Advertise on podcast: OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance

Oceans are the next frontier of destructive human expansionism and extraction. Peruvian marine biologist and ocean life advocate, Daniel Cáceres Bartra, argues that human population growth and expansionism have already devastated nonhuman life on land, making it critical to protect the oceans before they suffer the same fate. From overfishing to deep-sea mining, Daniel advocates for top-down international action to protect marine life before humanity consumes the last great frontier of biodiversity. Highlights include: How Daniel became disillusioned with the fact that academic marine biology in Peru was captured by the commercial fishing industry and decided to pursue ecological advocacy; Why Daniel believes that 'waiting until we have enough science' to protect biodiversity means more species will experience population crashes and biodiversity loss; How Daniel's experience as a diver inspired him to protect life in the oceans before humanity decimates marine life as it has wildlife on land; Why the assumption that small-scale fishing means small-scale impacts on marine biodiversity is misguided; How the denial of small-scale fishing's impacts can also extend to the false assumption that indigenous groups, whose populations numbers and technological sophistication continue to grow, cannot also engage in overfishing; How deep sea mining threatens fragile ocean ecosystems and why resisting it offers a rare opportunity to stop an industry of destructive extraction before it begins; Why Daniel is a firm believer that, despite the fact that they're often not popular, international, top-down approaches are required to protect biodiversity; Why Daniel sees human overpopulation and the resulting human expansionism into virtually all ecosystems on Earth as inarguable ecological facts that explain much of our biodiversity crisis. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/daniel-cáceres-bartra   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

Low-fertility alarmism is rampant in many countries. Who is and isn't encouraged to reproduce has always been a question of power in the US. Legal scholar Michele Goodwin traces a disturbing lineage from the forced breeding of enslaved women and the sterilization of primarily poor white women deemed genetically unfit to the very different reproductive choices available to women on the basis of race and class. She reveals how reproductive rights in the Roe era came to focus on abortion rights and failed to address broader reproductive injustices, especially the use of state power to police the wombs of Black and brown women. Highlights include: How Michele's visits to her relatives in the Deep South of the US in the 1970s, and seeing their lack of basic necessities like clean water or indoor plumbing, heightened her desire to address social injustice; How US pronatalism up until the Civil War was characterized by promoting reproduction of the enslaved girls and women for the sake of increasing the value of property; How the practice of 'hypodescent', or the one drop rule, in the US of determining blackness, allowed for the systematic and ongoing rape of Black women, while guaranteeing all their children remain property as slaves; How following the US Civil War, a fear of newly freed African Americans outnumbering the white population led to the implementation of coercive pronatalist policies pushing reproduction among white women; Why, with restrictive Jim Crow laws that maintained the low status of African Americans as the servant class, early 20th century eugenics, as marked by forced sterilization laws in the majority of US states, was primarily directed at poor white people deemed genetically unfit; How both Jim Crow laws and eugenics practices in the US became the primary models for Nazi Germany; How Michele's travels to India revealed the severe limitations on reproductive freedom of young women, with many resorting to becoming child brides, prostitutes, or gestational surrogates for survival; How Black women's pregnancies during the half century of Roe V. Wade abortion legality were marked by policing of low-birth weight babies and an assumption of drug use; whereas the mostly white IVF pregnancies and their offspring's low-birth weights were given broad cultural support;   How the reproductive rights movement in the time of Roe became limited to abortion rights, driven primarily by the needs of white women, while ignoring larger issues plaguing Black women, such as lack of availability of sex education, contraception, and cancer screening. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/michele-goodwin   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

"There is no alternative" is the story that keeps us trapped in a world that is unraveling. Jeremy Lent, author of Ecocivilization, imagines what becomes possible when we move away from competition, separation, and domination and trust grassroots democracy to build lives rooted in the collaboration, diversity, and mutualism found throughout nature and human history. As disenchantment with the dominant story grows, Jeremy discusses the alternatives already taking root that might provide the foundations for a future ecological civilization. Highlights include: How the worldview of separation from nature, beginning with sedentary agriculture and accelerating in the modern era, leads humanity to see nature as both a machine and as ripe for exploitation; How British and northern European elites enclosed and seized the commons, using law and force to dispossess people of their land and push them into wage labor; how this model of enclosure was exported around the world through colonialism; and how enclosure continues today through everything from patented seeds, state and corporate digital surveillance, and AI's enclosure of humanity's knowledge commons; How cultural hegemony, the cultural conditioning of peoples' mindsets, shapes what people believe is possible - convincing the majority that capitalism, economic growth, and existing systems serve everyone's interests and that we live in 'the best of all possible worlds'; Why an ecological civilization would require moving from the primacy of capital to the recognition that people and other species have a right to flourish, and drawing its principles from life itself - including mutualistic symbiosis, heterogeneity, and diversity; How governance in ecocivilization should be grounded in subsidiarity and genuine participatory democracy, pushing decisions to the lowest feasible level and replacing today's electoral oligarchy with lottery-selected citizen juries and assemblies that have real-world power; How the mainstream panic over declining fertility rates reveals the continued cultural hegemony of the 'growth is good' story; Why, as dominant systems unravel, the emerging alternatives become 'islands of coherence' that attract increasing numbers of people, especially the young, who become disenchanted with the hollow promises of the dominant culture; Why the ultimate message of the book is the dethronement of TINA - There Is No Alternative - and why the unraveling of the dominant system creates an opportunity to reweave the social tapestry and build alternatives based on how human beings evolved to live, in cooperation with each other and the natural world. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/jeremy-lent-2   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

The "birthgap crisis" isn't supported by the evidence. Population Balance Executive Director Nandita Bajaj joins childfree researchers Jennifer Watling Neal, Zachary Neal, and podcast host Ricardo Lopes in this republished episode of The Dissenter podcast. They take on the claims made in the film Birthgap, from widespread involuntary childlessness and unmet desires for children to the supposed economic catastrophe of falling fertility. They discuss what the research actually shows about childlessness, family size, aging societies, and pronatalist pressures - and how the Birthgapfacts website is pushing back against the film's misinformation. Highlights include: Why the claim in Birthgap that 80% of women without children are "childless by circumstance" is unsupported by the evidence, which shows that the vast majority of people without children have chosen not to have them; Why declining fertility is increasingly driven by people choosing smaller families, including one and two-child families, rather than primarily by growing numbers of people having no children; What the evidence shows about parents being no happier or more satisfied with their lives than nonparents, and why regret among people who choose to remain childfree is not prevalent; Why challenging pronatalism does not mean supporting antinatalism, the belief that having children is ethically wrong; What the evidence says about claims that people want larger families than they are having, and why greater control over fertility generally leads people to choose fewer children; Why access to contraception and cultural support for its use has a greater impact on fertility than increasing educational access for girls and women; How pronatalism can be used by nativists who oppose immigration to encourage population growth among racial, ethnic, or religious groups they consider more desirable; Why measures such as the old-age dependency ratio can overstate the economic burden of aging by overlooking the facts of healthier older populations, increased female labor-force participation, and fewer dependent children; How a smaller working-age population can benefit younger workers through higher wages, stronger benefits, and better working conditions; Why population collapse due to declining fertility rates is not imminent and can't be predicted from current trends.   See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/birthgap-debunked   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

Republished from August 2022. The worldview of human supremacy is driving the human expansionism that is devastating the living world. Philosopher and environmental writer Eileen Crist, author of Abundant Earth: Toward an Ecological Civilization, offers a compelling alternative - reimagining ourselves as "Earthlings" and creating societies that make space for the flourishing of all life. Highlights include:  Why the biodiversity crisis is fundamentally a crisis of ongoing and relentless human expansion and results in continued depopulation of the nonhuman world; How the worldview of human supremacy - the belief that humans are superior to nonhumans and all of nature - is the pervasive and unrecognized force driving human expansionism; How human expansionism began with the first expanding empires, much earlier than modern capitalism; Why creating an ecological civilization requires 'scaling down' human activity and 'pulling back' from nature to make space for nonhuman life; Why plant-based eating is one of the most effective ways of increasing biodiversity; Why language is critical, and how words like "weed" and "natural resources" distort our relationship to nature; How we need to regain our indigenous-inspired identity as responsible, interconnected Earthlings; Why an ecological civilization will be local in terms of living and also globally connected, replacing domination with coexistence in an age of deepening ecological overshoot. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/eileen-crist-2   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

Humanity is pushing life to the brink. Mathematical ecologist, Corey Bradshaw, explains how our growing population and consumption are driving the depopulation and extinction of countless species while pushing Earth's ecosystems beyond their limits. We explore why overpopulation remains politically taboo, why fears of falling birth rates are misplaced given the evidence of better socioeconomic outcomes in aging societies, and why, although the future will be 'ghastly,' it's still up to us to make it 'less worse.' Highlights include: How human activities shrink wildlife populations and genetic diversity, making species increasingly vulnerable to extinction through environmental shocks; Why humanity is likely driving a mass extinction, even though we may never be able to fully measure its scale because most species remain undiscovered; Why rising wealth and technological efficiencies have resulted in more ecological degradation, not less; How the evidence is overwhelming that increased human population density is associated with greater biodiversity threats and ecological degradation - as well as declines in human health; What slowing population growth rates in recent decades reveal about the planet's long-term sustainable human population; Why fears of low birth rates and aging societies are driven more by economic growth imperatives than by evidence, which shows aging populations enjoy better socioeconomic and health outcomes; Why discussion of population growth and overpopulation remains taboo across the political spectrum, and even within organizations like the UN Population Fund; Why Corey is an 'optimistic pessimist' who believes the future will be worse on many objective measures but that it's up to us to make it both less worse and more equitable.  See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/corey-bradshaw   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

For millennia, animals have been treated as property or passive recipients of moral concern rather than as political beings with agency. Political philosophers Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka, authors of Animals and the Right to Politics, argue that decades of research reveals that animals are members of complex political societies capable of negotiation, cooperation, and collective decision-making. We explore what it would mean to recognize animals' political rights and build a meaningful politics with animals, and why that requires transforming our laws, institutions, and everyday relationships with animals from violence and domination toward coexistence. Highlights include: Why we need to move beyond the idea of the "minimal animal," which focuses on the animal's capacity to suffer or engage in species-specific behaviors, toward the "maximal animal" recognized as an agent with personality, culture, and political capacities; Why we must learn to elicit and be responsive to animals' needs and wants - their political communication - and not assume that humans can represent animals' interests easily and accurately; Why animal politics requires attending not only to animals' resistance to violence and domination but also to the many ways they express cooperation, preference, and consent; Why the "cosmopolitan bias" in animal ethics privileges humans' global mobility over the place-based lives of both animals and indigenous and local human communities; How meaningful coexistence and honoring animals' rights to politics differs for domesticated, liminal, and wild animals - from expanding freedom and choice, to redesigning shared living spaces, to respecting territories and habitats. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/will-kymlicka-sue-donaldson   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

For most of our history, humans lived in relatively egalitarian societies that actively prevented the accumulation of power. Author of Goliath's Curse, Luke Kemp, examines how hierarchical states, 'Goliaths', came to dominate the world. We explore why Goliaths repeatedly collapse, the likely trajectories of today's global Goliath, and what it might take to radically democratize power before history repeats itself. Highlights include: Why Luke rejects the term 'civilization' in favor of 'Goliath' to describe the large-scale societies that have emerged over the past several thousand years and were built on dominance hierarchies such as ruler and ruled, rich and poor, man and woman, and free and slave; How archaeological and anthropological evidence suggests that for most of human history people lived in relatively egalitarian, democratic, and cooperative societies, challenging long-standing assumptions about humanity's supposedly violent and selfish nature; How humans historically constrained would-be tyrants through ridicule, ostracism, exile, and if necessary group execution; How the first Goliaths emerged thousand of years after intensified agriculture, using war and violence and growing their power through the 'Goliath fuel' of 'lootable resources, monopolizable weapons, and caged land'; How 'babies, bombs, bacteria, and barbarism' enabled Goliaths to expand across the globe, conquering and absorbing non-state people into today's global Goliath; Why the 'darker angels of our nature' - status competition, the 'dark triad' of personality traits, and the authoritarian impulse - also provide fuel to the growth and persistence of Goliaths; Why Goliaths function as engines of inequality that become increasingly vulnerable to shocks like popular rebellion, environmental stress, disease, and how this makes societal collapse a recurring feature of large-scale societies throughout history; Why, if we continue with business as usual, the most likely long-term fate of today's global Goliath is collapse, and why in the short term we may be heading toward a 'Silicon Goliath' of increased digital surveillance and potential for autocratic repression; How we might 'shackle' Goliath through a process of radical democratization in 4 different forms of power - political, economic, violence, and information. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/luke-kemp   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

Every age is the Stone Age. Geologist and author Marcia Bjornerud discusses how thinking like a geologist can cultivate the grounded humility of a deep time perspective. We explore Earth's turbulent history, humanity's emergence as a geologic force, and why humanity and all of life - past, present, and future - is utterly dependent on the rocky planet beneath our feet. Highlights include:  Why geology is not just the study of rocks but the habit of seeing in four dimensions - including time; Why rocks should be seen as 'verbs' and not just 'nouns', preserving the memory of long ago ecosystems and Earth processes that created them; The geologic history of Earth in about 5 minutes; Why humanity's massive impact on the planet is affecting Earth and its atmosphere faster than any known geologic force in Earth history; Why the process of evolution is not inherently 'progressive' and how Earth's long history teaches us that change is the only constant - and that 'bad things do happen to good planets'; Why geology is in a 'golden age' of discovery and has made incredible advancement in both the understanding of Earth processes and the tools to measure and analyze those processes; Why we're still in the 'stone age' - utterly dependent on the rocky Earth for biological life and all of the products of humanity's modern techno-industrial civilization; How 'timefulness' - thinking like a geologist - can help us develop a deeper sense of both the past and the future, cultivating humility and countering the narcissistic focus on the perpetual 'now'. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/marcia-bjornerud   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

The uncritical adoption of 'humane', 'cage-free', 'free-range', and lab-grown meat by animal advocates, funded by effective altruism philanthropy and the animal agriculture industry, not only reproduces the myth that meat is normal, natural, and necessary, it represents an ultimate defeat for animals. Vasile Stănescu, animal liberation scholar exposes the 'humane' hoax and explains why the failure of many animal advocates to frame veganism as a social justice movement in solidarity with other social justice movements is sustaining and reproducing systems of oppression and exploitation of humans, animals, and nature. Highlights include: How parents and society teach us to repress the childhood trauma that's triggered when we learn about the animal suffering and death from eating animal products; Why the so-called 'humane', 'cage free', and 'free range' agriculture practices are a hoax funded by the animal agriculture industry that are even more harmful for the animals — both wild and domesticated — and the planet than the conventional factory farming systems they claim to replace; Moral philosopher Peter Singer's complicity in perpetuating these 'humane' myths, and the growing shift from liberation to welfarism within the animal advocacy movement through Singer-supported effective altruism philanthropy; The relevance of Jevon's paradox to animal advocacy and how new categories such as 'cage-free' or 'free-range' do not replace the old system, but rather expand it, and why animal advocates must reject market-based or technology-based 'solutions' as they sustain and reproduce the current system of speciesism, exploitation, and growthism; How the slaughterhouse and its dis-assembly line of animals' bodies became the template for the manufacturing assembly line of modern capitalism; How western governments historically promoted 'cheap meat' to keep the laboring classes content with their low wages and help them continue feeling superior to the 'effeminate' and 'weak' rice and corn eaters of colonized Asia and South America; How vegetarian and vegan eating are pathologized in a way that diets with animal products are not — even though large consumption of animal products is in no way 'natural' in much of the world or through the majority of human history; Why lab-grown meat — still in its experimental phase — is not vegan, as its growth medium relies on the blood of unborn cows, not environmentally beneficial, as it requires huge amounts of energy, and is exorbitantly expensive; meanwhile, in collaborating with the animal agriculture industry for its creation, proponents of lab-grown meat are throwing animals — and animal advocacy — under the bus; Why some animal rights activists turn to effective altruists and the money they offer to placate their despair and see short-term 'faux wins' - while not appreciating that successful social justice movements have always taken time and persistence; Why veganism should be framed not as a consumerist diet lifestyle option but as a social justice movement in solidarity with other social justice movements. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/vasile-stanescu   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

Pronatalism is the oldest form of reproductive control. Population Balance Executive Director, Nandita Bajaj, joins fellow guest and legal scholar Michele Goodwin and host Shoshanna Ehrlich in this republished episode of Ask a Feminist, a podcast from the Signs Journal. They discuss the rise of patriarchy and pronatalism in the first empires, the racist and eugenicist history of pronatalism in the U.S., and why 'progressive' pronatalism must be resisted as forcefully as pronatalism from the right. Highlights include: How pronatalism arose with patriarchy in the first states and empires to serve economic, nationalist, religious, and expansionist state goals; How pronatalism has historically been shaped by racism, classism, and eugenicist beliefs - with some people encouraged to reproduce and others discouraged; How pronatalism and 'fertility crisis' rhetoric has been embraced not only by racist, anti-immigrant far-right advocates but also by mainstream liberals and progressives who advance growthist, supposedly 'pro-family' agendas; Why pronatalism, as a primary feature of patriarchal control, must be challenged by anyone committed to feminist principles. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/nandita-bajaj-michele-goodwin   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

As South Korea's birth rates continue to decline, reporter JiHye Jeong highlights the rising tide of young feminists who are staging a strike against patriarchy. Despite relentless cultural and political backlash, the surge in South Korea's women's resistance movements - from the 2015 feminist 'reboot' to 'escape the corset' and 4B - offers a radical response to the misogynistic forces that compel women into marriage and motherhood. Highlights include: How strong cultural expectations in South Korea pressure women toward marriage, motherhood, and male approval from an early age, How women's high educational achievement contrasts sharply with persistent gender inequality in pay and leadership roles; How the 2015–2018 feminist 'reboot' emerged and was fueled by events like the Gangnam Station murder and #MeToo; How spy cams in public and private spaces and the widespread distribution of these materials combined with weak government responses fueled feminist anger and 'my life is not your porn' protests; How despite intense political and media backlash, there is a dramatic rise in women-led resistance movements like 'escape the corset', which challenge both the outward corset of beauty norms and the inner corset of gendered behavioral expectations, and the 4B movement, which represents a radical rejection of dating, marriage, sex, and childbirth under patriarchy; How the ideal of a normal, desirable life centered on motherhood fuels South Korea's growing IVF industry and makes critical media coverage of the industry nonexistent; How media narratives frame low birth rates as an economic issue rather than a gender inequality problem; What JiHye's upcoming film, No-Birth Generation, reveals about a growing generation of women rejecting patriarchal life paths and pushing for greater autonomy in their lives. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/jihye-jeong   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

Sociologist Philip N. Cohen debunks the pronatalist claims on both the right and left that falling birth rates spell disaster. Noting that pronatalism is a key feature of authoritarian states, Cohen warns that the adoption of the problematic 'fertility crisis' framing among liberals is paving the way for coercive right-wing policies, and why we must abandon this narrative. We also explore evolving definitions of family beyond the traditional model and why public-facing scholarship matters more than ever. Highlights include: Why framing low birth rates as a crisis on the political left can push policy toward coercive pronatalism when those incentive-based approaches fail; Why left-leaning policies like healthcare, education, housing, and childcare should be pursued on justice-based grounds, not in an attempt to raise birth rates; Why right-wing pronatalism is often tied to not just economic growth concerns but also to xenophobic, racist, and anti-feminist agendas that serve to entrench male dominance; Why fears of population collapse are overstated and overlook the realities of delayed childbirth and the unreliability of long-term demographic projections; How lower birth rates create additional resources and improved opportunities for younger generations; Why media's 'both-sides' framing of demographic debates leads to unqualified pronatalist proponents being amplified; Why we should consider taxing marriage, not subsidizing it, given the numerous benefits attached to marriage; Why academics should move beyond the ivory tower to share clear, engaging, and useful knowledge with the public as active 'citizen scholars' in a democratic society; How the core caregiving role of families endures even as their forms and definitions continue to evolve and diversify in the modern era. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/philip-cohen   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

Biodiversity is collapsing under the pressures of human overpopulation, overconsumption, and animal agriculture. Tierra Curry and Stephanie Feldstein of the Center for Biological Diversity explain how science, law, and advocacy can protect wildlife and wild places. They also share strategies for combating extinction and staying motivated to act in an age of ecological crisis. Highlights include: Why human population pressure, industrial animal agriculture, and growth economies are key issues that the Center addresses, even though they are often ignored or treated as taboo by most environmental organizations; How rapid, human-driven extinctions are mutilating the tree of life, and why biodiversity is essential not just for wellbeing and thriving of all the species, but also for human survival; How water and other ecosystems in the U.S. are threatened by lax regulation, industrial agriculture, and political attacks on protections like the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act; Why industrial agriculture's promotion of pasture grazing and regenerative agriculture is based on myths, and what the facts show about meat reduction as the most effective strategy to preserve habitats and wild animals; How positive change requires both individual action, such as plant-based diets, and collective political action to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; Why love of the natural world spurs both Stephanie and Tierra to action, despite immense ecological grief. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/stephanie-feldstein-tierra-curry   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance

AI, under the dangerous control of tech oligarchs, is creating a world with shrinking human choice, creativity, and connection. Technology journalist Jacob Ward, author of The Loop: How Technology is Creating a World without Choices and How to Fight Back, describes why restraint and resistance are necessary to fight back against the AI juggernaut. Highlights include:   How tech journalism emphasizes novelty and business profits and amplifies tech companies' hype as journalists seek to maintain access to powerful tech leaders; How profit-driven AI exploits a human bias toward fast, easy thinking and decision-making that leads us to outsource our choices and judgment to automated systems; Why AI large language models (LLMs) are like cover bands providing the 'greatest hits' of humanity's past achievement - an 'artificial hive mind' that is biased toward middle-of-the-road, derivative, and unoriginal ideas; How impersonal, unaccountable, 'black box' AI decision-making creates Kafka-esque systems in government services, jobs, and loans - disproportionately harming the least powerful in society; Why AI large language models are 2 to 3 times more biased than the average person across various cultural and demographic dimensions; How AI will increase addiction and social isolation, replacing real-world relationships with flattering, always available chatbot 'friends'; Why our collective sense-making and democratic decision-making will be further threatened by AI - creating even more tightly sealed, individually customized information bubbles that conform to our feelings, not the truth; How many tech oligarchs pushing AI are also involved in genetic engineering projects with the aim of breeding 'optimized' babies; Why tech companies' legal liability and U.S. states' AI regulations are hopeful avenues of AI pushback; Why we need to rediscover the value of restraint and realize that not all innovation is beneficial for humanity and the planet.  See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/jacob-ward   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2016-2026 Population Balance