A feed from Growth Bias Busted, a GrowthBusters‘ project that highlights examples of pro-growth bias in the media, to awaken the journalists and enlighten the commentators who base what they write on unexamined assumptions about the feasibility and desirability of everlasting growth. Growth Bias Busted is an interactive online community where you can vote, discuss and submit stories about bias in the media. You can learn more about GrowthBusters through the MAHB Node, Media Messaging.
15 March 2018. Economic Growth a Fool’s Errand – The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) earns my gratitude, but not my respect, for publishing this commentary: Opinion: Economic Growth Is Not Compatible With Environmental Sustainability I couldn’t miss that the EEB was careful to label this as “opinion.” Why? Because economic growth remains the Holy Grail. It is blasphemous to suggest its pursuit be abandoned. So the […]
31 January 2018. People of China Adopt Their Own One-Child Policy – Could it be the people will do the right thing even when the law doesn’t require it? I am thrilled at the news in this Associated Press story: China’s Birthrate Dropped Despite Allowing 2-Child Families You may recall that China relaxed its infamous “one-child policy” two years ago out of a misplaced concern about the […]
18 January 2018. Hopelessly Having Kids – How paradoxical that this recommended action to show faith in the future will guarantee there IS no future for our species. Show the World You Have Hope in Tomorrow — Have More Kids Columnist Cynthia M. Allen has bought into the hand-wringing over declining birth rates. Economists and other priests of the church of growth […]
11 January 2018. The Magic of Economic Growth: BS – It’s disheartening to see an economics professor regurgitate the myth that economic growth can allow us to ignore inequity and poverty. But perhaps I should thank University of Georgia’s Jeffrey Dorfman for giving us this classic, textbook example of the kind of thinking that keeps our society chasing growth: Why Growth Matters Dorfman sums up, […]
15 December 2017. Paul Ryan: Make More Babies to Grow Economy to Balance Budget – FAIL – House Speaker Paul Ryan yesterday staked his claim to our Wall of Shame with a couple of very misguided statements showing he skipped science class during the lessons on sustainability, overshoot and overpopulation. Discussing entitlement reform at a news conference in the U.S. Capital, Ryan resorted to politicians’ usual fallback position about the solution to […]
7 December 2017. Civilizational Suicide Not Fast Enough for Daily Beast Columnist – Growth boosters and profiteers, and many of the policymakers they dupe, have been wringing their hands lately over the progress our society is making on the overpopulation front. Their propaganda on this is ridiculous and dangerous. Don’t get too excited. The progress – while a step in the right direction – is far too little. […]
29 November 2017. Prince William on Overpopulation – Hypocrisy? – I honestly don’t know whether to honor Prince William on the Wall of Fame or scold him a little on the Wall of Shame for his recent pronouncement about the “terrible impact” of rapidly growing human population. I write today in response to this news: Prince William Warns That There Are Too Many People in […]
22 November 2017. Eviction Notice from Earth: How Will We Respond? – Wall of Fame honors and a very big tip of the hat to 15,000 scientists around the world who elected to issue a wake-up call this year about the folly that will bring human civilization down if we don’t change our ways. World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice Here are a few excerpts […]
15 November 2017. Egghead: Women Should Extrude New Workers to Grow Economy – Wisconsin State Representative Scott Allen makes the Wall of Shame this week for two guilty counts: Worrying that population decline is a problem (shrinking labor force) rather than celebrating population contraction toward a sustainable level. Suggesting that women should incubate more workers in order to boost economic growth. Count one isn’t all that surprising, because politicians […]
1 November 2017. Honey, Let’s Shrink the Family – Congratulations to UK nonprofit Population Matters for a new video campaign raising awareness of the huge environmental benefits of conceiving fewer children. It’s an obvious choice for the Wall of Fame this week. Small Families, Small Planet is a video whose time has come. The “population taboo” is fading into history, as scientific studies, news […]