Growthbusters

Since 1972, study after study, and report after report, has warned we are in overshoot – the sum total of human activity is too much for the Earth’s ecosystems to bear. Welcome to Overshoot explores overshoot’s causes, effects, and possible solutions, as well as some of the barriers to solving the problem. This is an in-depth follow up to episode 31 of the GrowthBusters podcast, which included a lengthy conversation with Mathis Wackernagel, co-originator of ecological footprint analysis and founder of Global Footprint Network. The best scientific estimates tell us human civilization is in overshoot. Were you aware of this? Do you know what overshoot is? This one-hour special is particularly relevant in the days leading up to, and immediately following, Earth Overshoot Day on July 29, 2019. Computer modeling by a team of MIT scientists in 1972 estimated the scale of human activity on the planet would cause systems to fail within a hundred years. Such failure is expected when humanity’s footprint on the planet

In seven months humanity has burned through the resources it takes the Earth a full year to replenish. This is overshoot, and yes, it is a very big deal. In 2019, Earth Overshoot Day falls on July 29. Find out how we know when “Earth Overshoot Day” falls, how and why we’re operating in ecological deficit, what it means for us and our children, and what – if anything – we can do about it. Ecological footprint co-originator Mathis Wackernagel joins Erika and Dave for an in-depth discussion of overshoot. He explains the rigorous analysis done by the Global Footprint Network (which he founded) to calculate the biocapacity of the planet and the demands we place on it. Calculate your own ecological footprint using this footprint calculator and compare yours with Dave’s and Erika’s. We discuss much of the information and ideas in his new book, Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity Budget, co-written with Bert Beyers (available September 3, 2019). One of the most interesting and important is the idea that go

What’s the soundtrack of human civilization’s time on Earth? If we were to put ten songs into a time capsule to help historians in the future piece together what the hell humankind was doing as the planet crumbled beneath our feet, the ten songs in this episode would tell half the story. We’ll have to share another ten songs in a future episode to tell the rest of the story. So here’s our top ten (five curated by Erika and five picked by Dave). Music licensing restrictions prevent us from sharing these songs in full on our normal podcast episode, so we’ve posted a special episode with the complete songs at a site that licenses the music for us. Listen to the full-music version here. Also, doing this episode inspired us to create a special public playlist on Spotify. You can hear all these songs, plus the runners up, at the GrowthBusters Spotify Playlist. Let us know what important songs you feel we left out in this podcast or on our Spotify playlist (we’ll add them). Comment on this page, or on the GrowthBust

Did the heroes solve a problem or make it worse? Did super-villain Thanos in the blockbuster movie, Avengers: Infinity War, solve the overshoot problem when he killed off half the beings in the universe to end overpopulation? Should the Avengers undo his deed if they can? Dave and Erika dissect Avengers: Endgame and how it treats these sustainability issues. We’re looking for a podcast editor or producer with great audio editing skills. If you’re interested, email us.   LINKS: The Science of Avengers: Endgame Proves Thanos Did Nothing Wrong by JV Chamary Do Only Villains Care About Overpopulation? We dissected last year’s Avengers: Infinity War in GrowthBusters episode 15. Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Support this Vital Work   Subscribe (free) so you don't miss an episode:

Bill Maher and Steven Colbert become the first honorees on the GrowthBusters podcast’s “Wall of Excellence.” You’ll find out why in this episode. We want to thank and celebrate influencers who help alert the public that we are in overshoot, demonstrate sustainable living in their own lives, or help educate the public about important ways we can shrink our footprints. New co-host Erika Arias introduces herself. She is very interested in the voluntary child-free choice and hopes to do research in this area in the future. She shares a clip from a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher about how it’s actually good news that millennials are having less sex and therefore fewer children. Maher is, of course, famous for being bold enough to make “politically incorrect” statements, but Dave thinks talking about overpopulation is finally becoming politically correct after a few decades of “population taboo.” Maher celebrates the declining birth rate in the over-developed world because it is the single most effecti

Will you be able to feed your family in ten or fifteen years? Mass starvation in industrialized countries due to climate change – in the near future – is not something we read or hear about. But it’s a real probability, according to Michael Brownlee, author of Taking Back Our Food Supply: How to Lead the Local Food Revolution to Reclaim a Healthy Future. In this fascinating conversation Brownlee explains that not only is the global industrial food system the largest contributor to climate change; it also will not be able to feed us as we weather the storm. In the face of this, Michael believes “we need to stop participating in the current system, and build regional, localized food systems…. Building our own regional food system is a matter of life and death.” And that involves much more than farmer’s markets and CSAs. Brownlee also wrote The Local Food Revolution: How Humanity Will Feed Itself in Uncertain Times, published in 2015. He and partner Lynette Marie Hanthorn have launched the online Local Food Acad

What if we told you the coming climate catastrophe MAY not turn out to be as bad as we all thought? I’m not sure I’m ready to buy that, but one of our guests on this episode tells us just that. IPCC worst-case scenarios seem to forget peak oil. Limited fossil fuel supplies on the planet could be a factor. But don’t break out the champagne; we still have enough fossil fuels to screw things up pretty badly. See what you think! Our two guests for this episode: Dr. James Ward, a sustainability science and ecological engineering researcher and educator from the University of South Australia. Professor Paul Sutton from the Department of Geography & the Environment at the University of Denver. We recorded this conversation just a week before Ward and Sutton were scheduled to present at the Global Scenarios Forum in Denver, March 11-13, 2019. They planned to present data and suggestions that the IPCC has up to this point not considered the full range of possible economic scenarios in evaluating various outcomes.

Love is in the air on Valentine’s Day, so this seems the perfect time to learn what you can do to green up your wedding. With over 2 million weddings per year just in the U.S., greening your wedding can make a real difference. The Center for Biological Diversity’s Sarah Baillie shares low-impact wedding tips from the new Wildlife-Friendly Wedding Guide. Listen for more tips and information. And by all means get the guide if you have a wedding to plan! Your choice of wedding location can make a big difference. So can menu choices. Did you know a vegetarian menu has 75% less emissions than a meat-based menu? For a vegan menu the reduction is 90%. And have you considered that renting attire for the wedding party vs. buying can substantially cut your wedding’s impact? Attending a wedding has its share of impacts and costs. According to LendEDU, the average wedding attendee spends $1,386 per wedding. LINKS: The Wildlife-Friendly Wedding Guide Center for Biological Diversity Population & Sustainability Progra

When you’ve had a tough day and need some comfort, do you go for a long hike and commune with nature, or do you get on Amazon? What gives us joy, yet what do we strive to achieve? Are we in dominion over nature, or are we part of nature? Suez Jacobson (believe it or not, an economics professor) shares why she produced the film Wild Hope, which premieres February 23, 2019 at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival. The film includes Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, George Monbiot and several other luminaries, including Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario. Host Dave Gardner also engages Jacobson in a fascinating conversation about the shortcomings of college-level economics education. She also shares how she has begun teaching economics. “The more clearly we can focus on the wonders and realities of the universe around us, the less taste we will have for its destruction.”   - Rachel Carson  LINKS: Wild Hope film Wild Hope Premiere: The Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF), Golden, CO, February 23 Great Old Broads fo

How do we handle the despair of knowing we may not win this battle with climate change (which is really a battle with ourselves)? Should we keep fighting? And if we do, WHO needs to be making the drastic changes we know are needed to avoid the worst of climate change disaster? Is it you and me? The big corporations? Or is it our elected policymakers? Are we assuming too much personal responsibility for goosing climate change or not enough? Are we in such a dire situation that we shouldn’t even bother “greening” up our lives, because that is so far from enough? In this episode former UK Guardian columnist and author of All You Need is Less, Madeleine Sommerville, joins host Dave Gardner to ponder these questions. LINKS: Spaceship Earth Passenger Safety Briefing  (short GrowthBusters film) All You Need is Less (Madeleine Sommerville’s Guardian Column) All You Need is Less: The Eco-Friendly Guide to Guilt-Free Green Living and Stress-Free Simplicity (Madeleine Sommerville’s book) In our conversation, Madeleine m

When you think of laundry, typically you’re after the whitest whites, and no shrinkage. How about we think outside the box and “green” our laundry practices by shrinking their footprint? This episode answers your questions and offers advice on how to minimize the environmental impact of washing your clothes. Also an often forgotten, but important aspect, of making recycling work. Did you know 75 to 90 percent of the energy your washer uses goes to warming up the water? You can save $60 or more per year on your energy bill by washing in cold water, according to Consumer Reports. But not all laundry detergents work well in cold water. We address that in this episode and offer additional information in the links below. LINKS: Heidi Bischof’s Earth Ethic blog at Medium   After recording this podcast, Heidi found this indicating laundry pods are probably safe for people and planet: Detergent Pods are Handy, but Can I Use Them With a Clean Conscience? – Grist’s Ask Umbra   Also, here’s a related tip not discussed i

Life expectancy is declining in one of the richest countries on Earth, the U.S., due to suicides and drug overdoses. Several noted millionaires have checked out in the last few years. Why? Do you fear you’re a failure because you aren’t ahead of the Joneses? Are you unhappy because you don’t have it all? Are you short on time or money? Are you constantly scrapping for something you don’t have? The conversation in this episode may start you on a course that can set you free and bring you peace of mind.It may be your key to sustainable living. GrowthBusters’ Dave Gardner is joined by Jennifer Cohen and Gina LaRoche, authors of The Seven Laws of Enough: Cultivating a Life of Sustainable Abundance for a discussion of “Sustainable Abundance.” Also in this episode: David Attenborough’s recent COP 24 address on behalf of the people of the world. Plus, do you want help reducing your carbon footprint? There’s a new UN social media program that may help. LINKS: Join or make a one-time donation to GrowthBusters (yes, we

A climate emergency has finally been declared. Grace and Dave explain the bad news from the IPCC and evaluate media, public and policymaker response. Has sugar-coating the news and projections in the past been useful? Is it time to “take the gloves off?” Some say even this new, alarming report is understating the seriousness of what we face. What should we be doing about it? Now that denial of the science is pretty much behind us, what stands in the way of an appropriate response? Is apathy an issue? Saturday Night Live may have summed up our predicament a little too accurately. The agenda includes the Trump administration’s approach to climate. Plus: World premiere announcement of a new documentary, To Kid or Not to Kid, at Doc NYC, World Vasectomy Day is a thing, and a new segment featuring Heidi Bischof, the head and heart of Earth Ethic. LOTS OF LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE'S DISCUSSION: Documentary World Premiere: To Kid or Not to Kid World Vasectomy Day IPCC Report Executive Summary: GLOBAL WARMING OF 1.5 °C

Yes, they are related. Our business-as-usual response to Hurricane Florence last month starts the conversation. (This episode was recorded before Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida panhandle.) Grace and Dave do also share some good news: climate change is getting more attention (of course the recent IPCC report has turned that volume up to 11, and we’ll discuss that in the next episode).  Also in this episode: Does Dave need to shut up already about using condoms? How reliable are various forms of contraception? A challenge to the top environmental NGOs to start telling the truth about the unsustainability of economic growth. And a politician startles the world by quitting because his government isn’t doing enough about the climate. NOTE: Dave heard back from Final Straw about his problem getting the cleaning squeegie out of his straw. They informed him he had purchased a "bootleg" product made by someone else. The real Final Straw is scheduled to start deliveries in November. LINKS:  New York Timess: ‘

Is Earth Overshoot Day meaningful? How sound is ecological footprint and biocapacity data behind it? Dave and Grace examine a critique from Robert B. Richardson, Associate Professor of Sustainable Development at Michigan State University. Plus: This summer’s heat and fires are NOT “the new normal.” (It will get worse. Sorry.) More forest fire destruction comes with climate change. If you want to be a green hero, recycling is not nearly enough. How women who decide not to have children are treated. Men should take more responsibility for contraception. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: The Conversation: Yes, Humans are Depleting Earth’s Resources, but ‘Footprint’ Estimates Don’t Tell the Full Story Earth Overshoot Day episode (#16) of the GrowthBusters podcast Overshoot Day Website Global Footprint Network Ecological Footprint Data Calculate Your Footprint To Kid or Not to Kid documentary The Race of Our Lives Revisited by Jeremy Grantham James Hansen’s Temperature Updates Science Says: Hotter Weather Turbocharges US

We should NOT be celebrating (or pursuing) 4.1% economic growth, according to co-host Dave Gardner. Listen to this podcast to find out why pursuing GDP growth today is suicidal. Also on tap, listener comments about Earth Overshoot Day (the subject of our last podcast), and more single-use plastics we want to avoid. Dave stumps us with this question: What single-use disposable item do we want to see used more widely? Try to guess before Dave gives you the answer halfway into this episode. In this episode we hear U.S. President Donald Trump brag about economic growth at a 4.1% annualized rate. Even his sharpest critics celebrate robust growth, as we hear from Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe. Many economists responded to this news that they don’t think we can keep that growth rate up, but their reasons differ from Dave’s. On a finite planet, perpetual growth in economic throughput is impossible. Here’s the spreadsheet Dave discusses in this episode: Forget an economy 1 million times the size

Did you know we are in overshoot? What does that mean, and what should we do about it? Also in this episode, which has a smaller footprint – milk, or milk alternatives like almond milk? Dana informs us that, “Eating food is one of the worst things you can do for the environment.” Are some health departments preventing bulk filling of reusable containers? Carrying reusable utensils and napkin on your travels. And choosing carefully the trash can in which to deposit your refuse. August 1, 2018 is Earth Overshoot Day. Data collected and analyzed by the Global Footprint Network tells us this is the date when humanity’s annual demand on nature begins to exceed what Earth’s ecosystems can regenerate in the entire year. If it falls anytime before December 31, it means we’re using more ecological resources and services than nature can regenerate - through activity like overfishing, overharvesting forests, and emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than ecosystems can absorb. According to Global Footprint Ne

In Avengers: Infinity War the villain Thanos wants to solve overpopulation by exterminating half the population of the universe. Whenever overpopulation pops up in the movies, it’s always a villain with an inhumane solution. Dave and Dana discuss whether this helps or harms the cause of achieving a sustainable human population (yes, the world IS overpopulated today, and the forecasts are to add several billion more). Aren’t there humane, noble solutions to overpopulation? Plus: Are we hardwired to reproduce? Population control, Paul Ehrlich, Thomas Malthus, Dan Brown’s Inferno novel and movie, Soylent Green, ZPG, and Dave’s Top 10 Overpopulation Films also come up. (See links below) A number of listener comments are included. Thanks for writing in. Your comments are welcome either via posts on the episode page at GrowthBusters.org or Libsyn, on the GrowthBusters Podcast Facebook page, or on Twitter. Also in this episode: Listener comments about disposable straws and the movie, Downsizing (episode 13 of the Gr

While the U.S. announced intention to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement is bad news, it seems to have inspired a lot of carbon-reducing promises at other levels across the country. And that is good news. Dana and Dave lament the biggest hurdle in the path to a survivable climate – the fact that economic growth is the number one public policy goal around the world. In many cases it is the one thing policymakers won’t sacrifice in efforts to curb the growth of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. We seem to be putting all our eggs in the technology basket, hoping we can run an ever-growing economy on more and more solar, wind, geothermal and hydro power and use technology to shrink that mushrooming global economy’s carbon footprint. Some economists think we can do that. Many scientists do not. Ozzie Zehner, in his 2012 book Green Illusions, noted several studies that indicate we might need to change our ways beyond just switching power sources. “Alternative energy is not a free ride, just a different ride.

Imagine you can live large – trophy house, fancy toys, caveman diet – but the costs are miniscule. Would you find that appealing? Or would you rather simplify your lifestyle and make your footprint the thing that’s miniscule? Is downsizing simply a way to supersize your consumption without maximizing your footprint? The latest episode of the GrowthBusters podcast examines these questions, as explored in the film, Downsizing. “Downsizing may be about a small world, but it is an audacious, out-sized peach of a picture.”  Ian Freer, Empire Magazine The film, starring Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig, is now available for rent and purchase – on Amazon, GooglePlay and YouTube. The DVD is available on Netflix. GrowthBusters director Dave Gardner is joined by new co-host Dana Hicky to discuss the film, and that means overpopulation, overshoot, overconsumption, and climate change are on the agenda. Are we humans capable of doing the right thing and scaling back our footprint? If so, will we scale back our consumption or c