Policy - Env -- Population

Mass suicide prevention from resource depletion, overpopulation and climate change.

Infographic extravaganza with world famous Swedish statistician and showman Hans Rosling. His main message - that our world is profoundly changing in ways most of us simply don't realize - much of it for the better.

A well-known nightmarish vision of the future: The Earth's population reaches seven billion. Dwindling resources, mountains of toxic waste, hunger and climate change-the results of overpopulation? Who says that the world's overpopulated?

The film delves into the heart of the growing environmental, humanitarian, and social crisis-overpopulation and the excessive consumption linked to it.

With 1 billion of the world's population going to bed hungry at night, documentary film, "Last Supper For Malthus" sheds light on one of the most prevalent and alarming issues of our time, the global food crisis. Director, Klaus Pas, brings to life Political-Economists Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo, intertwining their theories with captivating images and interviews from some of the world's leading experts on the topic from all corners of the globe, including figures such as U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Dr. Jacques Diouf, Jean Ziegler, Olivier de Schutter and Donal Coxe. The film goes beyond focusing on some of the most controversial issues today including changing diets, climate change and the use food for fuel, and considers the effects of the worst global economic crisis seen in over 80 years.

Although our actions for the past 150 years have lifted our civilization to new heights, it has come at a tremendous price. We are now at a point where humanity's demands for natural resources far exceed the earth's capacity to sustain us. The extraction and the consumption of these resources in the past two centuries have changed our climate and ecosystems so significantly, that a new geological era had to be created. For some decades now people have been talking about saving the planet, but we are realizing that this is not really the issue. The central issue is civilization itself and whether we can save it. The stresses that we have put on the earth are not only threatening our habitat, but our way of life, our prosperity and even our existence on the planet. Our current paradigm must change. We will have to accept the new reality; the human economy is part of nature and not the other way around. We are faced with great challenges, but unlike the rest of the living world, we have the unique ability to adapt and decide our fate and the fate of most of the biosphere, for better or worse, in order to survive the human project.

In a Horizon special, naturalist Sir David Attenborough investigates whether the world is heading for a population crisis. In his lengthy career, Sir David has watched the human population more than double from 2.5 billion in 1950 to nearly seven billion. He reflects on the profound effects of this rapid growth, both on humans and the environment. While much of the projected growth in human population is likely to come from the developing world, it is the lifestyle enjoyed by many in the West that has the most impact on the planet. Some experts claim that in the UK consumers use as much as two and a half times their fair share of Earth's resources. Sir David examines whether it is the duty of individuals to commit not only to smaller families, but to change the way they live for the sake of humanity and planet Earth.

Global responses to the human population explosion and its impact on the environment and biodiversity.

This short film discusses the topic of population growth and its impact on life on our planet. Through humor and some interesting clips of Les Knight from the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) and Chris Korda from the Church of Euthanasia (CoE), Paley ignited a firestorm of opinions in the media.

In Fall 1999, the Earth's human population was six billion -- for an instant. With 10,000 children born every hour, the landmark was over in less time than it takes to say the words "population explosion." This landmark documentary from Saybrook Productions examines the consequences of population growth -- as well as initiatives to promote reproductive health and gender equality in the world's most impoverished countries.

A recording of professor Al Bartlett conference about population growth in a planet with finite resources.

The outcry of people whose lives have already been devastated by the impact of climate change, as well as the wake-up call of the scientific community.