Through a series of essays by leading demographers, environmentalists and reproductive health advocates, A Pivotal Moment offers a new perspective on the complex connection between population dynamics and environmental quality. It presents the latest research on the relationship between population growth and climate change, ecosystem health and other environmental issues. It surveys the new demographic landscape—in which population growth rates have fallen, but human numbers continue to increase. It looks back at the lessons learned from half a century of population policy—and forward to propose twenty-first century population policies that are sustainable and just.
A Pivotal Moment puts forth the concept of “population justice,” which is inspired by reproductive justice and environmental justice movements. Population justice holds that inequality is a root cause of both rapid population growth and environmental degradation. As the authors in this volume explain, to slow population growth and build a sustainable future, women and men need access to voluntary family planning and other reproductive health services. They need education and employment opportunities, especially for women. Population justice means tackling the deep inequities—both gender and economic—that are associated with rapid population growth and unsustainable resource consumption. Where family planning is available, where couples are confident their children will survive, where girls go to school, where young men and women have economic opportunity—there couples will have healthier and smaller families.
Foreword Introduction
PART I. The Numbers
Chapter 1. Human Population Grows Up \ Joel E. Cohen Chapter 2. The Largest Generation Comes of Age \ Martha Fransworth Riche Chapter 3. People on the Move: Population, Migration, and the Environment \ Susan Gibbs Chapter 4. The Urban Millennium \ United Nations Population Fund
PART II. The Impact
Chapter 5. Climate Change and Population Growth \ Brian C. O'Neill Chapter 6. Fair Weather, Lasting World \ Robert Engelman Chaper 7. Adapting to Climate Change: The Role of Reproductive Health \ Malea Hoepf Young, Elizabeth L. Malone, Elizabeth Leahy Madsen, and Amy Coen Chapter 8. Population Growth, Ecosystem Services, and Human Well-Being \ Lynne Gaffikin Chapter 9. Numbers Matter: Human Population as a Dynamic Factor in Environmental Degradation \ John Harte Chapter 10. Environmental Justice in an Urbanizing World \ Gordon McGranahan Chapter 11. The New Economics of Population Change \ Rachel Nugent Chapter 12. Food: Will There Be Enough? \ Lester R. Brown Chapter 13. Understanding the Global Food Crisis: Malthusian Nightmare or Free-Trade Fiasco? \ Walden Bello Chapter 14. How Much Is Left? An Overview of the Water Crisis \ Eleanor Sterling and Erin Vintinner Chapter 15. The Biggest Footprint: Population and Consumption in the United States \ Vicky Markham Chapter 16. Population Growth, Reproductive Health, and the Future of Africa \ Dr. Fred T. Sai Chapter 17. Cancún: Paradise Lost \ Adriana Varillas Chapter 18. The Flip Side: How the Environment Impacts Our Reproductive Health \ Charlotte Brody and Julia Varshavsky
PART III. Looking Back, Moving Forward Chapgter 19. Cairo: The Unfinished Revolution \ Carmen Baroso and Steven W. Sinding Chapter 20. The New Population Challenge \ Judith Bruce and John Bongaarts Chapter 21. Rethinking U.S. Population Policy \ Suzanne Petroni Chapter 22. Going to Extremes: Population Politics and Reproductive Rights in Peru \ Susana Chávez Alvarado and Jacqueline Nolley Echegaray Chapter 23. Mobilizing Constituencies to Achieve Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for All \ Adrienne Germain Chapter 24. Women at the Center \ Ellen Chesler Chapter 25. Taking Stock: Linking Population, Health, and the Environment \ Roger-Mark DeSouza Chapter 26. From Crisis to Sustainability \ James Gustav Speth
PART IV. Thoughts for the Journey
Chapter 27. Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights \ Jacqueline Nolley Echegaray and Shira Saperstein Chapter 28. Over-Breeders and the Population Bomb: The Reemergence of Nativism and Population Control in Anti-Immigration Policies \ Priscilla Huang Chapter 29. Christian Perspectives on Population Issues \ Rev. Dr. James B. Martin-Schramm Chapter 30. Ecomorality: Toward an Ethic of Sustainability \ Ursula Goodenough Chapter 31. Reconciling Differences: Population, Reproductive Rights, and the Environment \ Frances Kissling
Afterword: Work for Justice! \ Laurie Mazur and Shira Saperstein
Index
"A Pivotal Moment demonstrates the possibility of building a sustainable, more equitable future... People count and numbers matter—and this book is a classic call to action we cannot afford to ignore if we care about the well being of current and future generations."
