36:51,178 --> 00:36:53,781
There are so many women who
are raped worldwide

697
00:36:53,948 --> 00:36:54,815
and have children

698
00:36:54,981 --> 00:36:56,416
who are then...

699
00:36:56,985 --> 00:36:59,753
often really not cared for.

700
00:37:00,288 --> 00:37:02,156
The issue isn’t abortion.

701
00:37:02,490 --> 00:37:04,991
The issue is preventing...

702
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:07,961
the need for so many abortions.

703
00:37:20,675 --> 00:37:21,976
I wanted to meet the people.

704
00:37:22,143 --> 00:37:23,711
not just read about it in a book,

705
00:37:23,878 --> 00:37:24,678
but really meet people

706
00:37:24,845 --> 00:37:25,913
and see what they're doing

707
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:27,548
to figure out solutions.

708
00:37:27,715 --> 00:37:28,916
That’s where I found out about

709
00:37:29,083 --> 00:37:30,185
Population Media Center

710
00:37:30,351 --> 00:37:32,786
and they are using entertainment

711
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,123
to get out social messages
about population.

712
00:37:46,066 --> 00:37:47,168
Population Media Center

713
00:37:47,301 --> 00:37:48,903
specializes in the production of

714
00:37:49,103 --> 00:37:50,805
long running serialized dramas

715
00:37:50,938 --> 00:37:52,273
on radio or television.

716
00:37:52,440 --> 00:37:55,043
Also known as soap operas
or tele novellas.

717
00:37:55,376 --> 00:37:56,576
Where characters evolve

718
00:37:56,745 --> 00:37:58,713
into role models for
the audience,

719
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,281
gradually, over time.

720
00:38:01,850 --> 00:38:04,851
I think what makes Population Media
Center’s work so unique

721
00:38:05,086 --> 00:38:07,088
is the fact that it connects
with the audience

722
00:38:07,221 --> 00:38:08,188
at an emotional level.

723
00:38:08,523 --> 00:38:10,725
We’re not just building
cognitive information,

724
00:38:10,891 --> 00:38:13,326
because so many of our decisions
are based on emotion.

725
00:38:13,495 --> 00:38:15,763
Not actually the information
that we have.

726
00:38:18,198 --> 00:38:20,201
By creating scenes that

727
00:38:20,368 --> 00:38:22,336
the audience can relate to

728
00:38:22,503 --> 00:38:25,540
and characters that the audience
sees themselves in

729
00:38:25,706 --> 00:38:27,441
we’re able to convey a message

730
00:38:27,608 --> 00:38:29,610
and also allow them to...

731
00:38:29,776 --> 00:38:32,646
really understand how they too
can take the actions

732
00:38:32,813 --> 00:38:34,615
that the characters have
taken in their lives

733
00:38:34,781 --> 00:38:36,516
and apply it to their own.

734
00:38:38,986 --> 00:38:41,055
Do you usually listen when
you are doing other things

735
00:38:41,221 --> 00:38:42,923
or when you are travelling?

736
00:38:43,525 --> 00:38:46,293
I was invited to a focus group
of the radio dramas.

737
00:38:47,095 --> 00:38:49,830
All the women there had amazing
stories to tell about

738
00:38:50,398 --> 00:38:53,501
how these characters had served
as role models for them

739
00:38:53,668 --> 00:38:55,603
so that they could be
strong and...

740
00:38:55,736 --> 00:38:57,571
start to change some
of the practices that

741
00:38:57,738 --> 00:39:00,208
kept the women down
in their villages.

742
00:40:26,460 --> 00:40:28,530
Women are basically viewed...

743
00:40:28,696 --> 00:40:32,700
as they are in very rigid
domination systems,

744
00:40:32,933 --> 00:40:36,470
as technologies of reproduction.

745
00:40:41,843 --> 00:40:43,778
In some of the poorest and

746
00:40:43,945 --> 00:40:47,348
most rigidly male dominated
cultures

747
00:40:47,515 --> 00:40:48,883
and they go together;

748
00:40:49,116 --> 00:40:51,385
women have no status
whatsoever,

749
00:40:51,518 --> 00:40:53,921
unless they produce a son.

750
00:40:59,426 --> 00:41:01,830
The girl in a poor country,

751
00:41:02,030 --> 00:41:03,498
especially the poorest girls,

752
00:41:03,731 --> 00:41:05,500
they...eat last,

753
00:41:05,666 --> 00:41:06,768
they eat least.

754
00:41:06,935 --> 00:41:08,101
They get up earliest,

755
00:41:08,301 --> 00:41:09,870
they go to bed latest.

756
00:41:10,105 --> 00:41:12,406
They do the most work and...

757
00:41:12,873 --> 00:41:14,708
they have the least say

758
00:41:14,875 --> 00:41:17,345
over what happens
in their life.

759
00:41:19,913 --> 00:41:22,250
Women are in many poor countries

760
00:41:22,416 --> 00:41:24,618
considered property of the man

761
00:41:24,818 --> 00:41:26,788
and in some countries
they have

762
00:41:26,955 --> 00:41:29,190
slightly lower status than
the cattle.

763
00:41:29,590 --> 00:41:32,026
When women are sold into
marriage

764
00:41:32,193 --> 00:41:33,260
at age 9 or 10

765
00:41:33,428 --> 00:41:36,163
and they become pregnant
as soon as they’re fertile

766
00:41:36,330 --> 00:41:40,201
they don’t have the right or
the ability to make decisions

767
00:41:40,301 --> 00:41:44,038
about family life or family planning
on their own.

768
00:41:49,676 --> 00:41:51,245
70% of those living

769
00:41:51,378 --> 00:41:53,881
in absolute poverty worldwide

770
00:41:54,048 --> 00:41:55,050
are female.

771
00:41:55,450 --> 00:41:58,185
There is no way in a humane,

772
00:41:58,353 --> 00:42:01,455
non-authoritarian, caring way,

773
00:42:01,621 --> 00:42:04,491
to change this over breeding

774
00:42:04,658 --> 00:42:07,695
without raising the status

775
00:42:07,861 --> 00:42:10,165
of women worldwide.

776
00:42:15,203 --> 00:42:16,503
After the focus group...

777
00:42:16,671 --> 00:42:19,173
I was so moved by Zinet’s story

778
00:42:19,740 --> 00:42:22,676
and all the hurdles that she
has encountered and...

779
00:42:23,010 --> 00:42:25,913
how she’s overcome so many
as just a young woman.

780
00:42:27,748 --> 00:42:30,418
So I asked if we could go and
visit her and her family...

781
00:42:30,585 --> 00:42:31,518
in the village.

782
00:43:21,001 --> 00:43:23,705
Looking at her family and meeting
her mother and her father,

783
00:43:23,871 --> 00:43:25,373
the first thing that
struck me was

784
00:43:25,540 --> 00:43:28,208
how much older the dad
was than the mother

785
00:43:28,376 --> 00:43:29,810
and then I later learned that...

786
00:43:30,011 --> 00:43:31,278
she was 12 years old

787
00:43:31,445 --> 00:43:33,681
when she married him and
he was 45.

788
00:43:54,935 --> 00:43:57,871
Zinet’s father had another
family before this one

789
00:43:58,038 --> 00:44:00,475
where he had 13 children
with another wife

790
00:44:00,641 --> 00:44:04,878
and this is a typical
scenario in Ethiopia.

791
00:44:09,216 --> 00:44:11,351
They were stuck in these
societal roles

792
00:44:11,518 --> 00:44:13,286
that had been handed
down to them.

793
00:44:14,988 --> 00:44:16,623
I couldn’t help but see
the parallels

794
00:44:16,791 --> 00:44:18,493
between my family and
Zinet’s family,

795
00:44:18,626 --> 00:44:20,895
both of our mothers experienced

796
00:44:21,161 --> 00:44:23,431
religious and cultural influences

797
00:44:24,331 --> 00:44:25,833
that made them feel like either

798
00:44:25,966 --> 00:44:27,268
they couldn’t or shouldn’t

799
00:44:27,968 --> 00:44:29,803
be the ones deciding
how many children

800
00:44:30,005 --> 00:44:31,205
their bodies would have.

801
00:44:32,573 --> 00:44:36,110
Christendom has been so
powerful because

802
00:44:36,276 --> 00:44:38,446
the industrial revolution,
the scientific

803
00:44:38,613 --> 00:44:40,215
revolution grew up in Christendom.

804
00:44:40,415 --> 00:44:42,383
Europeans colonized the
rest of the world.

805
00:44:44,318 --> 00:44:45,753
"Be fruitful and multiply

806
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:47,988
and fill the earth and
subdue it,”

807
00:44:48,155 --> 00:44:49,856
It’s time for us to recognize that

808
00:44:49,990 --> 00:44:51,491
that’s the one Biblical
commandment

809
00:44:51,625 --> 00:44:53,795
where you can say, "Check!
We’ve done that!"

810
00:44:53,928 --> 00:44:55,230
"What else should we do?"

811
00:44:56,798 --> 00:45:00,035
I don’t see how we can look
at the devastation

812
00:45:00,201 --> 00:45:02,203
that’s happening to the planet

813
00:45:02,403 --> 00:45:04,371
and the poor quality of life

814
00:45:04,538 --> 00:45:06,708
that many of those people have

815
00:45:06,908 --> 00:45:08,710
and still say that

816
00:45:08,876 --> 00:45:11,445
basic levels of birth control

817
00:45:11,545 --> 00:45:14,148
and family planning are
inappropriate.

818
00:45:14,281 --> 00:45:17,285
I find that a morally very
confusing stance.

819
00:45:19,453 --> 00:45:20,921
The Vatican actually has

820
00:45:21,088 --> 00:45:23,290
permanent observer status
in the United Nations.

821
00:45:23,458 --> 00:45:24,791
The Roman Catholic Church

822
00:45:24,958 --> 00:45:26,260
is the only major religion,

823
00:45:26,426 --> 00:45:27,561
the only religion in fact,

824
00:45:27,695 --> 00:45:29,296
that has this kind of status.

825
00:45:29,463 --> 00:45:31,265
The permanent observer status

826
00:45:31,431 --> 00:45:33,166
is the same as what
Switzerland has,

827
00:45:33,333 --> 00:45:33,968
for example.

828
00:45:34,135 --> 00:45:36,003
The Vatican has tried
or the Holy See

829
00:45:36,136 --> 00:45:38,005
has tried very hard in
the United Nations

830
00:45:38,171 --> 00:45:40,608
to play down contraceptives

831
00:45:40,741 --> 00:45:42,010
and as a matter of fact

832
00:45:42,176 --> 00:45:44,211
to make it more difficult
for women

833
00:45:44,378 --> 00:45:45,646
to get contraception.

834
00:45:46,646 --> 00:45:48,181
They have made accusations

835
00:45:48,350 --> 00:45:49,183
as they did at Cairo

836
00:45:49,350 --> 00:45:51,318
that these conferences and

837
00:45:51,485 --> 00:45:52,886
the plans of action

838
00:45:53,020 --> 00:45:55,256
were efforts to undermine the family,

839
00:45:55,423 --> 00:45:57,491
destroy Christian civilization.

840
00:45:57,658 --> 00:46:00,961
They use very inflammatory rhetoric.

841
00:46:05,233 --> 00:46:06,666
The Catholic Church

842
00:46:06,835 --> 00:46:09,703
has a wonderful tradition
of social justice,

843
00:46:09,836 --> 00:46:12,740
whether it’s supporting
health care or

844
00:46:12,906 --> 00:46:15,143
hunger programs or disaster relief.

845
00:46:15,310 --> 00:46:18,078
For Catholic people living
out in the world,

846
00:46:18,278 --> 00:46:21,281
family planning is more than just
an intellectual exercise.

847
00:46:21,448 --> 00:46:24,151
It really affects people’s lives
very deeply.

848
00:46:26,020 --> 00:46:27,521
We aught not be moving forward,

849
00:46:27,688 --> 00:46:30,525
any one on any side of
the debate saying

850
00:46:30,691 --> 00:46:33,428
you should have fewer children,
you should have more children,

851
00:46:33,595 --> 00:46:35,496
you can’t do this,
you can’t do that.

852
00:46:35,663 --> 00:46:37,731
You must start with the people
whose lives

853
00:46:37,898 --> 00:46:39,466
are most directly affected by this

854
00:46:39,633 --> 00:46:41,535
and these are the people
you want to talk to

855
00:46:41,703 --> 00:46:42,836
about reproductive health.

856
00:46:44,438 --> 00:46:45,740
Some extreme groups

857
00:46:45,906 --> 00:46:47,675
want to interpret
the Bible

858
00:46:47,841 --> 00:46:50,678
as being even more patriarchal
than it really is.

859
00:46:50,845 --> 00:46:53,213
And use, just as some branches
of Islam do

860
00:46:53,381 --> 00:46:54,915
and probably some Hindus do,

861
00:46:55,116 --> 00:46:57,618
theological texts to sort of reinforce

862
00:46:57,785 --> 00:46:59,786
their deeply felt desire and drive

863
00:46:59,953 --> 00:47:01,555
to control women’s
reproduction and

864
00:47:01,723 --> 00:47:03,825
that’s what I think we’ve
got to fight against.

865
00:48:18,533 --> 00:48:21,703
Kids and other women from
around here

866
00:48:21,870 --> 00:48:25,740
come and ask her how
she’s changed.

867
00:48:25,906 --> 00:48:28,175
How she is this strong

868
00:48:28,343 --> 00:48:30,811
and she gives advice to everybody.

869
00:48:30,978 --> 00:48:32,580
That's a great story.

870
00:48:35,216 --> 00:48:37,985
She also is like a surrogate
mother for her niece.

871
00:48:38,386 --> 00:48:39,553
Six years ago,

872
00:48:39,720 --> 00:48:42,023
Zinet’s younger sister died of AIDS

873
00:48:42,223 --> 00:48:45,126
when this little niece was
only three months old.

874
00:48:46,193 --> 00:48:48,630
So now the niece has AIDS as well

875
00:48:48,796 --> 00:48:50,331
and is living with it.

876
00:48:51,733 --> 00:48:52,400
Wassilla,

877
00:48:52,566 --> 00:48:54,101
we wanted to ask you
a question.

878
00:48:54,268 --> 00:48:56,203
What do you think
about Zinet and

879
00:48:56,436 --> 00:48:58,940
what do you want to be
when you grow up?

880
00:49:05,846 --> 00:49:08,248
What do you want to do
when you grow up?

881
00:49:12,053 --> 00:49:14,488
A doctor! Fantastic!
That’s great.

882
00:49:16,323 --> 00:49:18,058
This is just one child who’s...

883
00:49:18,225 --> 00:49:20,128
symptomatic of a larger problem

884
00:49:20,295 --> 00:49:22,163
that we have all throughout
Ethiopia

885
00:49:22,330 --> 00:49:23,398
and throughout Africa.

886
00:49:30,105 --> 00:49:31,706
Zinet goes to school on
the weekends

887
00:49:31,873 --> 00:49:33,575
in the university that’s
near her town

888
00:49:33,741 --> 00:49:35,310
and then during the day
she works

889
00:49:35,476 --> 00:49:36,911
all day supporting the family

890
00:49:37,078 --> 00:49:38,680
at a family planning clinic.

891
00:49:39,113 --> 00:49:40,715
And then when she comes
home at night,

892
00:49:40,881 --> 00:49:43,183
she helps with the family,
she helps with the chores,

893
00:49:43,351 --> 00:49:45,020
and then she has to study
at night.

894
00:49:56,330 --> 00:49:57,665
"My life was so hard..."

895
00:49:57,831 --> 00:49:58,633
"You give me strength..."

896
00:49:58,800 --> 00:50:00,501
"I named my daughter after..."

897
00:50:33,535 --> 00:50:36,303
That often leads to the decision

898
00:50:36,536 --> 00:50:39,973
for the woman or the man
to seek family planning.

899
00:50:40,241 --> 00:50:43,378
Often, women think their
husbands are opposed,

900
00:50:43,511 --> 00:50:44,378
when they’re not,

901
00:50:44,545 --> 00:50:46,113
but they’ve never asked them.

902
00:51:11,005 --> 00:51:11,806
Meeting Zinet,

903
00:51:11,973 --> 00:51:13,541
getting to go to
her home...

904
00:51:13,708 --> 00:51:16,443
and...kind of got to know each other

905
00:51:16,610 --> 00:51:18,078
even thought it was quick...

906
00:51:18,245 --> 00:51:20,681
I feel like she’s my new hero.

907
00:51:21,281 --> 00:51:24,718
She has overcome enormous
obstacles

908
00:51:26,220 --> 00:51:28,890
and has met challenges face on.

909
00:51:29,256 --> 00:51:31,826
She’s taken cultural traditions in
her village

910
00:51:31,993 --> 00:51:35,063
that have been...lasting
over millennium

911
00:51:35,230 --> 00:51:37,031
and has said
"No!"

912
00:51:38,065 --> 00:51:41,101
I want better for myself
and for my siblings

913
00:51:41,235 --> 00:51:43,905
and for all the women
in my community.

914
00:51:44,071 --> 00:51:45,473
It doesn’t stop just with her,

915
00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:47,975
she...works so much
within her community

916
00:51:48,141 --> 00:51:50,945
to get other women to be listening
to the radio dramas

917
00:51:51,111 --> 00:51:54,081
so that they too can get that...

918
00:51:54,248 --> 00:51:54,948
role modeling,

919
00:51:55,116 --> 00:51:56,483
so that they can feel that...

920
00:51:56,650 --> 00:51:58,720
courage and that power
within themselves.

921
00:51:58,886 --> 00:52:00,888
I’m going to think of her
when I need...

922
00:52:01,055 --> 00:52:02,556
more strength to think...

923
00:52:02,723 --> 00:52:05,160
one person can make a difference.

924
00:52:25,246 --> 00:52:27,315
Everyone should have
the right to reproduce.

925
00:52:27,581 --> 00:52:30,218
It’s a fundamental,
basic human right.

926
00:52:30,685 --> 00:52:33,855
The course of population stability
is going to come from

927
00:52:34,021 --> 00:52:38,325
millions of women just like Zinet
making these same choices.

928
00:52:38,693 --> 00:52:40,328
They need an education.

929
00:52:40,495 --> 00:52:43,096
They need some outside
agent that’s going

930
00:52:43,263 --> 00:52:45,400
to help them empower themselves...

931
00:52:46,033 --> 00:52:47,668
and they need a voice.

932
00:52:54,041 --> 00:52:57,111
The poor girl doesn’t have options...

933
00:52:57,311 --> 00:53:00,181
unless there is some
kind of intervention.

934
00:53:00,348 --> 00:53:03,685
And what BRAC tries to do
with girls...is...

935
00:53:03,851 --> 00:53:05,320
invest in them.

936
00:53:05,486 --> 00:53:07,688
Invest in giving them options

937
00:53:07,855 --> 00:53:10,358
and opportunities and
education,

938
00:53:10,525 --> 00:53:12,693
because a girl who is educated...

939
00:53:12,860 --> 00:53:14,195
will marry later,

940
00:53:14,361 --> 00:53:15,563
will have fewer children,

941
00:53:15,730 --> 00:53:18,065
her children will survive and
be healthier

942
00:53:18,331 --> 00:53:20,668
and they’ll all have a better life.

943
00:53:21,401 --> 00:53:23,538
In fact, that’s what we call

944
00:53:23,705 --> 00:53:24,971
The Girl Effect.

945
00:53:25,873 --> 00:53:29,376
The majority of the whole
banking system

946
00:53:29,543 --> 00:53:31,045
is catering to men.

947
00:53:31,211 --> 00:53:33,013
Less than 1% of loans from

948
00:53:33,180 --> 00:53:35,416
our formal financial
institutions

949
00:53:35,583 --> 00:53:37,218
would actually flow to women.

950
00:53:37,418 --> 00:53:38,686
So what happened...

951
00:53:38,853 --> 00:53:40,655
is people discovered that

952
00:53:40,821 --> 00:53:43,625
women are better fighters
of poverty.

953
00:53:43,858 --> 00:53:46,728
That 100% of what a poor
woman will earn...

954
00:53:46,895 --> 00:53:50,465
gets put right back into the
mouths of her kids,

955
00:53:50,698 --> 00:53:53,300
into improved healthcare,

956
00:53:53,468 --> 00:53:55,603
into a better roof over the family,

957
00:53:55,736 --> 00:53:58,038
invests into getting those
kids into school.

958
00:53:59,906 --> 00:54:00,908
Microfinance...

959
00:54:01,075 --> 00:54:02,743
it’s a strategy
that has

960
00:54:02,876 --> 00:54:05,346
poor women’s fingerprints
all over it.

961
00:54:05,413 --> 00:54:08,115
Women who never touched
money before

962
00:54:08,281 --> 00:54:11,518
suddenly...have new forms of power

963
00:54:11,686 --> 00:54:13,988
and status in their household.

964
00:54:14,155 --> 00:54:16,825
That enables them to negotiate
the relationship

965
00:54:16,991 --> 00:54:18,626
they have with their husbands,

966
00:54:18,793 --> 00:54:19,926
with their fathers,

967
00:54:20,095 --> 00:54:21,361
with their sons,

968
00:54:21,528 --> 00:54:23,365
with their community members.

969
00:54:23,831 --> 00:54:26,300
It’s brought hope to millions
of women

970
00:54:26,466 --> 00:54:28,168
and they’re not only improving

971
00:54:28,301 --> 00:54:30,738
their own lives and those of
their family,

972
00:54:30,838 --> 00:54:32,906
but they’re contributing to society.

973
00:54:33,441 --> 00:54:35,176
It’s only natural...

974
00:54:35,343 --> 00:54:36,711
that we empower women,

975
00:54:36,878 --> 00:54:38,746
I mean it’s just common sense

976
00:54:38,913 --> 00:54:41,716
and it’s difficult to
understand...

977
00:54:41,850 --> 00:54:43,651
why we are still not getting it.

978
00:54:43,985 --> 00:54:47,055
Why we are still keeping
half of the population

979
00:54:47,221 --> 00:54:48,523
in a situation where,

980
00:54:48,690 --> 00:54:51,125
it cannot contribute to
the wealth...

981
00:54:51,291 --> 00:54:54,228
of the country and to
the wealth of the world.

982
00:54:54,961 --> 00:54:58,231
I’m hoping, that one day...

983
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:00,668
we would have...more women

984
00:55:00,835 --> 00:55:03,303
who would have opportunities
to go to school,

985
00:55:03,438 --> 00:55:05,140
to learn how to read and write,

986
00:55:05,306 --> 00:55:06,708
to learn their rights.

987
00:55:06,875 --> 00:55:10,311
Not even from western ideologies,

988
00:55:10,445 --> 00:55:12,880
within their culture,
within their religion,

989
00:55:13,046 --> 00:55:14,415
they have rights,

990
00:55:14,581 --> 00:55:16,516
but they don’t know.

991
00:55:16,685 --> 00:55:20,121
And we don’t have to go
far to start...

992
00:55:20,288 --> 00:55:21,956
teaching them these things.

993
00:55:22,123 --> 00:55:24,258
We can start right from within
the culture

994
00:55:24,425 --> 00:55:25,826
and then go the next steps.

995
00:55:26,426 --> 00:55:28,261
You can’t liberate the women...

996
00:55:28,430 --> 00:55:29,763
without changing the men or

997
00:55:29,930 --> 00:55:32,300
you will just end up with
a lot of beaten women.

998
00:55:32,833 --> 00:55:34,068
So changing...

999
00:55:34,235 --> 00:55:37,238
men’s minds about the
humanity of women

1000
00:55:37,405 --> 00:55:39,306
is critically important.

1001
00:55:41,441 --> 00:55:45,546
Start talking about that
vexing thing

1002
00:55:45,713 --> 00:55:47,315
called gender.

1003
00:55:47,648 --> 00:55:50,751
You know people feel uncomfortable
talking about it,

1004
00:55:51,551 --> 00:55:54,955
but as the great sociologist
Louis Wirth said,

1005
00:55:55,190 --> 00:55:58,191
"The most important things
about a society

1006
00:55:58,426 --> 00:56:00,295
are those that people feel

1007
00:56:00,461 --> 00:56:02,630
uncomfortable talking about.”

1008
00:56:02,796 --> 00:56:04,931
We saw that about race

1009
00:56:05,066 --> 00:56:08,536
and we certainly see it
about gender.

1010
00:56:40,868 --> 00:56:42,603
Before Copernicus

1011
00:56:42,803 --> 00:56:44,671
everyone thought that the Earth

1012
00:56:44,838 --> 00:56:46,440
was the center of the Universe

1013
00:56:46,606 --> 00:56:48,943
because the Sun revolved
around the Earth.

1014
00:56:49,110 --> 00:56:50,578
The whole field of astronomy

1015
00:56:50,711 --> 00:56:52,213
had to be reconstructed

1016
00:56:52,380 --> 00:56:54,481
and that’s where we are
now with economics

1017
00:56:54,615 --> 00:56:55,750
and economic policy.

1018
00:56:55,916 --> 00:56:58,218
We’ve got to reconstruct
the whole thing

1019
00:56:58,386 --> 00:56:59,520
and to realize that

1020
00:56:59,686 --> 00:57:01,890
it is the economy

1021
00:57:02,056 --> 00:57:05,193
that is a subset of the
Earth’s environment.

1022
00:57:08,796 --> 00:57:11,198
What does it take for
humanity to live

1023
00:57:11,365 --> 00:57:13,133
within the means of
one planet?

1024
00:57:13,601 --> 00:57:15,503
We haven’t found the
silver bullet yet.

1025
00:57:15,670 --> 00:57:18,640
But essentially you start to look
at all these five factors:

1026
00:57:18,806 --> 00:57:21,710
population, consumption, efficiency...

1027
00:57:21,876 --> 00:57:24,878
productivity of ecosystems, etc.

1028
00:57:25,046 --> 00:57:26,480
to see how we can match
them all

1029
00:57:26,646 --> 00:57:28,483
to get us back...within,

1030
00:57:28,650 --> 00:57:30,685
the capacity of one planet

1031
00:57:30,851 --> 00:57:33,220
and possibly even below
that line because

1032
00:57:33,388 --> 00:57:36,290
some space we want
to leave for wild species

1033
00:57:36,456 --> 00:57:38,393
because they too need food.

1034
00:57:48,201 --> 00:57:51,673
If there’s anything we know is
coded into our genes

1035
00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:54,008
it’s out-reproduce your buddies.

1036
00:57:54,375 --> 00:57:56,911
That is the principle of
natural selection,

1037
00:57:57,211 --> 00:57:59,080
we wouldn’t be here if
it doesn’t work,

1038
00:57:59,213 --> 00:58:01,015
we do it in the laboratory
all the time,

1039
00:58:01,148 --> 00:58:02,683
we see it in nature all the time

1040
00:58:02,816 --> 00:58:05,753
but human beings use culture
to override it

1041
00:58:05,920 --> 00:58:08,723
No society we know has ever

1042
00:58:08,890 --> 00:58:10,958
fully exercised it’s ability

1043
00:58:11,125 --> 00:58:12,893
to keep reproducing.

1044
00:58:14,428 --> 00:58:17,831
The big problem today intellectually
is consumption.

1045
00:58:17,998 --> 00:58:20,035
Many economists think
that the solution

1046
00:58:20,201 --> 00:58:23,003
to every economic problem
is to consume more.

1047
00:58:23,236 --> 00:58:25,273
But of course to consume
more means

1048
00:58:25,440 --> 00:58:26,875
wrecking the planet more.

1049
00:58:27,041 --> 00:58:30,245
And we don’t have ... there are no
consumption condoms.

1050
00:58:30,745 --> 00:58:33,080
The reason you want to
start controling

1051
00:58:33,246 --> 00:58:35,150
the size of the population early,

1052
00:58:35,316 --> 00:58:37,185
is that to do it humanely,

1053
00:58:37,318 --> 00:58:39,553
it takes many decades.

1054
00:58:39,853 --> 00:58:42,090
Whereas we know we can solve

1055
00:58:42,223 --> 00:58:43,725
the consumption problem,

1056
00:58:43,858 --> 00:58:45,526
in a very short time.

1057
00:58:47,228 --> 00:58:48,596
We're going to need

1058
00:58:48,730 --> 00:58:50,165
a different compass

1059
00:58:50,331 --> 00:58:52,966
than growth as it is
currently measured.

1060
00:58:55,136 --> 00:58:57,005
We want to grow in wisdom,

1061
00:58:57,005 --> 00:58:58,706
we want to grow in knowledge,

1062
00:58:58,973 --> 00:59:00,908
we want to grow in just
plain smarts

1063
00:59:01,075 --> 00:59:02,643
in figuring out how to live well

1064
00:59:02,810 --> 00:59:04,745
and take care of each other
on this planet.

1065
00:59:06,146 --> 00:59:08,983
There’s many opportunities
now for

1066
00:59:09,150 --> 00:59:11,418
developing countries to be
able to leap frog

1067
00:59:11,585 --> 00:59:14,255
over the traditional path
of development,

1068
00:59:14,421 --> 00:59:16,523
the way that we got rich

1069
00:59:16,691 --> 00:59:18,793
in the US or in Europe.

1070
00:59:19,993 --> 00:59:23,030
In every poor community
you’re going to find

1071
00:59:23,196 --> 00:59:26,233
these kinds of social entrepreneurs
that are figuring out

1072
00:59:26,400 --> 00:59:29,636
a different way to create
a better lifestyle.

1073
00:59:30,605 --> 00:59:33,006
People are already creating
solar energy

1074
00:59:33,173 --> 00:59:35,243
and bio gas solutions,

1075
00:59:35,410 --> 00:59:39,346
more village level or homestead
level solutions.

1076
00:59:42,116 --> 00:59:44,451
The real wealth of a nation,

1077
00:59:44,618 --> 00:59:46,286
indeed of the world

1078
00:59:46,453 --> 00:59:47,388
is not financial.

1079
00:59:47,521 --> 00:59:48,990
We’ve certainly seen that

1080
00:59:49,290 --> 00:59:52,126
in the economic melt down;

1081
00:59:52,593 --> 00:59:55,296
that the real wealth of a
nation consists

1082
00:59:55,463 --> 00:59:56,998
really of the contributions

1083
00:59:57,165 --> 01:00:00,435
of people and of nature.

1084
01:00:00,601 --> 01:00:03,805
And we therefore need
what we haven’t had

1085
01:00:03,938 --> 01:00:06,675
economic policies that give

1086
01:00:06,841 --> 01:00:08,943
visibility and value

1087
01:00:09,110 --> 01:00:11,746
to the work of caring for people,

1088
01:00:11,913 --> 01:00:14,748
starting in early childhood

1089
01:00:14,915 --> 01:00:17,585
and caring for our Mother Earth.

1090
01:00:29,130 --> 01:00:31,431
Sweden, Finland, Norway,

1091
01:00:31,598 --> 01:00:33,735
invested in what I call

1092
01:00:33,901 --> 01:00:36,738
a Caring Economic System.

1093
01:00:36,905 --> 01:00:42,810
They have policies that are very,
very much intended

1094
01:00:42,976 --> 01:00:45,380
to help care for people

1095
01:00:45,546 --> 01:00:48,281
starting in early childhood

1096
01:00:49,116 --> 01:00:51,351
not only universal health care,

1097
01:00:51,485 --> 01:00:53,086
high quality childcare,

1098
01:00:53,253 --> 01:00:55,390
very generous paid parental leave

1099
01:00:55,556 --> 01:00:57,491
for both mothers and fathers.

1100
01:00:58,025 --> 01:01:00,761
Common wisdom would say

1101
01:01:00,928 --> 01:01:02,796
that these should be countries

1102
01:01:02,963 --> 01:01:04,531
with a very large population

1103
01:01:04,698 --> 01:01:06,901
because after all these are what

1104
01:01:07,035 --> 01:01:09,370
we call family friendly policies,

1105
01:01:09,936 --> 01:01:11,638
but on the contrary

1106
01:01:11,806 --> 01:01:15,543
they have a very stable,
low population growth.

1107
01:01:16,811 --> 01:01:18,746
By investing more,

1108
01:01:18,913 --> 01:01:21,148
as the Nordic nations have

1109
01:01:21,315 --> 01:01:24,318
in that high quality human capital

1110
01:01:24,485 --> 01:01:26,086
you have a more skilled,

1111
01:01:26,353 --> 01:01:29,790
if you will, functionally
literate society

1112
01:01:29,956 --> 01:01:34,061
and you also will have people
who will contribute more

1113
01:01:34,195 --> 01:01:37,398
to programs like social security.

1114
01:01:38,533 --> 01:01:40,035
This is a kind of shift

1115
01:01:40,201 --> 01:01:41,601
that is very tough to imagine

1116
01:01:41,770 --> 01:01:43,705
in our current political climate

1117
01:01:43,905 --> 01:01:46,506
but this idea of investment

1118
01:01:46,675 --> 01:01:48,443
of public goods

1119
01:01:48,610 --> 01:01:50,845
is a big part of a sustainable
economy.

1120
01:02:03,323 --> 01:02:04,991
Before I went to Ethiopia

1121
01:02:05,160 --> 01:02:07,161
I intellectually understood...

1122
01:02:07,328 --> 01:02:09,263
JP’s position about having

1123
01:02:09,396 --> 01:02:11,565
a smaller biological family.

1124
01:02:12,400 --> 01:02:15,403
But now...I feel like I really get it.

1125
01:02:15,536 --> 01:02:17,805
About how population is
the thing

1126
01:02:17,971 --> 01:02:19,906
putting all this pressure on

1127
01:02:20,075 --> 01:02:21,910
children's rights and...

1128
01:02:22,076 --> 01:02:23,911
on our planet.

1129
01:02:25,646 --> 01:02:27,915
I think it’s interesting
that I’m the one...

1130
01:02:28,115 --> 01:02:30,451
being in this population film.

1131
01:02:30,651 --> 01:02:33,721
My brothers and sisters have gone
on to have many children.

1132
01:02:33,888 --> 01:02:36,123
Their children are now
having children.

1133
01:02:36,290 --> 01:02:37,891
A lot people have advanced
degrees.

1134
01:02:38,058 --> 01:02:40,528
We have a surgeon,
lawyers, doctors,

1135
01:02:40,761 --> 01:02:43,163
but it’s still just an issue
of numbers.

1136
01:02:43,365 --> 01:02:46,300
Each person has a car, each
person has to have a home.

1137
01:02:46,566 --> 01:02:48,268
The impact is huge.

1138
01:02:49,636 --> 01:02:52,240
And I realize that it...
it starts with

1139
01:02:52,373 --> 01:02:54,175
people like me and like JP

1140
01:02:54,341 --> 01:02:56,043
just sitting down together

1141
01:02:56,210 --> 01:02:58,245
at the beginning of our families

1142
01:02:58,646 --> 01:03:02,050
and saying, “Our planets limits
have changed."

1143
01:03:02,650 --> 01:03:05,720
"How are we going to change
how we make a family?”

1144
01:03:07,488 --> 01:03:10,625
As long as you acknowledge that
you do have choices

1145
01:03:10,791 --> 01:03:13,528
and you take responsibility
for those choices,

1146
01:03:13,661 --> 01:03:16,998
I think happiness is something
that we all can have

1147
01:03:17,165 --> 01:03:19,766
whether or not we
have a child, or not

1148
01:03:19,933 --> 01:03:21,401
whether we are parents or not.

1149
01:03:22,170 --> 01:03:23,805
Everyone has their own path,

1150
01:03:23,938 --> 01:03:25,406
everyone has their own choices,

1151
01:03:25,573 --> 01:03:26,975
everyone has their own desires,

1152
01:03:27,141 --> 01:03:28,208
hopes and dreams

1153
01:03:28,376 --> 01:03:30,945
and that diversity is a
good thing.

1154
01:03:42,790 --> 01:03:45,860
There are people working on
the climate change issue.

1155
01:03:46,026 --> 01:03:48,763
There are people working
on agricultural issues,

1156
01:03:48,930 --> 01:03:51,966
food security, HIV/ AIDS, etc.

1157
01:03:52,133 --> 01:03:53,233
We cannot deny...

1158
01:03:53,401 --> 01:03:57,705
that population growth
is the common factor

1159
01:03:57,905 --> 01:04:00,408
that could help the
missions and agendas

1160
01:04:00,575 --> 01:04:02,143
of all of these separate groups.

1161
01:04:02,443 --> 01:04:05,013
There should be more dialogues
between those groups,

1162
01:04:05,180 --> 01:04:06,815
there should be more
comprehensive...

1163
01:04:06,981 --> 01:04:09,716
programs being delivered
into communities.

1164
01:04:10,051 --> 01:04:12,653
So until we reprioritize...

1165
01:04:12,820 --> 01:04:16,490
we’re going to continue
to just focus on...

1166
01:04:17,391 --> 01:04:18,693
crises that result from

1167
01:04:18,860 --> 01:04:20,695
population growth issues...

1168
01:04:20,861 --> 01:04:22,363
of the day.

1169
01:04:23,163 --> 01:04:26,200
We will need our collective
thinking as humans.

1170
01:04:26,533 --> 01:04:27,901
And that’s an opportunity
maybe,

1171
01:04:28,068 --> 01:04:29,903
to break the barrier
between

1172
01:04:30,038 --> 01:04:31,205
poor and rich...

1173
01:04:31,371 --> 01:04:32,506
North and South.

1174
01:04:32,840 --> 01:04:36,443
I think the planet forces us
to define

1175
01:04:36,610 --> 01:04:38,780
new solidarity projects,

1176
01:04:39,013 --> 01:04:41,415
for the first time maybe
in our history.

1177
01:04:43,951 --> 01:04:47,655
Over population is a symptom

1178
01:04:47,821 --> 01:04:50,725
of domination systems

1179
01:04:50,891 --> 01:04:53,861
and if we want to change that...

1180
01:04:54,028 --> 01:04:57,365
we’ve got to change the system.

1181
01:04:57,865 --> 01:05:00,301
What is really the
kind of world

1182
01:05:00,468 --> 01:05:02,270
we want for our children?

1183
01:05:03,338 --> 01:05:05,306
It’s about an education

1184
01:05:05,473 --> 01:05:07,575
that no longer idealizes

1185
01:05:07,775 --> 01:05:11,111
the kings and the queens
and the rulers

1186
01:05:11,311 --> 01:05:14,515
but that tells a story of
modern times

1187
01:05:14,681 --> 01:05:17,485
in terms of one challenge
after another.

1188
01:05:17,651 --> 01:05:20,388
One social movement
after another

1189
01:05:20,555 --> 01:05:23,658
challenging entrenched traditions
of domination.

1190
01:05:23,825 --> 01:05:26,260
All of these social movements,
including

1191
01:05:26,426 --> 01:05:27,995
the environmental movement,

1192
01:05:28,161 --> 01:05:29,796
are really what challenges man’s

1193
01:05:29,963 --> 01:05:32,000
once hallowed conquest of nature.

1194
01:05:32,166 --> 01:05:33,835
So part of our job...

1195
01:05:34,001 --> 01:05:36,603
is to change the stories.

1196
01:05:38,840 --> 01:05:41,075
The story of our history

1197
01:05:41,241 --> 01:05:43,645
for the last 10,000 years

1198
01:05:43,878 --> 01:05:46,681
has been a story of domination.

1199
01:05:47,115 --> 01:05:48,248
But with women,

1200
01:05:48,416 --> 01:05:49,816
who have been nurturing...

1201
01:05:49,950 --> 01:05:50,818
all these years,

1202
01:05:50,885 --> 01:05:52,820
that are now stepping into these

1203
01:05:52,986 --> 01:05:54,921
new roles of public leadership,

1204
01:05:55,090 --> 01:05:56,223
all over the world...

1205
01:05:56,390 --> 01:06:00,061
we can create this
tidal wave of change

1206
01:06:00,228 --> 01:06:01,896
that’s not only going
to ease

1207
01:06:02,030 --> 01:06:03,330
our population problem

1208
01:06:03,498 --> 01:06:05,566
but it’s going to bring about
these policies

1209
01:06:05,733 --> 01:06:07,801
that will sustain a new attitude

1210
01:06:07,935 --> 01:06:09,836
towards our planet.

1211
01:06:10,605 --> 01:06:11,638
It’s just us,

1212
01:06:11,806 --> 01:06:13,608
it’s one human family...

1213
01:06:13,775 --> 01:06:16,978
and that we’re connected
in our challenges...

1214
01:06:17,145 --> 01:06:19,680
but we’re connected
in our solutions.