The Population Conversation Gap

From Stephanie Feldstein, Population and Sustainability Program Director

We recently analyzed more than 200 organizations’ websites to discover how different types of groups talk about the pressure placed on the planet by human population. Trends ranged from environmental groups treating population growth as inevitable to health groups advocating for reproductive rights-based solutions without acknowledging the connection to population issues. Some groups that tackle the population issue head-on fail to address consumption or systemic inequalities that worsen both the impacts of population growth and the success of rights-based solutions. 

Population and Sustainability Campaigner Kelley Dennings recently spoke with The Indisposable Podcast about why it’s important to make the connection between human population growth and the extinction crisis, and how we can address population and consumption issues in ways that advance human rights and build just, sustainable economies.

Read more about our analysis and recommendations in EcoWatch, and read on for more of our latest news and actions.

Americans eat an average of 818 hot dogs per second during the summer months — along with burgers, steaks and sausages on the grill — turning the planet into a veritable kabob of climate change. Learn why climate-friendly menus matter and find out how to have an extinction-free BBQ this summer.

Climate-Fueled Storms Displace Record Numbers

More than 30 million people were driven from their homes last year due climate-related storms, floods, wildfires and drought. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, the number of people forced to flee conflicts and environmental disasters was twice the number of refugees worldwide. Contrary to fears stoked by anti-immigration groups, most of this displacement occurred within countries, not across borders.

The United Nations predicts that the number of climate migrants could be anywhere between 25 million and 1 billion by 2050, as people are forced inland by sea-level rise and storms and driven from drought-stricken areas. Many others, without the resources to move, will be left behind. Much of this displacement is occurring in regions that bear the least responsibility for the climate crisis, increasing the urgency and moral obligation for the international community to invest in resiliency worldwide.

Here’s one thing you can do: Learn more about how women are often left to bear the burden of climate change.

Abortion Policy Infographics

Universal access to quality healthcare, including abortion and other voluntary reproductive-health services, is a basic human right. But even where abortion is legal, a complex web of laws often restricts the ability of people to access abortion or forces clinics to choose between providing comprehensive care or losing their funding. From gag rules to state restrictions and the Helms to Hyde amendments, the international and domestic landscape of abortion laws can be confusing. That’s why we created new infographics to explain the laws and show who they impact and how they can be overturned. Check out and share the infographics.

Here’s one thing you can do: Tell your representatives to support the Global HER Act for reproductive freedom worldwide.

Study: U.S. Undercounts Meat Methane Emissions

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, meat and dairy production is responsible for 36% of U.S. methane emissions. But a new analysis determined that the number may be significantly higher. That’s because the agency uses complex models to estimate methane emissions from animals without measuring concentrations of greenhouse gases in the air.

By reviewing studies that monitored methane in the air, researchers from New York University and Johns Hopkins University found that methane emissions from meat and dairy production may be 39% to 90% higher than previously estimated. These results emphasize the importance of curbing emissions from animal agriculture, particularly beef production, which has received little attention from the Biden administration.

Here’s one thing you can do: Tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture to hold meat and dairy producers responsible for their climate pollution.

Take Extinction Off Your Plate Gets a New Look

Seven years ago, the Center launched our groundbreaking Take Extinction Off Your Plate campaign to educate people on the role of meat and dairy production in the extinction crisis and advocate for diet change to reduce our impact on the planet. Since then, our work has expanded to transform not only what we eat, but what is grown, how it’s grown, and who has access to healthy and sustainable food.

This week we launched a newly redesigned website that highlights how we’re advancing a just food system that’s healthier for people, animals and the environment. Check out the new Take Extinction Off Your Plate site.

Here’s one thing you can do: Add your name to our list of food activists and receive future editions of our new Food X e-newsletter.

Trash Talk: Take Our Survey

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American household generates nearly 15 pounds of trash per day. Even though most people try to recycle at least some of their trash, much of that waste winds up in landfills and incinerators.

In an effort to reduce the trash that’s piling up — and the amount of waste that’s created in the first place — the Center is teaming up with the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, to research how to better inspire zero-waste action. We’ve created a short 7-minute online survey to discover which messages resonate with people and inspire action to reduce waste. The results of this survey will help inform future waste-related communication and campaigns.

Here's one thing you can do: Take our survey to let us know your thoughts on zero-waste messaging.

Wildlife Spotlight: Caribbean Skinks

The eight species of Caribbean skink that live in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands look a lot like stubby snakes with legs. While they’re distinctly reptilian with their sinuous movements and smooth, bronze-colored skin, their reproductive systems are more like that of humans than their cold-blooded relatives. Unlike most egg-laying reptiles, these skinks have placentas and give birth to live young.

These unique island lizards have slithered to the brink of extinction because of introduced predators like cats and mongoose, climate-related threats like sea-level rise and extreme storms, and development that has destroyed habitat on the islands. Recently the Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reached an agreement to fast-track Endangered Species Act decisions for all of the Caribbean skinks.

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Photo credits: Melting Earth via Canva; kabobs via Canva; hurricane courtesy NASA; abortion infographic courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; cows via Pixabay; Take Extinction Off Your Plate website courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; trash by Brian Yurasits/Unsplash; greater St. Croix skink by A.J. Meier.

Center for Biological Diversity
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