Talk about blaming the victim. Pat Robertson says the misery inflicted by the Haitian earthquake is payback for “a pact with the devil.” Rush Limbaugh blames the nation’s “communist” leadership. And according to New York Times columnist David Brooks, Haiti’s desperate poverty is a result of “progress-resistant cultural influences.“ Throughout the media coverage, “overpopulation” is hyped as another explanation for Haiti’s poverty and vulnerability to disaster. One former U.S. diplomat told CNN that Haiti is overpopulated because its people know nothing of birth control. The mainstream news media subtly reinforce this ...More

In “The ‘New’ Population Control Craze: Retro, Racist, Wrong Way to Go,” Betsy Hartmann implies that everyone working on population-environment issues is part of a misogynistic plot to bring back “population control.” I’m here to tell you she is wrong. I am a lifelong, card-carrying feminist and political progressive. I am passionately committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights, to environmental sustainability, and to closing the inequitable divide between men and women, rich and poor. And I believe that slowing population growth—by ensuring that all people have ...More

The debate about population growth and climate change is heating up. First, researchers at Oregon State University showed that having fewer children is among the best ways for Americans to limit their carbon footprint. Then the UK’s Optimum Population Trust (OPT) came out with a report claiming that contraception is five times cheaper than conventional green technologies as a means of combating climate change. The new attention to population growth and climate change presents an opportunity—and also a danger. On the opportunity side, it could generate new support for family ...More