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The type of world in which

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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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combined with rising
unemployment,

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have sparked riots and
political unrest.

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Every year,

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there are about 78 million
more people

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living on the planet.

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That's about 220,000
people everyday

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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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and is either at,

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00:11:44,971 --> 00:11:48,207
or will be at, a reproductive
age in the next few years.

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00:11:49,075 --> 00:11:52,211
Depending on the kind of choices
these youth will take,

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00:11:52,312 --> 00:11:53,379
humanity,

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00:11:53,479 --> 00:11:55,381
according to the UN projections,

206
00:11:55,481 --> 00:11:57,584
could be as low as 8 billion

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00:11:57,684 --> 00:12:01,854
or as high as 10.5
billion by 2050.

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00:12:03,122 --> 00:12:05,925
A variance that could
make all the difference

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00:12:06,025 --> 00:12:07,727
as we are beginning to reach

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00:12:07,827 --> 00:12:09,762
many thresholds on the planet.

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Population doesn't turn
around on a dime.

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00:12:14,634 --> 00:12:15,735
Population is continuing
to grow,

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00:12:15,835 --> 00:12:18,404
there's a momentum in
population today.

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00:12:18,504 --> 00:12:19,539
Even if...

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00:12:20,073 --> 00:12:22,141
all the couples in the world
were to decide today

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00:12:22,241 --> 00:12:24,544
that they were not going to have
more than two children

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00:12:24,844 --> 00:12:26,646
it's estimated that
world population

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00:12:26,746 --> 00:12:28,848
would continue to grow
to about 8 billion.

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00:12:28,948 --> 00:12:31,851
That momentum means that
we have got to,

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00:12:31,951 --> 00:12:33,920
under almost any circumstances,

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00:12:34,020 --> 00:12:37,156
continue to find ways to feed
that many people.

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00:12:52,605 --> 00:12:55,141
Loulou we have it
ready. You guys can eat
at the little table.

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00:13:09,555 --> 00:13:11,491
I think when I grew up and...

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00:13:11,591 --> 00:13:13,660
met JP, who is my
husband and

225
00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:15,161
we were going to have kids

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00:13:15,261 --> 00:13:17,397
and we had our first child and
that was great, a little boy.

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00:13:17,497 --> 00:13:20,199
We had our second child a little
girl and that was great.

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00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:21,868
And then I kind of thought...

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00:13:21,968 --> 00:13:23,670
you know I was kind of imagining
we'd have more,

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00:13:23,770 --> 00:13:25,238
but then we had talked about it.

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00:13:26,005 --> 00:13:28,074
JP is from a small
family of two,

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00:13:28,174 --> 00:13:32,211
and he said he really believed
in the replacement.

233
00:13:32,311 --> 00:13:33,780
That we wouldn't expand
the population.

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00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:35,782
That it was a really
big belief of his

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00:13:35,882 --> 00:13:38,017
and I could fully get
behind that and

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00:13:38,117 --> 00:13:40,019
understand that intellectually,

237
00:13:40,119 --> 00:13:42,755
but there was a feeling in me
that was like...

238
00:13:42,855 --> 00:13:44,390
you don't really have a family
if you can't ...

239
00:13:44,490 --> 00:13:47,060
have a baseball team
at any given moment.

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00:13:48,161 --> 00:13:49,996
So I wanted to have
a bigger family

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00:13:50,096 --> 00:13:54,033
and JP is a very, kind of
a rare, willing mate

242
00:13:54,133 --> 00:13:56,169
in that he was up for that too.

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00:13:56,269 --> 00:13:59,005
Adoption seemed like a great way
for our family to grow

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00:13:59,105 --> 00:14:01,340
in a way that didn't impact
population.

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00:14:02,308 --> 00:14:03,710
So we adopted our
youngest daughter,

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00:14:03,810 --> 00:14:04,711
Lorato,

247
00:14:04,811 --> 00:14:06,379
from South Africa.

248
00:14:06,879 --> 00:14:07,947
And I have to say...

249
00:14:08,047 --> 00:14:09,982
it feels...better to me
to have three kids.

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00:14:10,083 --> 00:14:11,684
Two felt kind of puny to me.

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00:14:11,784 --> 00:14:13,386
It didn't feel like enough.

252
00:14:22,662 --> 00:14:25,164
So I was approached by the
producers of this film,

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00:14:25,264 --> 00:14:27,467
to be involved because
of the work

254
00:14:27,567 --> 00:14:29,902
that I have been doing
with children's rights.

255
00:14:30,002 --> 00:14:32,171
With some friends I co-founded
Mothers Acting Up.

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00:14:32,605 --> 00:14:35,508
Which is a movement that
invites mothers to

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00:14:36,175 --> 00:14:39,078
see themselves as advocates
for the world's children.

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00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,083
I was intrigued
to learn more about how
this issue was impacting

259
00:14:44,550 --> 00:14:47,019
children's issues
and women's issues.

260
00:14:54,460 --> 00:14:57,964
The population explosion has
immediate dangers for us

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00:14:58,064 --> 00:14:59,799
and for our children.

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00:14:59,899 --> 00:15:03,402
You know when this issue first
burst into public consciousness,

263
00:15:04,003 --> 00:15:06,773
population was growing,
incredibly rapidly.

264
00:15:07,373 --> 00:15:10,109
People were making really
dire predictions.

265
00:15:10,209 --> 00:15:11,711
The world responded,

266
00:15:11,811 --> 00:15:13,045
things changed,

267
00:15:13,146 --> 00:15:14,914
a lot more women got access
to contraceptives.

268
00:15:15,014 --> 00:15:17,083
Population growth
rates came down,

269
00:15:17,183 --> 00:15:19,418
pretty dramatically all over
the world.

270
00:15:19,852 --> 00:15:23,689
And so people said: "That
problem is largely solved."

271
00:15:25,825 --> 00:15:29,796
For the last few
years the UN has been
revising its predictions

272
00:15:30,196 --> 00:15:33,766
upwards, in both developing
and developed nations.

273
00:15:34,534 --> 00:15:36,435
If we now assume the problem
is solved and

274
00:15:36,536 --> 00:15:38,704
fail to pay adequate
attention to it

275
00:15:39,071 --> 00:15:42,141
we're going to see all of that
work undermined.

276
00:15:43,376 --> 00:15:46,212
Over the past few decades,
the debate about population

277
00:15:46,312 --> 00:15:48,414
has been pushed to the side.

278
00:15:48,815 --> 00:15:51,951
One reason is the ongoing
stigmatization of the issue,

279
00:15:52,585 --> 00:15:55,588
mainly coming from human rights
abuses by several countries

280
00:15:55,688 --> 00:15:59,225
that have used forced
sterilizations and
other coercive means

281
00:15:59,325 --> 00:16:01,127
to lower their growth rate.

282
00:16:02,929 --> 00:16:07,533
The topic of population is also
a victim of it's own success.

283
00:16:08,267 --> 00:16:11,204
The growth rate of the world
has been nearly cut in half

284
00:16:11,304 --> 00:16:14,340
over the past 50 years.

285
00:16:15,842 --> 00:16:17,043
The developed world,

286
00:16:17,143 --> 00:16:19,011
primarily Europe and Japan,

287
00:16:19,111 --> 00:16:23,316
have seen their
decreasing numbers and the
aging of their population

288
00:16:23,416 --> 00:16:26,385
as a threat to their prosperity.

289
00:16:27,486 --> 00:16:30,256
In many countries they
are paying people

290
00:16:30,356 --> 00:16:33,092
what I call bribes
to have babies.

291
00:16:33,459 --> 00:16:35,328
Thinking that if they get
the birth rate up,

292
00:16:35,428 --> 00:16:37,997
they'll have more working adults

293
00:16:38,097 --> 00:16:41,033
to help support the
aged population.

294
00:16:42,068 --> 00:16:45,438
Having babies on top of
an aging population

295
00:16:45,872 --> 00:16:47,740
that is relatively healthy

296
00:16:48,374 --> 00:16:50,176
and can work much longer years

297
00:16:50,276 --> 00:16:52,311
than the standard
retirement age,

298
00:16:52,411 --> 00:16:54,947
that was set during the time
of Bismark,

299
00:16:55,047 --> 00:16:57,316
is a crazy way to try to
solve that problem.

300
00:16:59,485 --> 00:17:03,422
If you increase the retirement
age by a couple of years,

301
00:17:03,522 --> 00:17:05,424
by just about two years
or two and a half years,

302
00:17:05,524 --> 00:17:09,128
this actually covers the
costs of the old people.

303
00:17:10,096 --> 00:17:12,031
In addition if you have a lot of

304
00:17:12,131 --> 00:17:13,232
young people coming along...

305
00:17:13,332 --> 00:17:15,101
we don't have jobs
for the people

306
00:17:15,201 --> 00:17:16,535
in Europe and Japan now.

307
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,142
While the population issue
is being raised

308
00:17:23,242 --> 00:17:26,012
among some governmental
entities and NGOs

309
00:17:26,412 --> 00:17:29,248
it is still a taboo subject
within societies.

310
00:17:29,982 --> 00:17:31,984
the dominant message has been,

311
00:17:32,084 --> 00:17:34,086
population's over with,
don't talk about it.

312
00:17:34,186 --> 00:17:35,988
It's really taboo.

313
00:17:36,088 --> 00:17:39,992
Even those concerned
people who are sitting
in traffic jams saying,

314
00:17:40,092 --> 00:17:41,460
"I know there's a problem"

315
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:43,829
have been afraid to speak out

316
00:17:43,930 --> 00:17:45,364
and it's really a reflection

317
00:17:45,464 --> 00:17:48,401
of people's fear of being
out of line

318
00:17:48,501 --> 00:17:51,270
with what is
socially acceptable.

319
00:17:59,679 --> 00:18:00,713
My mom and my dad,

320
00:18:00,813 --> 00:18:03,416
just got married right
at the end of WWII.

321
00:18:03,516 --> 00:18:05,952
My mom was a good Catholic,
my dad was a Protestant

322
00:18:06,052 --> 00:18:08,521
who converted over
to Catholicism.

323
00:18:11,023 --> 00:18:13,426
There was a time when
my brother was...

324
00:18:13,526 --> 00:18:15,428
my oldest brother,
was 4 years old.

325
00:18:15,528 --> 00:18:17,430
And he fell into a pond...

326
00:18:17,530 --> 00:18:19,865
through the ice in
upstate New York.

327
00:18:20,733 --> 00:18:23,970
And my mom at that point prayed
to God and she said,

328
00:18:24,070 --> 00:18:27,173
"If Mike lives,
I promise I won't do the
one sin that I am doing,

329
00:18:27,273 --> 00:18:28,908
which is birth control,"

330
00:18:29,008 --> 00:18:31,210
that she was planning on doing.

331
00:18:34,013 --> 00:18:35,614
My brother Mike lived,

332
00:18:36,782 --> 00:18:38,884
so my mom said she wasn't
going to use birth control.

333
00:18:41,887 --> 00:18:43,723
So you end up with ten kids...

334
00:18:43,823 --> 00:18:45,858
and that's what happens when
you have this happy...

335
00:18:46,459 --> 00:18:49,261
loving relationship and
no birth control.

336
00:18:49,362 --> 00:18:51,263
There was this
feeling of plenty,

337
00:18:51,364 --> 00:18:53,265
like you were in the center
of the universe

338
00:18:53,366 --> 00:18:55,401
when you were at home
with the whole family,

339
00:18:55,501 --> 00:18:57,203
like it was a really good
feeling of,

340
00:18:57,303 --> 00:18:58,871
a lot of plenty of...

341
00:18:58,971 --> 00:19:00,606
enough.

342
00:19:09,548 --> 00:19:10,850
-Brazil.
-Most Populous?

343
00:19:12,218 --> 00:19:13,719
Indonesia

344
00:19:15,921 --> 00:19:17,556
Can we phone a friend?

345
00:19:18,657 --> 00:19:19,992
Here, the US.

346
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,195
Right now it's the 3rd most
populous country?

347
00:19:23,295 --> 00:19:24,497
Really?

348
00:19:38,411 --> 00:19:41,047
Although the US isn't the
fastest growing country,

349
00:19:41,147 --> 00:19:43,349
with only about 1% growth,

350
00:19:43,949 --> 00:19:46,585
it is the highest in the
industrialized world.

351
00:19:46,685 --> 00:19:48,854
After including net migration

352
00:19:48,954 --> 00:19:53,592
the US grows by about 2.7
million people each year.

353
00:19:54,593 --> 00:19:57,463
But the problem goes beyond
these numbers.

354
00:20:02,101 --> 00:20:03,102
If everybody,

355
00:20:03,202 --> 00:20:04,136
worldwide,

356
00:20:04,236 --> 00:20:06,505
lived American lifestyles,

357
00:20:07,006 --> 00:20:09,275
today...it would take about

358
00:20:09,375 --> 00:20:11,444
close to 6 planets like earth

359
00:20:11,544 --> 00:20:13,946
to regenerate all the resources

360
00:20:14,046 --> 00:20:15,981
we consume in the United States

361
00:20:16,082 --> 00:20:17,683
and to absorb the
according waste

362
00:20:17,783 --> 00:20:19,552
and that would be
entire planets,

363
00:20:19,652 --> 00:20:22,388
leaving nothing
for other species.

364
00:20:23,255 --> 00:20:26,058
It's a model that is not
globally replicable.

365
00:20:26,158 --> 00:20:28,360
Of course, some
areas can use more

366
00:20:28,461 --> 00:20:30,129
than what their
areas can regenerate

367
00:20:30,229 --> 00:20:31,030
because of trade

368
00:20:31,597 --> 00:20:33,732
but not all countries can
replicate this model

369
00:20:34,100 --> 00:20:36,769
of being net importers
of ecological services.

370
00:20:36,869 --> 00:20:39,705
Just physically, mathematically,
it doesn't add up.

371
00:20:41,474 --> 00:20:45,111
The lifestyle of average
residents in India

372
00:20:45,211 --> 00:20:47,146
could be replicated
around the world;

373
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:49,448
possibly even at
the population size

374
00:20:49,548 --> 00:20:51,083
of about 8 billion people.

375
00:20:51,183 --> 00:20:54,386
But that means eating much much
lower on the food chain

376
00:20:54,487 --> 00:20:57,123
with very little extra energy
to either heat

377
00:20:57,223 --> 00:21:00,493
or cool houses or to
drive cars around.

378
00:21:02,027 --> 00:21:03,562
We've got to set an example

379
00:21:03,662 --> 00:21:05,631
and stop our own
population growth,

380
00:21:06,098 --> 00:21:08,901
if we are going to have any
moral basis for lecturing

381
00:21:09,001 --> 00:21:11,370
to the people in other
countries and say,

382
00:21:11,470 --> 00:21:14,306
You've got to stop your
population growth.

383
00:21:14,740 --> 00:21:17,476
The rich countries,
broadly wrought,

384
00:21:17,576 --> 00:21:19,178
pointing to the poor countries
and saying,

385
00:21:19,278 --> 00:21:20,946
"The problem is
population growth."

386
00:21:21,046 --> 00:21:23,082
"You should get your populations
under control."

387
00:21:23,616 --> 00:21:25,117
The poor country is saying

388
00:21:25,217 --> 00:21:28,053
"No, the problem is inequity,

389
00:21:28,154 --> 00:21:29,355
and you should get your

390
00:21:29,455 --> 00:21:31,257
over consumption under control."

391
00:21:31,357 --> 00:21:33,392
So here this kind
of fight goes on.

392
00:21:33,492 --> 00:21:36,662
The solution we have is,
OK, grow like us.

393
00:21:40,633 --> 00:21:42,201
We have fetishized,

394
00:21:42,301 --> 00:21:43,536
we have worshipped,

395
00:21:43,636 --> 00:21:47,806
we have created an ideology
out of growth,

396
00:21:48,574 --> 00:21:51,744
that has now, taken over

397
00:21:51,844 --> 00:21:53,946
our economic planning and
development.

398
00:21:56,115 --> 00:21:59,185
Our economy has grown highly
dependent on people,

399
00:21:59,285 --> 00:22:02,188
or more precisely on consumers.

400
00:22:02,288 --> 00:22:06,292
It always needs more to sustain
its endless appetite for growth,

401
00:22:06,392 --> 00:22:09,261
and always manages
to find more of us.

402
00:22:09,361 --> 00:22:11,630
We became its lifeblood.

403
00:22:17,236 --> 00:22:19,038
The people who are promoting
growth

404
00:22:19,138 --> 00:22:21,874
are the people who make
the profits from it.

405
00:22:21,974 --> 00:22:24,977
You know, the one thing that
people don't understand

406
00:22:25,077 --> 00:22:27,580
and the developers like
to hide is that

407
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,583
the growth never
pays for itself.

408
00:22:30,683 --> 00:22:34,453
Your taxes have to go up to pay
the cost of this growth.

409
00:22:36,188 --> 00:22:38,958
Local officials
still sort of see

410
00:22:39,358 --> 00:22:40,793
all growth as good.

411
00:22:42,127 --> 00:22:43,662
Research has shown that sprawl

412
00:22:43,762 --> 00:22:46,532
ends up costing more money
than it will ever bring in.

413
00:22:46,799 --> 00:22:48,667
You need more police
and more parks

414
00:22:48,767 --> 00:22:51,170
and more fire departments
and more schools

415
00:22:51,270 --> 00:22:53,005
and expanding the sewer system,

416
00:22:53,105 --> 00:22:55,174
another water treatment
plant probably.

417
00:22:55,274 --> 00:22:56,675
More everything.

418
00:22:57,009 --> 00:22:58,510
If the growth was paying
for itself,

419
00:22:58,611 --> 00:23:00,512
there would be money
in the bank

420
00:23:00,613 --> 00:23:02,848
to pay for a downturn
in the economy,

421
00:23:02,948 --> 00:23:05,217
to keep the state
government going,

422
00:23:05,317 --> 00:23:07,186
but that hasn't happened.

423
00:23:07,286 --> 00:23:08,053
Everyone,

424
00:23:08,153 --> 00:23:09,255
the cities, the states,

425
00:23:09,355 --> 00:23:11,257
are all turning to the federal
government

426
00:23:11,357 --> 00:23:13,259
to get money from the feds

427
00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:17,997
because the federal people don't
have any responsible limit

428
00:23:18,097 --> 00:23:20,899
on the appropriations
and on their budgets.

429
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,371
So what we are having then is
essentially a ponzi scheme

430
00:23:25,471 --> 00:23:29,041
in which you have people
contributing every year,

431
00:23:29,742 --> 00:23:33,279
which goes to the benefit
of few a people,

432
00:23:33,379 --> 00:23:37,483
but it really means
that the taxes have to
go up for everybody.

433
00:23:51,130 --> 00:23:56,402
Look at GDP, gross
domestic product, gross
national product, GNP.

434
00:23:56,835 --> 00:24:00,105
These measurements would
actually be funny

435
00:24:00,606 --> 00:24:03,709
if the consequences
weren't so serious.

436
00:24:04,343 --> 00:24:05,678
They include...

437
00:24:05,778 --> 00:24:08,547
as measures of economic health,

438
00:24:08,914 --> 00:24:14,153
activities that actually
harm and even take life.

439
00:24:14,486 --> 00:24:16,221
Selling cigarettes,

440
00:24:16,322 --> 00:24:18,424
the
medical bills...

441
00:24:18,524 --> 00:24:21,794
they are wonderful for GDP.

442
00:24:22,494 --> 00:24:24,596
An old stand of trees...

443
00:24:24,697 --> 00:24:27,633
has no value until it's
chopped down.

444
00:24:27,733 --> 00:24:29,868
But the fact that we
can't breathe

445
00:24:29,968 --> 00:24:30,969
without it...

446
00:24:31,070 --> 00:24:32,771
has no value.

447
00:24:34,173 --> 00:24:36,241
That's the economist's view
of the world,

448
00:24:36,342 --> 00:24:38,177
but if you talk to
natural scientist

449
00:24:38,277 --> 00:24:40,145
whether ecologists or

450
00:24:40,245 --> 00:24:41,413
meteorologists

451
00:24:41,513 --> 00:24:43,849
or biologists more broadly

452
00:24:43,949 --> 00:24:45,150
or agronomists

453
00:24:45,250 --> 00:24:47,019
or hydrologists

454
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,455
and they see a very
different world.

455
00:24:49,555 --> 00:24:51,757
They see a world where
we are overshooting

456
00:24:51,857 --> 00:24:53,592
the earth's carrying capacity

457
00:24:53,692 --> 00:24:55,260
in one area after another.

458
00:24:55,728 --> 00:24:57,730
We have a market
that's dishonest

459
00:24:57,830 --> 00:25:00,432
it's only covering
part of the cost

460
00:25:00,532 --> 00:25:02,234
of the price of
goods and services

461
00:25:02,634 --> 00:25:04,503
and we need to fix that

462
00:25:04,603 --> 00:25:06,472
otherwise...

463
00:25:06,572 --> 00:25:08,273
we will eventually face

464
00:25:08,374 --> 00:25:09,274
bankruptcy.

465
00:25:11,377 --> 00:25:12,678
Biologists, chemists and

466
00:25:12,778 --> 00:25:13,846
many other scientists

467
00:25:13,946 --> 00:25:15,447
believe that we can develop

468
00:25:15,547 --> 00:25:16,715
new sources of food

469
00:25:16,815 --> 00:25:18,183
and new kinds of food.

470
00:25:18,283 --> 00:25:19,451
They say that the sea

471
00:25:19,551 --> 00:25:20,919
can give us more food.

472
00:25:21,019 --> 00:25:23,122
That we can develop large
areas of new land

473
00:25:23,956 --> 00:25:26,692
but many among these experts
warn us that there are limits

474
00:25:26,792 --> 00:25:28,260
to the worlds resources.

475
00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:30,129
There is only so
much fresh water,

476
00:25:30,229 --> 00:25:32,231
so much timber, coal, oil,

477
00:25:32,564 --> 00:25:34,099
minerals of all kinds.

478
00:25:37,403 --> 00:25:38,470
Julian Simon

479
00:25:38,771 --> 00:25:41,807
had a PhD in economics
and business

480
00:25:41,907 --> 00:25:44,510
and he was on the faculty at the
University of Illinois

481
00:25:44,610 --> 00:25:46,478
in the department of economics.

482
00:25:46,845 --> 00:25:48,747
Julian Simon says

483
00:25:48,847 --> 00:25:51,250
that human beings are
the ultimate resource.

484
00:25:51,750 --> 00:25:53,252
The more people you have,

485
00:25:53,352 --> 00:25:56,889
the more Einsteins you'll have
to solve human problems.

486
00:25:56,989 --> 00:26:00,793
You don't solve human problems
by raising Einsteins

487
00:26:00,893 --> 00:26:03,162
in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria.

488
00:26:04,696 --> 00:26:06,432
He wrote an article

489
00:26:06,532 --> 00:26:08,567
and in this article he said
we have the

490
00:26:08,667 --> 00:26:10,335
knowledge and the resources

491
00:26:10,436 --> 00:26:14,606
so that we can continue to grow
for 7 million years.

492
00:26:15,107 --> 00:26:19,678
Suppose the world population
grew just 1% per year,

493
00:26:19,778 --> 00:26:22,414
which is roughly the present
rate of growth,

494
00:26:22,514 --> 00:26:24,983
for 7 million years.

495
00:26:25,083 --> 00:26:27,052
How large would the world
population be?

496
00:26:27,152 --> 00:26:30,088
Now, that's a nice problem
in arithmetic because

497
00:26:30,189 --> 00:26:33,125
you can't do on a hand
held calculator,

498
00:26:33,225 --> 00:26:34,226
it will overflow.

499
00:26:35,227 --> 00:26:37,663
He couldn't do the arithmetic
to know

500
00:26:37,763 --> 00:26:40,632
that long before that, at
any rate he could imagine

501
00:26:40,732 --> 00:26:42,568
there would be more people
than there are

502
00:26:42,668 --> 00:26:44,436
elementary particles in
the universe,

503
00:26:44,536 --> 00:26:46,071
but it didn't make
any difference.

504
00:26:47,406 --> 00:26:49,741
People loved him in Washington.

505
00:26:49,842 --> 00:26:52,277
He was a high level advisor
in the White House.

506
00:26:52,744 --> 00:26:55,614
He was a high level advisor
in the Congress

507
00:26:55,814 --> 00:26:57,783
until the day he died.

508
00:27:03,755 --> 00:27:07,793
When you're giving
every human being on the
planet a decent life.

509
00:27:07,893 --> 00:27:11,163
That is a full belly and
good nutritious food,

510
00:27:11,964 --> 00:27:12,898
shelter,

511
00:27:12,998 --> 00:27:13,665
clothing,

512
00:27:13,765 --> 00:27:14,967
clean water to drink,

513
00:27:15,267 --> 00:27:16,101
health care,

514
00:27:16,668 --> 00:27:17,936
time for amusement,

515
00:27:18,036 --> 00:27:19,872
education for their kids,

516
00:27:20,239 --> 00:27:21,940
then tell me about

517
00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,643
what the advantages will be
to having even more people.

518
00:27:24,877 --> 00:27:26,612
But until you're taking care

519
00:27:26,712 --> 00:27:28,380
of the people we have now,

520
00:27:28,780 --> 00:27:30,782
stop giving me this crap
about how easy

521
00:27:30,883 --> 00:27:33,151
it will be to support more
and more people.

522
00:27:47,399 --> 00:27:49,535
The more that I learned about
the population issue,

523
00:27:49,635 --> 00:27:52,104
I felt like I wanted to go to

524
00:27:52,204 --> 00:27:56,174
a place on our earth where
it's really a top issue.

525
00:27:57,743 --> 00:28:01,313
I was given the opportunity to
go back to Africa with the film.

526
00:28:45,657 --> 00:28:48,026
I work on children's
rights issues

527
00:28:48,126 --> 00:28:50,128
and the impact on children
is enormous.

528
00:28:50,228 --> 00:28:52,297
With that many
children being born

529
00:28:52,397 --> 00:28:54,433
how are their basic needs
going to be met?

530
00:28:57,869 --> 00:28:59,938
Just walking out in the streets
of Addis and I...

531
00:29:00,038 --> 00:29:03,108
stopped to give one woman who
was begging a one Birr note,

532
00:29:03,642 --> 00:29:06,211
which is worth, I don't know,
not even 10 cents,

533
00:29:06,311 --> 00:29:08,647
and then more people started
to come because

534
00:29:08,747 --> 00:29:09,948
they saw that I was giving
money in...

535
00:29:10,048 --> 00:29:11,283
maybe larger increments
than usual

536
00:29:11,750 --> 00:29:15,787
and I just got surrounded by so
many people who needed money

537
00:29:15,887 --> 00:29:17,489
and to just eat and to feed
their babies

538
00:29:17,589 --> 00:29:18,757
who were on their backs and...

539
00:29:18,857 --> 00:29:21,259
you start to feel the impact
of overpopulation.

540
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:23,996
That there are so many people
spilling into the urban centers

541
00:29:24,096 --> 00:29:26,365
to just...get what they
need to live

542
00:29:26,465 --> 00:29:28,033
and to feed their children.

543
00:29:52,824 --> 00:29:54,860
It is difficult or impossible

544
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,996
to achieve economic development
as long as

545
00:29:58,096 --> 00:29:59,831
birth rates are very high

546
00:29:59,931 --> 00:30:01,400
in the least
developed countries.

547
00:30:01,833 --> 00:30:04,603
Education and health
cannot keep up

548
00:30:05,003 --> 00:30:07,072
and poverty goes right
along with this.

549
00:30:08,407 --> 00:30:09,975
You look at some of the poorest
countries in the world

550
00:30:10,075 --> 00:30:12,044
already incapable of meeting

551
00:30:12,144 --> 00:30:14,046
the most basic needs
of their citizens,

552
00:30:14,146 --> 00:30:15,580
and they're scheduled
to double,

553
00:30:15,981 --> 00:30:18,483
population wise, in the
next 30-40 years.

554
00:30:18,583 --> 00:30:19,618
They just can't keep up.

555
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,756
This rapid population growth
is certainly linked to

556
00:30:25,223 --> 00:30:26,758
political instability,

557
00:30:26,858 --> 00:30:28,927
resource competition,

558
00:30:29,027 --> 00:30:30,896
the global food crisis.

559
00:30:33,131 --> 00:30:36,702
If you think that this is
an isolated problem

560
00:30:36,802 --> 00:30:38,937
and it's only Africa's problem,

561
00:30:39,738 --> 00:30:41,373
think again.

562
00:30:52,651 --> 00:30:54,553
The American housewife...

563
00:30:54,653 --> 00:30:56,188
who has a more important,

564
00:30:56,288 --> 00:30:58,256
a more responsible occupation?

565
00:30:58,590 --> 00:30:59,157
Wife,

566
00:30:59,257 --> 00:30:59,691
Mother,

567
00:30:59,991 --> 00:31:00,592
Laundress,

568
00:31:00,692 --> 00:31:01,493
Counselor,

569
00:31:01,593 --> 00:31:02,394
Maid,

570
00:31:02,494 --> 00:31:03,195
Chef,

571
00:31:03,495 --> 00:31:04,529
Purchasing Agent.

572
00:31:04,629 --> 00:31:08,366
All of these are her duties
at one time or another.

573
00:31:09,668 --> 00:31:11,603
When you think back to the 50's

574
00:31:11,703 --> 00:31:14,473
the expectation was that a
woman would stay home,

575
00:31:14,906 --> 00:31:16,374
run a household,

576
00:31:16,475 --> 00:31:17,709
raise the children

577
00:31:17,809 --> 00:31:19,444
and her husband would go off and
work

578
00:31:19,544 --> 00:31:20,445
and bring home the bacon.

579
00:31:29,521 --> 00:31:31,223
Uh...I wanted the pills.

580
00:31:31,323 --> 00:31:32,257
I see...

581
00:31:32,958 --> 00:31:36,461
Well, the introduction of the
pill in the 1960's was huge.

582
00:31:36,962 --> 00:31:39,664
Women could choose the timing

583
00:31:39,765 --> 00:31:41,967
and the number of births.

584
00:31:42,567 --> 00:31:45,470
They had the means and
the opportunity

585
00:31:45,570 --> 00:31:49,374
to delay childbearing
indefinitely...

586
00:31:49,775 --> 00:31:52,043
and many of us did.

587
00:32:01,853 --> 00:32:04,422
There is still a lot of societal
pressure

588
00:32:04,523 --> 00:32:05,991
to have children.

589
00:32:06,458 --> 00:32:07,159
When you say,

590
00:32:07,259 --> 00:32:09,161
"I'm childfree by choice,"

591
00:32:09,261 --> 00:32:11,630
there is an assumption that
you are that way

592
00:32:11,730 --> 00:32:12,964
because you hate children

593
00:32:13,064 --> 00:32:14,466
or you're heartless or

594
00:32:14,566 --> 00:32:15,300
cold or

595
00:32:15,834 --> 00:32:18,069
there is an assumption that...

596
00:32:18,170 --> 00:32:20,005
something is seriously wrong,

597
00:32:20,105 --> 00:32:21,673
not just physically,

598
00:32:21,773 --> 00:32:23,675
but mentally or emotionally.

599
00:32:24,342 --> 00:32:26,077
When I talked to people

600
00:32:26,178 --> 00:32:28,647
about their birth control
methods,

601
00:32:28,747 --> 00:32:30,081
most of them told me

602
00:32:30,182 --> 00:32:33,051
they had sought permanent
sterilization

603
00:32:33,151 --> 00:32:36,021
and this is very, very tough
for women

604
00:32:36,121 --> 00:32:38,657
particularly younger women in
their 20's and 30's

605
00:32:38,757 --> 00:32:40,225
that are seeking
tubal ligations.

606
00:32:40,992 --> 00:32:42,561
Many doctors will say,

607
00:32:42,661 --> 00:32:46,064
will ask you to undergo
a year of counseling...

608
00:32:46,164 --> 00:32:47,899
at your own expense,

609
00:32:48,266 --> 00:32:50,068
before they give
you a tubal ligation

610
00:32:50,168 --> 00:32:52,504
or they'll just flat out
refuse

611
00:32:52,604 --> 00:32:53,872
your request for one.

612
00:32:54,139 --> 00:32:55,373
Often it is,

613
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:56,875
"Oh you're too young..."

614
00:32:56,975 --> 00:32:58,476
"You haven't had
any children yet..."

615
00:32:58,577 --> 00:33:00,946
"You're likely to
change your mind."

616
00:33:01,046 --> 00:33:03,782
No one challenges a
young woman who says,

617
00:33:03,882 --> 00:33:05,250
"I want to have three children."

618
00:33:05,350 --> 00:33:07,686
If you say, "I don't want
to have any children,"

619
00:33:07,786 --> 00:33:10,188
you will be challenged in the
medical community...

620
00:33:10,288 --> 00:33:12,257
and in the mental health
community.

621
00:33:24,436 --> 00:33:26,538
We live in a sex soaked society,

622
00:33:26,638 --> 00:33:28,840
but we don't really like
to talk about sex.

623
00:33:28,940 --> 00:33:30,642
We certainly don't want
our children

624
00:33:30,742 --> 00:33:31,476
to hear about sex.

625
00:33:31,977 --> 00:33:32,811
Even though...

626
00:33:32,911 --> 00:33:34,646
sex sells all our products,

627
00:33:34,746 --> 00:33:36,081
sex is all over T.V.

628
00:33:36,181 --> 00:33:38,283
Sex is what everybody
loves in the movies.

629
00:33:38,383 --> 00:33:40,385
So, it's a weird dichotomy.

630
00:33:41,386 --> 00:33:44,055
In the United States,
remember that

631
00:33:44,155 --> 00:33:46,424
40% of pregnancies are
unintended.

632
00:33:46,524 --> 00:33:49,127
Our teenagers have the
highest birthrate

633
00:33:49,227 --> 00:33:50,595
in the developed world

634
00:33:50,695 --> 00:33:52,530
and yet we make it very
hard for them

635
00:33:52,631 --> 00:33:54,499
to get family planning
in many states.

636
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:57,068
We should be looking at reducing

637
00:33:57,168 --> 00:33:59,304
the number of unintended
pregnancies

638
00:33:59,404 --> 00:34:01,239
by making it easier to get
family planning

639
00:34:01,339 --> 00:34:02,540
in the United States.

640
00:34:08,046 --> 00:34:09,147
It is not widely known

641
00:34:09,247 --> 00:34:10,982
that there are a very large
number of

642
00:34:11,082 --> 00:34:12,484
barriers standing between

643
00:34:12,584 --> 00:34:15,120
women and the means and
the information

644
00:34:15,220 --> 00:34:17,055
to contraception that they need

645
00:34:17,155 --> 00:34:19,190
in order to manage
their childbearing.

646
00:34:20,258 --> 00:34:21,593
In almost all countries,

647
00:34:21,693 --> 00:34:22,627
the desired family size

648
00:34:22,727 --> 00:34:24,863
is lower than the
actual family size.

649
00:34:24,963 --> 00:34:26,031
in huge surveys,

650
00:34:26,131 --> 00:34:27,766
the demographic and
health surveys.

651
00:35:01,399 --> 00:35:02,901
According to published studies,

652
00:35:03,001 --> 00:35:04,869
it is estimated that

653
00:35:04,970 --> 00:35:07,305
215 million women worldwide

654
00:35:07,605 --> 00:35:09,841
who wish to have
smaller families

655
00:35:09,941 --> 00:35:12,010
don't use modern
family planning.

656
00:35:12,444 --> 00:35:14,312
Largely because of informational

657
00:35:14,412 --> 00:35:15,747
and cultural barriers.

658
00:35:17,282 --> 00:35:20,952
Many of these women don't
want or intend to use it

659
00:35:21,052 --> 00:35:23,021
because they have heard
it is dangerous,

660
00:35:23,121 --> 00:35:24,823
male partners are opposed,

661
00:35:24,923 --> 00:35:26,858
their religion is opposed,

662
00:35:27,092 --> 00:35:29,127
or they are leaving decisions

663
00:35:29,227 --> 00:35:31,696
on the number of children
up to God.

664
00:35:33,798 --> 00:35:36,801
According to the UNFPA,

665
00:35:36,901 --> 00:35:38,303
if those women met their needs

666
00:35:38,403 --> 00:35:42,707
it would reduce population
growth by 28%

667
00:35:43,074 --> 00:35:45,944
and at the same time
would save lives

668
00:35:46,044 --> 00:35:47,846
and advance human rights.

669
00:35:49,547 --> 00:35:50,482
Every day

670
00:35:50,582 --> 00:35:51,349
800 women

671
00:35:51,449 --> 00:35:53,985
and more than 20,000 children

672
00:35:54,085 --> 00:35:56,721
die from preventable causes.

673
00:35:56,821 --> 00:35:58,523
Every 2 minutes

674
00:35:58,623 --> 00:36:00,091
a women dies

675
00:36:00,191 --> 00:36:01,960
at what should have been

676
00:36:02,060 --> 00:36:03,662
a joyful moment.

677
00:36:03,762 --> 00:36:05,830
And millions of women

678
00:36:05,930 --> 00:36:07,899
are unable to choose if,

679
00:36:07,999 --> 00:36:09,934
when and how many

680
00:36:10,035 --> 00:36:12,337
children they should have

681
00:36:13,071 --> 00:36:15,306
because they lack modern ways

682
00:36:15,407 --> 00:36:17,242
of contraception.

683
00:36:19,310 --> 00:36:21,246
For anybody who thinks
that poor people

684
00:36:21,346 --> 00:36:22,847
want large families in Africa,

685
00:36:22,947 --> 00:36:24,049
for example,

686
00:36:24,149 --> 00:36:26,084
then they better look again
and notice

687
00:36:26,184 --> 00:36:28,520
that Africa has an
enormous

688
00:36:28,620 --> 00:36:31,056
number of abortions
every year

689
00:36:31,156 --> 00:36:32,624
and a lot of those are
unsafe and

690
00:36:32,724 --> 00:36:34,592
a lot of those do a lot
of damage.

691
00:36:35,827 --> 00:36:37,395
We are loosing every year

692
00:36:37,495 --> 00:36:40,031
about 350,000 women

693
00:36:40,131 --> 00:36:42,200
from maternal death.

694
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,904
13% of those women die

695
00:36:46,004 --> 00:36:47,772
because of unsafe abortions.

696
00:36:48,206 --> 00:36:49,307
So that's the mathematics.

697
00:36:49,407 --> 00:36:50,809
The numbers are out there.

698
00:36:52,610 --> 00:36:55,213
There are so many women who
are raped worldwide

699
00:36:55,313 --> 00:36:56,247
and have children

700
00:36:56,347 --> 00:36:57,816
who are then...

701
00:36:58,383 --> 00:37:01,086
often really not cared for.

702
00:37:01,653 --> 00:37:03,688
The issue isn't abortion.

703
00:37:04,022 --> 00:37:06,458
The issue is preventing...

704
00:37:06,558 --> 00:37:09,461
the need for so many abortions.

705
00:37:22,140 --> 00:37:23,441
I wanted to meet the people.

706
00:37:23,541 --> 00:37:25,176
not just read
about it in a book,

707
00:37:25,276 --> 00:37:26,177
but really meet people

708
00:37:26,277 --> 00:37:27,345
and see what they're doing

709
00:37:27,445 --> 00:37:29,080
to figure out solutions.

710
00:37:29,180 --> 00:37:30,348
That's where I found out about

711
00:37:30,448 --> 00:37:31,583
Population Media Center

712
00:37:31,683 --> 00:37:34,285
and they are using entertainment

713
00:37:34,686 --> 00:37:37,622
to get out social messages
about population.

714
00:37:47,465 --> 00:37:48,600
Population Media Center

715
00:37:48,700 --> 00:37:50,468
specializes in the production of

716
00:37:50,568 --> 00:37:52,303
long running serialized dramas

717
00:37:52,403 --> 00:37:53,771
on radio or television.

718
00:37:53,872 --> 00:37:56,608
Also known as soap operas
or tele novellas.

719
00:37:56,941 --> 00:37:58,176
Where characters evolve

720
00:37:58,276 --> 00:38:00,211
into role models for
the audience,

721
00:38:00,311 --> 00:38:01,746
gradually, over time.

722
00:38:03,248 --> 00:38:06,351
I think what makes Population
Media Center's work so unique

723
00:38:06,718 --> 00:38:08,520
is the fact that it connects
with the audience

724
00:38:08,620 --> 00:38:09,621
at an emotional level.

725
00:38:10,054 --> 00:38:12,390
We're not just building
cognitive information,

726
00:38:12,490 --> 00:38:14,859
because so many of our decisions
are based on emotion.

727
00:38:14,959 --> 00:38:17,362
Not actually the information
that we have.

728
00:38:19,631 --> 00:38:21,900
By creating scenes that

729
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:23,868
the audience can relate to

730
00:38:23,968 --> 00:38:27,138
and characters that the audience
sees themselves in

731
00:38:27,238 --> 00:38:29,073
we're able to convey a message

732
00:38:29,174 --> 00:38:31,109
and also allow them to...

733
00:38:31,209 --> 00:38:34,312
really understand how they too
can take the actions

734
00:38:34,412 --> 00:38:36,214
that the characters have
taken in their lives

735
00:38:36,314 --> 00:38:37,949
and apply it to their own.

736
00:38:40,585 --> 00:38:42,587
Do you usually listen when
you are doing other things

737
00:38:42,687 --> 00:38:44,389
or when you are travelling?

738
00:38:45,123 --> 00:38:47,892
I was invited to a focus group
of the radio dramas.

739
00:38:48,826 --> 00:38:51,362
All the women there had amazing
stories to tell about

740
00:38:52,063 --> 00:38:55,200
how these characters had served
as role models for them

741
00:38:55,300 --> 00:38:57,268
so that they could be
strong and...

742
00:38:57,368 --> 00:38:59,237
start to change some
of the practices that

743
00:38:59,337 --> 00:39:01,739
kept the women down
in their villages.

744
00:40:28,192 --> 00:40:30,361
Women are basically viewed...

745
00:40:30,461 --> 00:40:34,499
as they are in very rigid
domination systems,

746
00:40:34,599 --> 00:40:38,036
as technologies of reproduction.

747
00:40:43,474 --> 00:40:45,510
In some of the poorest and

748
00:40:45,610 --> 00:40:49,113
most rigidly male dominated
cultures

749
00:40:49,213 --> 00:40:50,481
and they go together;

750
00:40:50,782 --> 00:40:53,151
women have no status
whatsoever,

751
00:40:53,251 --> 00:40:55,653
unless they produce a son.

752
00:41:01,192 --> 00:41:03,594
The girl in a poor country,

753
00:41:03,695 --> 00:41:05,263
especially the poorest girls,

754
00:41:05,363 --> 00:41:07,265
they...eat last,

755
00:41:07,365 --> 00:41:08,499
they eat least.

756
00:41:08,599 --> 00:41:09,967
They get up earliest,

757
00:41:10,068 --> 00:41:11,502
they go to bed latest.

758
00:41:11,769 --> 00:41:14,072
They do the most work and...

759
00:41:14,539 --> 00:41:16,474
they have the least say

760
00:41:16,574 --> 00:41:18,976
over what happens
in their life.

761
00:41:21,579 --> 00:41:23,881
Women are in many poor countries

762
00:41:23,981 --> 00:41:26,484
considered property of the man

763
00:41:26,584 --> 00:41:28,619
and in some countries
they have

764
00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:30,955
slightly lower status than
the cattle.

765
00:41:31,422 --> 00:41:33,891
When women are sold into
marriage

766
00:41:33,991 --> 00:41:35,026
at age 9 or 10

767
00:41:35,126 --> 00:41:37,962
and they become pregnant
as soon as they're fertile

768
00:41:38,062 --> 00:41:41,933
they don't have the right or
the ability to make decisions

769
00:41:42,033 --> 00:41:45,770
about family life or family
planning on their own.

770
00:41:51,376 --> 00:41:52,877
70% of those living

771
00:41:52,977 --> 00:41:55,546
in absolute poverty worldwide

772
00:41:55,646 --> 00:41:56,848
are female.

773
00:41:57,281 --> 00:41:59,884
There is no way in a humane,

774
00:41:59,984 --> 00:42:03,321
non-authoritarian, caring way,

775
00:42:03,421 --> 00:42:06,357
to change this over breeding

776
00:42:06,457 --> 00:42:09,460
without raising the status

777
00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:11,929
of women worldwide.

778
00:42:16,868 --> 00:42:18,369
After the focus group...

779
00:42:18,469 --> 00:42:20,805
I was so moved by Zinet's story

780
00:42:21,472 --> 00:42:24,442
and all the hurdles that she
has encountered and...

781
00:42:24,909 --> 00:42:27,712
how she's overcome so many
as just a young woman.

782
00:42:29,414 --> 00:42:32,250
So I asked if we could go and
visit her and her family...

783
00:42:32,350 --> 00:42:33,217
in the village.

784
00:43:22,934 --> 00:43:25,603
Looking at her
family and meeting her
mother and her father,

785
00:43:25,703 --> 00:43:27,171
the first thing that
struck me was

786
00:43:27,271 --> 00:43:29,974
how much older the dad
was than the mother

787
00:43:30,074 --> 00:43:31,642
and then I later learned that...

788
00:43:31,742 --> 00:43:33,077
she was 12 years old

789
00:43:33,177 --> 00:43:35,379
when she married him and
he was 45.

790
00:43:56,868 --> 00:43:59,770
Zinet's father had another
family before this one

791
00:43:59,871 --> 00:44:02,273
where he had 13 children
with another wife

792
00:44:02,373 --> 00:44:06,777
and this is a typical
scenario in Ethiopia.

793
00:44:11,015 --> 00:44:13,184
They were stuck in these
societal roles

794
00:44:13,284 --> 00:44:15,152
that had been handed
down to them.

795
00:44:16,888 --> 00:44:18,656
I couldn't help but see
the parallels

796
00:44:18,756 --> 00:44:20,491
between my family and
Zinet's family,

797
00:44:20,591 --> 00:44:22,727
both of our mothers experienced

798
00:44:23,060 --> 00:44:25,263
religious and
cultural influences

799
00:44:26,130 --> 00:44:27,732
that made them feel like either

800
00:44:27,832 --> 00:44:29,133
they couldn't or shouldn't

801
00:44:29,934 --> 00:44:31,736
be the ones deciding
how many children

802
00:44:31,836 --> 00:44:33,070
their bodies would have.

803
00:44:34,338 --> 00:44:38,042
Christendom has been so
powerful because

804
00:44:38,142 --> 00:44:40,478
the industrial revolution,
the scientific

805
00:44:40,578 --> 00:44:42,146
revolution grew
up in Christendom.

806
00:44:42,246 --> 00:44:44,215
Europeans colonized the
rest of the world.

807
00:44:46,317 --> 00:44:47,752
"Be fruitful and multiply

808
00:44:47,852 --> 00:44:49,954
and fill the earth and
subdue it,"

809
00:44:50,054 --> 00:44:51,822
It's time for us
to recognize that

810
00:44:51,923 --> 00:44:53,357
that's the one Biblical
commandment

811
00:44:53,457 --> 00:44:55,726
where you can say, "Check!
We've done that!"

812
00:44:55,826 --> 00:44:57,128
"What else should we do?"

813
00:44:58,796 --> 00:45:01,966
I don't see how we can look
at the devastation

814
00:45:02,066 --> 00:45:04,302
that's happening to the planet

815
00:45:04,402 --> 00:45:06,404
and the poor quality of life

816
00:45:06,504 --> 00:45:08,673
that many of those people have

817
00:45:08,773 --> 00:45:10,675
and still say that

818
00:45:10,775 --> 00:45:13,244
basic levels of birth control

819
00:45:13,344 --> 00:45:16,080
and family planning are
inappropriate.

820
00:45:16,180 --> 00:45:19,216
I find that a morally very
confusing stance.

821
00:45:21,485 --> 00:45:22,987
The Vatican actually has

822
00:45:23,087 --> 00:45:25,389
permanent observer status
in the United Nations.

823
00:45:25,489 --> 00:45:26,791
The Roman Catholic Church

824
00:45:26,891 --> 00:45:28,359
is the only major religion,

825
00:45:28,459 --> 00:45:29,594
the only religion in fact,

826
00:45:29,694 --> 00:45:31,395
that has this kind of status.

827
00:45:31,495 --> 00:45:33,197
The permanent observer status

828
00:45:33,297 --> 00:45:35,232
is the same as what
Switzerland has,

829
00:45:35,333 --> 00:45:36,167
for example.

830
00:45:36,267 --> 00:45:38,002
The Vatican has tried
or the Holy See

831
00:45:38,102 --> 00:45:39,937
has tried very hard in
the United Nations

832
00:45:40,037 --> 00:45:42,573
to play down contraceptives

833
00:45:42,673 --> 00:45:43,975
and as a matter of fact

834
00:45:44,075 --> 00:45:46,277
to make it more difficult
for women

835
00:45:46,377 --> 00:45:47,511
to get contraception.

836
00:45:48,646 --> 00:45:50,247
They have made accusations

837
00:45:50,348 --> 00:45:51,082
as they did at Cairo

838
00:45:51,182 --> 00:45:53,384
that these conferences and

839
00:45:53,484 --> 00:45:54,885
the plans of action

840
00:45:54,986 --> 00:45:57,421
were efforts to
undermine the family,

841
00:45:57,521 --> 00:45:59,624
destroy Christian civilization.

842
00:45:59,724 --> 00:46:02,994
They use very
inflammatory rhetoric.

843
00:46:07,098 --> 00:46:08,799
The Catholic Church

844
00:46:08,899 --> 00:46:11,769
has a wonderful tradition
of social justice,

845
00:46:11,869 --> 00:46:14,805
whether it's supporting
health care or

846
00:46:14,905 --> 00:46:17,141
hunger programs or
disaster relief.

847
00:46:17,241 --> 00:46:20,211
For Catholic people living
out in the world,

848
00:46:20,311 --> 00:46:23,280
family planning is more than
just an intellectual exercise.

849
00:46:23,381 --> 00:46:26,150
It really affects people's lives
very deeply.

850
00:46:27,985 --> 00:46:29,654
We aught not be moving forward,

851
00:46:29,754 --> 00:46:32,556
any one on any side of
the debate saying

852
00:46:32,657 --> 00:46:35,626
you should have fewer children,
you should have more children,

853
00:46:35,726 --> 00:46:37,695
you can't do this,
you can't do that.

854
00:46:37,795 --> 00:46:39,797
You must start with the people
whose lives

855
00:46:39,897 --> 00:46:41,465
are most directly
affected by this

856
00:46:41,565 --> 00:46:43,668
and these are the people
you want to talk to

857
00:46:43,768 --> 00:46:44,935
about reproductive health.

858
00:46:46,537 --> 00:46:47,805
Some extreme groups

859
00:46:47,905 --> 00:46:49,840
want to interpret
the Bible

860
00:46:49,940 --> 00:46:52,810
as being even more patriarchal
than it really is.

861
00:46:52,910 --> 00:46:55,179
And use, just as some branches
of Islam do

862
00:46:55,279 --> 00:46:57,048
and probably some Hindus do,

863
00:46:57,148 --> 00:46:59,784
theological texts
to sort of reinforce

864
00:46:59,884 --> 00:47:01,919
their deeply felt
desire and drive

865
00:47:02,019 --> 00:47:03,554
to control women's
reproduction and

866
00:47:03,654 --> 00:47:05,956
that's what I think we've
got to fight against.

867
00:48:20,564 --> 00:48:23,934
Kids and other women from
around here

868
00:48:24,034 --> 00:48:27,872
come and ask her how
she's changed.

869
00:48:27,972 --> 00:48:30,274
How she is this strong

870
00:48:30,374 --> 00:48:32,977
and she gives
advice to everybody.

871
00:48:33,077 --> 00:48:34,612
That's a great story.

872
00:48:37,348 --> 00:48:40,184
She also is like a surrogate
mother for her niece.

873
00:48:40,584 --> 00:48:41,819
Six years ago,

874
00:48:41,919 --> 00:48:44,255
Zinet's younger
sister died of AIDS

875
00:48:44,355 --> 00:48:47,291
when this little niece was
only three months old.

876
00:48:48,259 --> 00:48:50,861
So now the niece
has AIDS as well

877
00:48:50,961 --> 00:48:52,463
and is living with it.

878
00:48:53,831 --> 00:48:54,832
Wassilla,

879
00:48:54,932 --> 00:48:56,267
we wanted to ask you
a question.

880
00:48:56,367 --> 00:48:58,435
What do you think
about Zinet and

881
00:48:58,536 --> 00:49:01,138
what do you want to be
when you grow up?

882
00:49:08,045 --> 00:49:10,381
What do you want to do
when you grow up?

883
00:49:14,218 --> 00:49:16,620
A doctor! Fantastic!
That's great.

884
00:49:18,422 --> 00:49:20,224
This is just one child who's...

885
00:49:20,324 --> 00:49:22,326
symptomatic of a larger problem

886
00:49:22,426 --> 00:49:24,495
that we have all throughout
Ethiopia

887
00:49:24,595 --> 00:49:25,529
and throughout Africa.

888
00:49:32,303 --> 00:49:33,971
Zinet goes to school on
the weekends

889
00:49:34,071 --> 00:49:35,873
in the university that's
near her town

890
00:49:35,973 --> 00:49:37,641
and then during the day
she works

891
00:49:37,741 --> 00:49:39,109
all day supporting the family

892
00:49:39,210 --> 00:49:40,845
at a family planning clinic.

893
00:49:41,378 --> 00:49:42,947
And then when she comes
home at night,

894
00:49:43,047 --> 00:49:44,148
she helps with the family,

895
00:49:44,248 --> 00:49:45,349
she helps with the chores,

896
00:49:45,449 --> 00:49:47,251
and then she has to study
at night.

897
00:49:58,629 --> 00:49:59,964
"My life was so hard..."

898
00:50:00,064 --> 00:50:00,931
"You give me strength..."

899
00:50:01,031 --> 00:50:02,666
"I named my daughter after..."

900
00:50:35,866 --> 00:50:38,402
That often leads to the decision

901
00:50:38,836 --> 00:50:42,139
for the woman or the man
to seek family planning.

902
00:50:42,573 --> 00:50:45,676
Often, women think their
husbands are opposed,

903
00:50:45,776 --> 00:50:46,744
when they're not,

904
00:50:46,844 --> 00:50:48,379
but they've never asked them.

905
00:51:13,203 --> 00:51:14,138
Meeting Zinet,

906
00:51:14,238 --> 00:51:15,940
getting to go to
her home...

907
00:51:16,040 --> 00:51:18,842
and...kind of got
to know each other

908
00:51:18,943 --> 00:51:20,344
even thought it was quick...

909
00:51:20,444 --> 00:51:22,880
I feel like she's my new hero.

910
00:51:23,547 --> 00:51:27,117
She has overcome enormous
obstacles

911
00:51:28,452 --> 00:51:31,155
and has met challenges face on.

912
00:51:31,655 --> 00:51:34,224
She's taken cultural
traditions in her village

913
00:51:34,325 --> 00:51:37,328
that have been...lasting
over millennium

914
00:51:37,428 --> 00:51:39,463
and has said
"No!"

915
00:51:40,464 --> 00:51:43,400
I want better for myself
and for my siblings

916
00:51:43,500 --> 00:51:46,236
and for all the women
in my community.

917
00:51:46,337 --> 00:51:47,738
It doesn't stop just with her,

918
00:51:47,838 --> 00:51:50,374
she...works so much
within her community

919
00:51:50,474 --> 00:51:53,310
to get other women to be
listening to the radio dramas

920
00:51:53,410 --> 00:51:56,513
so that they too can get that...

921
00:51:56,613 --> 00:51:57,314
role modeling,

922
00:51:57,414 --> 00:51:58,983
so that they can feel that...

923
00:51:59,083 --> 00:52:01,151
courage and that power
within themselves.

924
00:52:01,251 --> 00:52:03,220
I'm going to think of her
when I need...

925
00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:05,022
more strength to think...

926
00:52:05,122 --> 00:52:07,524
one person can
make a difference.

927
00:52:27,578 --> 00:52:29,580
Everyone should have
the right to reproduce.

928
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:32,449
It's a fundamental,
basic human right.

929
00:52:33,117 --> 00:52:36,353
The course of population
stability is going to come from

930
00:52:36,453 --> 00:52:40,758
millions of women just like
Zinet making these same choices.

931
00:52:41,091 --> 00:52:42,726
They need an education.

932
00:52:42,826 --> 00:52:45,496
They need some outside
agent that's going

933
00:52:45,596 --> 00:52:47,731
to help them empower
themselves...

934
00:52:48,365 --> 00:52:49,967
and they need a voice.

935
00:52:56,407 --> 00:52:59,543
The poor girl doesn't
have options...

936
00:52:59,643 --> 00:53:02,579
unless there is some
kind of intervention.

937
00:53:02,679 --> 00:53:06,083
And what BRAC tries to do
with girls...is...

938
00:53:06,183 --> 00:53:07,851
invest in them.

939
00:53:07,951 --> 00:53:10,187
Invest in giving them options

940
00:53:10,287 --> 00:53:12,923
and opportunities and
education,

941
00:53:13,023 --> 00:53:15,125
because a girl
who is educated...

942
00:53:15,225 --> 00:53:16,760
will marry later,

943
00:53:16,860 --> 00:53:18,128
will have fewer children,

944
00:53:18,228 --> 00:53:20,397
her children will survive and
be healthier

945
00:53:20,764 --> 00:53:23,000
and they'll all
have a better life.

946
00:53:23,700 --> 00:53:26,003
In fact, that's what we call

947
00:53:26,103 --> 00:53:27,438
The Girl Effect.

948
00:53:28,372 --> 00:53:31,875
The majority of the whole
banking system

949
00:53:31,975 --> 00:53:33,444
is catering to men.

950
00:53:33,544 --> 00:53:35,446
Less than 1% of loans from

951
00:53:35,546 --> 00:53:37,948
our formal financial
institutions

952
00:53:38,048 --> 00:53:39,683
would actually flow to women.

953
00:53:39,950 --> 00:53:41,185
So what happened...

954
00:53:41,285 --> 00:53:43,220
is people discovered that

955
00:53:43,320 --> 00:53:46,256
women are better fighters
of poverty.

956
00:53:46,356 --> 00:53:49,293
That 100% of what a poor
woman will earn...

957
00:53:49,393 --> 00:53:52,963
gets put right back into the
mouths of her kids,

958
00:53:53,197 --> 00:53:55,732
into improved healthcare,

959
00:53:55,833 --> 00:53:58,168
into a better roof
over the family,

960
00:53:58,268 --> 00:54:00,504
invests into getting those
kids into school.

961
00:54:02,306 --> 00:54:03,373
Microfinance...

962
00:54:03,474 --> 00:54:05,242
it's a strategy
that has

963
00:54:05,342 --> 00:54:07,678
poor women's fingerprints
all over it.

964
00:54:07,778 --> 00:54:10,581
Women who never touched
money before

965
00:54:10,681 --> 00:54:14,084
suddenly...have
new forms of power

966
00:54:14,184 --> 00:54:16,553
and status in their household.

967
00:54:16,653 --> 00:54:19,356
That enables them to negotiate
the relationship

968
00:54:19,456 --> 00:54:21,158
they have with their husbands,

969
00:54:21,258 --> 00:54:22,392
with their fathers,

970
00:54:22,493 --> 00:54:23,961
with their sons,

971
00:54:24,061 --> 00:54:25,896
with their community members.

972
00:54:26,430 --> 00:54:28,932
It's brought hope to millions
of women

973
00:54:29,032 --> 00:54:30,667
and they're not only improving

974
00:54:30,767 --> 00:54:33,237
their own lives and those of
their family,

975
00:54:33,337 --> 00:54:35,439
but they're
contributing to society.

976
00:54:36,006 --> 00:54:37,808
It's only natural...

977
00:54:37,908 --> 00:54:39,243
that we empower women,

978
00:54:39,343 --> 00:54:41,311
I mean it's just common sense

979
00:54:41,411 --> 00:54:44,214
and it's difficult to
understand...

980
00:54:44,314 --> 00:54:46,183
why we are still not getting it.

981
00:54:46,617 --> 00:54:49,520
Why we are still keeping
half of the population

982
00:54:49,620 --> 00:54:51,155
in a situation where,

983
00:54:51,255 --> 00:54:53,690
it cannot contribute to
the wealth...

984
00:54:53,790 --> 00:54:56,727
of the country and to
the wealth of the world.

985
00:54:57,461 --> 00:55:00,898
I'm hoping, that one day...

986
00:55:00,998 --> 00:55:03,333
we would have...more women

987
00:55:03,433 --> 00:55:05,969
who would have opportunities
to go to school,

988
00:55:06,069 --> 00:55:07,804
to learn how to read and write,

989
00:55:07,905 --> 00:55:09,306
to learn their rights.

990
00:55:09,406 --> 00:55:12,809
Not even from
western ideologies,

991
00:55:12,910 --> 00:55:15,379
within their culture,
within their religion,

992
00:55:15,479 --> 00:55:17,014
they have rights,

993
00:55:17,114 --> 00:55:19,183
but they don't know.

994
00:55:19,283 --> 00:55:22,653
And we don't have to go
far to start...

995
00:55:22,753 --> 00:55:24,588
teaching them these things.

996
00:55:24,688 --> 00:55:26,957
We can start right from within
the culture

997
00:55:27,057 --> 00:55:28,492
and then go the next steps.

998
00:55:29,126 --> 00:55:30,961
You can't liberate the women...

999
00:55:31,061 --> 00:55:32,462
without changing the men or

1000
00:55:32,563 --> 00:55:34,831
you will just end up with
a lot of beaten women.

1001
00:55:35,365 --> 00:55:36,633
So changing...

1002
00:55:36,733 --> 00:55:39,903
men's minds about the
humanity of women

1003
00:55:40,003 --> 00:55:41,805
is critically important.

1004
00:55:43,907 --> 00:55:48,145
Start talking about that
vexing thing

1005
00:55:48,245 --> 00:55:49,780
called gender.

1006
00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:53,217
You know people feel
uncomfortable talking about it,

1007
00:55:54,151 --> 00:55:57,654
but as the great sociologist
Louis Wirth said,

1008
00:55:57,754 --> 00:56:00,857
"The most important things
about a society

1009
00:56:01,091 --> 00:56:03,026
are those that people feel

1010
00:56:03,126 --> 00:56:05,295
uncomfortable talking about."

1011
00:56:05,395 --> 00:56:07,531
We saw that about race

1012
00:56:07,631 --> 00:56:11,068
and we certainly see it
about gender.

1013
00:56:43,467 --> 00:56:45,335
Before Copernicus

1014
00:56:45,435 --> 00:56:47,337
everyone thought that the Earth

1015
00:56:47,437 --> 00:56:49,239
was the center of the Universe

1016
00:56:49,339 --> 00:56:51,575
because the Sun revolved
around the Earth.

1017
00:56:51,675 --> 00:56:53,243
The whole field of astronomy

1018
00:56:53,343 --> 00:56:54,845
had to be reconstructed

1019
00:56:54,945 --> 00:56:57,180
and that's where we are
now with economics

1020
00:56:57,281 --> 00:56:58,448
and economic policy.

1021
00:56:58,548 --> 00:57:00,984
We've got to reconstruct
the whole thing

1022
00:57:01,084 --> 00:57:02,219
and to realize that

1023
00:57:02,319 --> 00:57:04,621
it is the economy

1024
00:57:04,721 --> 00:57:07,824
that is a subset of the
Earth's environment.

1025
00:57:11,495 --> 00:57:13,864
What does it take for
humanity to live

1026
00:57:13,964 --> 00:57:15,899
within the means of
one planet?

1027
00:57:16,433 --> 00:57:18,201
We haven't found the
silver bullet yet.

1028
00:57:18,302 --> 00:57:21,405
But essentially you start to
look at all these five factors:

1029
00:57:21,505 --> 00:57:24,408
population, consumption,
efficiency...

1030
00:57:24,508 --> 00:57:27,577
productivity of ecosystems, etc.

1031
00:57:27,678 --> 00:57:29,246
to see how we can match
them all

1032
00:57:29,346 --> 00:57:31,248
to get us back...within,

1033
00:57:31,348 --> 00:57:33,483
the capacity of one planet

1034
00:57:33,583 --> 00:57:35,919
and possibly even below
that line because

1035
00:57:36,019 --> 00:57:39,122
some space we want
to leave for wild species

1036
00:57:39,222 --> 00:57:41,024
because they too need food.

1037
00:57:50,901 --> 00:57:54,404
If there's anything we know is
coded into our genes

1038
00:57:54,504 --> 00:57:56,606
it's out-reproduce your buddies.

1039
00:57:57,074 --> 00:57:59,543
That is the principle of
natural selection,

1040
00:57:59,910 --> 00:58:01,778
we wouldn't be here if
it doesn't work,

1041
00:58:01,878 --> 00:58:03,680
we do it in the laboratory
all the time,

1042
00:58:03,780 --> 00:58:05,482
we see it in nature all the time

1043
00:58:05,582 --> 00:58:08,518
but human beings use culture
to override it

1044
00:58:08,618 --> 00:58:11,488
No society we know has ever

1045
00:58:11,588 --> 00:58:13,657
fully exercised it's ability

1046
00:58:13,757 --> 00:58:15,659
to keep reproducing.

1047
00:58:17,127 --> 00:58:20,630
The big problem today
intellectually is consumption.

1048
00:58:20,731 --> 00:58:22,833
Many economists think
that the solution

1049
00:58:22,933 --> 00:58:25,802
to every economic problem
is to consume more.

1050
00:58:25,902 --> 00:58:28,138
But of course to consume
more means

1051
00:58:28,238 --> 00:58:29,706
wrecking the planet more.

1052
00:58:29,806 --> 00:58:33,009
And we don't have ... there
are no consumption condoms.

1053
00:58:33,577 --> 00:58:35,812
The reason you want to
start controling

1054
00:58:35,912 --> 00:58:37,848
the size of the
population early,

1055
00:58:37,948 --> 00:58:40,050
is that to do it humanely,

1056
00:58:40,150 --> 00:58:42,285
it takes many decades.

1057
00:58:42,586 --> 00:58:44,755
Whereas we know we can solve

1058
00:58:44,855 --> 00:58:46,456
the consumption problem,

1059
00:58:46,556 --> 00:58:48,191
in a very short time.

1060
00:58:49,860 --> 00:58:51,361
We're going to need

1061
00:58:51,461 --> 00:58:52,963
a different compass

1062
00:58:53,063 --> 00:58:55,766
than growth as it is
currently measured.

1063
00:58:57,834 --> 00:58:59,603
We want to grow in wisdom,

1064
00:58:59,703 --> 00:59:01,438
we want to grow in knowledge,

1065
00:59:01,805 --> 00:59:03,673
we want to grow in just
plain smarts

1066
00:59:03,774 --> 00:59:05,509
in figuring out how to live well

1067
00:59:05,609 --> 00:59:07,577
and take care of each other
on this planet.

1068
00:59:08,879 --> 00:59:11,815
There's many opportunities
now for

1069
00:59:11,915 --> 00:59:14,184
developing countries to be
able to leap frog

1070
00:59:14,284 --> 00:59:17,187
over the traditional path
of development,

1071
00:59:17,287 --> 00:59:19,389
the way that we got rich

1072
00:59:19,489 --> 00:59:21,658
in the US or in Europe.

1073
00:59:22,826 --> 00:59:25,929
In every poor community
you're going to find

1074
00:59:26,029 --> 00:59:29,032
these kinds of
social entrepreneurs
that are figuring out

1075
00:59:29,132 --> 00:59:32,602
a different way to create
a better lifestyle.

1076
00:59:33,570 --> 00:59:35,772
People are already creating
solar energy

1077
00:59:35,872 --> 00:59:38,041
and bio gas solutions,

1078
00:59:38,141 --> 00:59:42,078
more village level or homestead
level solutions.

1079
00:59:44,848 --> 00:59:47,350
The real wealth of a nation,

1080
00:59:47,451 --> 00:59:49,219
indeed of the world

1081
00:59:49,319 --> 00:59:50,287
is not financial.

1082
00:59:50,387 --> 00:59:51,721
We've certainly seen that

1083
00:59:52,022 --> 00:59:55,058
in the economic melt down;

1084
00:59:55,592 --> 00:59:58,261
that the real wealth of a
nation consists

1085
00:59:58,361 --> 00:59:59,796
really of the contributions

1086
00:59:59,896 --> 01:00:03,233
of people and of nature.

1087
01:00:03,333 --> 01:00:06,636
And we therefore need
what we haven't had

1088
01:00:06,736 --> 01:00:09,506
economic policies that give

1089
01:00:09,606 --> 01:00:11,808
visibility and value

1090
01:00:11,908 --> 01:00:14,611
to the work of
caring for people,

1091
01:00:14,711 --> 01:00:17,614
starting in early childhood

1092
01:00:17,714 --> 01:00:20,350
and caring for our Mother Earth.

1093
01:00:31,928 --> 01:00:34,397
Sweden, Finland, Norway,

1094
01:00:34,498 --> 01:00:36,600
invested in what I call

1095
01:00:36,700 --> 01:00:39,703
a Caring Economic System.

1096
01:00:39,803 --> 01:00:45,675
They have policies that are
very, very much intended

1097
01:00:45,775 --> 01:00:48,345
to help care for people

1098
01:00:48,445 --> 01:00:51,114
starting in early childhood

1099
01:00:51,948 --> 01:00:54,317
not only universal health care,

1100
01:00:54,417 --> 01:00:55,986
high quality childcare,

1101
01:00:56,086 --> 01:00:58,388
very generous paid
parental leave

1102
01:00:58,488 --> 01:01:00,357
for both mothers and fathers.

1103
01:01:00,857 --> 01:01:03,727
Common wisdom would say

1104
01:01:03,827 --> 01:01:05,729
that these should be countries

1105
01:01:05,829 --> 01:01:07,531
with a very large population

1106
01:01:07,631 --> 01:01:09,833
because after all these are what

1107
01:01:09,933 --> 01:01:12,235
we call family
friendly policies,

1108
01:01:12,802 --> 01:01:14,638
but on the contrary

1109
01:01:14,738 --> 01:01:18,341
they have a very stable,
low population growth.

1110
01:01:19,643 --> 01:01:21,678
By investing more,

1111
01:01:21,778 --> 01:01:24,047
as the Nordic nations have

1112
01:01:24,147 --> 01:01:27,350
in that high quality
human capital

1113
01:01:27,450 --> 01:01:28,919
you have a more skilled,

1114
01:01:29,252 --> 01:01:32,856
if you will, functionally
literate society

1115
01:01:32,956 --> 01:01:36,927
and you also will have people
who will contribute more

1116
01:01:37,027 --> 01:01:40,263
to programs like
social security.

1117
01:01:41,498 --> 01:01:42,966
This is a kind of shift

1118
01:01:43,066 --> 01:01:44,634
that is very tough to imagine

1119
01:01:44,734 --> 01:01:46,703
in our current political climate

1120
01:01:46,803 --> 01:01:49,472
but this idea of investment

1121
01:01:49,573 --> 01:01:51,541
of public goods

1122
01:01:51,641 --> 01:01:53,810
is a big part of a sustainable
economy.

1123
01:02:06,389 --> 01:02:07,958
Before I went to Ethiopia

1124
01:02:08,058 --> 01:02:10,293
I intellectually understood...

1125
01:02:10,393 --> 01:02:12,329
JP's position about having

1126
01:02:12,429 --> 01:02:14,431
a smaller biological family.

1127
01:02:15,332 --> 01:02:18,501
But now...I feel
like I really get it.

1128
01:02:18,602 --> 01:02:20,770
About how population is
the thing

1129
01:02:20,870 --> 01:02:22,839
putting all this pressure on

1130
01:02:22,939 --> 01:02:24,808
children's rights and...

1131
01:02:24,908 --> 01:02:26,910
on our planet.

1132
01:02:28,478 --> 01:02:30,947
I think it's interesting
that I'm the one...

1133
01:02:31,047 --> 01:02:33,483
being in this population film.

1134
01:02:33,583 --> 01:02:36,786
My brothers and sisters have
gone on to have many children.

1135
01:02:36,886 --> 01:02:39,122
Their children are now
having children.

1136
01:02:39,222 --> 01:02:40,924
A lot people have advanced
degrees.

1137
01:02:41,024 --> 01:02:43,560
We have a surgeon,
lawyers, doctors,

1138
01:02:43,893 --> 01:02:46,262
but it's still just an issue
of numbers.

1139
01:02:46,363 --> 01:02:49,332
Each person has a car, each
person has to have a home.

1140
01:02:49,566 --> 01:02:51,234
The impact is huge.

1141
01:02:52,702 --> 01:02:55,338
And I realize that it...
it starts with

1142
01:02:55,438 --> 01:02:57,107
people like me and like JP

1143
01:02:57,207 --> 01:02:59,009
just sitting down together

1144
01:02:59,109 --> 01:03:01,111
at the beginning of our families

1145
01:03:01,645 --> 01:03:04,914
and saying, ur planets limits
have changed."

1146
01:03:05,682 --> 01:03:08,818
"How are we going to change
how we make a family?"

1147
01:03:10,453 --> 01:03:13,790
As long as you acknowledge that
you do have choices

1148
01:03:13,890 --> 01:03:16,526
and you take responsibility
for those choices,

1149
01:03:16,626 --> 01:03:20,063
I think happiness is something
that we all can have

1150
01:03:20,163 --> 01:03:22,866
whether or not we
have a child, or not

1151
01:03:22,966 --> 01:03:24,367
whether we are parents or not.

1152
01:03:25,135 --> 01:03:26,870
Everyone has their own path,

1153
01:03:26,970 --> 01:03:28,538
everyone has their own choices,

1154
01:03:28,638 --> 01:03:29,939
everyone has their own desires,

1155
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:31,207
hopes and dreams

1156
01:03:31,307 --> 01:03:34,010
and that diversity is a
good thing.

1157
01:03:45,755 --> 01:03:48,992
There are people working on
the climate change issue.

1158
01:03:49,092 --> 01:03:51,895
There are people working
on agricultural issues,

1159
01:03:51,995 --> 01:03:54,998
food security, HIV/ AIDS, etc.

1160
01:03:55,098 --> 01:03:56,299
We cannot deny...

1161
01:03:56,399 --> 01:04:00,870
that population growth
is the common factor

1162
01:04:00,970 --> 01:04:03,573
that could help the
missions and agendas

1163
01:04:03,673 --> 01:04:05,108
of all of these separate groups.

1164
01:04:05,608 --> 01:04:08,078
There should be more dialogues
between those groups,

1165
01:04:08,178 --> 01:04:09,979
there should be more
comprehensive...

1166
01:04:10,080 --> 01:04:12,716
programs being delivered
into communities.

1167
01:04:13,049 --> 01:04:15,852
So until we reprioritize...

1168
01:04:15,952 --> 01:04:19,522
we're going to continue
to just focus on...

1169
01:04:20,523 --> 01:04:21,825
crises that result from

1170
01:04:21,925 --> 01:04:23,760
population growth issues...

1171
01:04:23,860 --> 01:04:25,428
of the day.

1172
01:04:26,362 --> 01:04:29,399
We will need our collective
thinking as humans.

1173
01:04:29,733 --> 01:04:31,000
And that's an opportunity
maybe,

1174
01:04:31,101 --> 01:04:32,936
to break the barrier
between

1175
01:04:33,036 --> 01:04:34,404
poor and rich...

1176
01:04:34,504 --> 01:04:35,605
North and South.

1177
01:04:36,005 --> 01:04:39,642
I think the planet forces us
to define

1178
01:04:39,743 --> 01:04:42,011
new solidarity projects,

1179
01:04:42,112 --> 01:04:44,447
for the first time maybe
in our history.

1180
01:04:47,016 --> 01:04:50,820
Over population is a symptom

1181
01:04:50,920 --> 01:04:53,890
of domination systems

1182
01:04:53,990 --> 01:04:56,993
and if we want to change that...

1183
01:04:57,093 --> 01:05:00,530
we've got to change the system.

1184
01:05:01,064 --> 01:05:03,566
What is really the
kind of world

1185
01:05:03,666 --> 01:05:05,368
we want for our children?

1186
01:05:06,569 --> 01:05:08,538
It's about an education

1187
01:05:08,638 --> 01:05:10,874
that no longer idealizes

1188
01:05:10,974 --> 01:05:14,277
the kings and the queens
and the rulers

1189
01:05:14,377 --> 01:05:17,781
but that tells a story of
modern times

1190
01:05:17,881 --> 01:05:20,750
in terms of one challenge
after another.

1191
01:05:20,850 --> 01:05:23,520
One social movement
after another

1192
01:05:23,620 --> 01:05:26,923
challenging entrenched
traditions of domination.

1193
01:05:27,023 --> 01:05:29,559
All of these social movements,
including

1194
01:05:29,659 --> 01:05:31,161
the environmental movement,

1195
01:05:31,261 --> 01:05:33,029
are really what challenges man's

1196
01:05:33,129 --> 01:05:35,131
once hallowed
conquest of nature.

1197
01:05:35,231 --> 01:05:37,033
So part of our job...

1198
01:05:37,133 --> 01:05:39,669
is to change the stories.

1199
01:05:41,971 --> 01:05:44,174
The story of our history

1200
01:05:44,274 --> 01:05:46,776
for the last 10,000 years

1201
01:05:47,043 --> 01:05:49,746
has been a story of domination.

1202
01:05:50,180 --> 01:05:51,548
But with women,

1203
01:05:51,648 --> 01:05:52,949
who have been nurturing...

1204
01:05:53,049 --> 01:05:53,950
all these years,

1205
01:05:54,050 --> 01:05:56,052
that are now stepping into these

1206
01:05:56,152 --> 01:05:58,121
new roles of public leadership,

1207
01:05:58,221 --> 01:05:59,389
all over the world...

1208
01:05:59,489 --> 01:06:03,226
we can create this
tidal wave of change

1209
01:06:03,326 --> 01:06:05,028
that's not only going
to ease

1210
01:06:05,128 --> 01:06:06,529
our population problem

1211
01:06:06,629 --> 01:06:08,832
but it's going to bring about
these policies

1212
01:06:08,932 --> 01:06:11,000
that will sustain a new attitude

1213
01:06:11,100 --> 01:06:13,102
towards our planet.

1214
01:06:13,803 --> 01:06:14,871
It's just us,

1215
01:06:14,971 --> 01:06:16,940
it's one human family...

1216
01:06:17,040 --> 01:06:20,210
and that we're connected
in our challenges...

1217
01:06:20,310 --> 01:06:22,745
but we're connected
in our solutions.