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Get married, buy a house, raise a family. For many of us, that\u2019s the expected life trajectory. Are we entitled to meet that expectation? If many follow the typical trajectory, including having two or more children, then we drive human civilization right off a cliff.

On an overpopulated planet, does society have an obligation to make parenthood possible, practical, convenient, and/or affordable to all? Public policy on the table in the U.S. today is designed to make it easier for couples to have children. Ethicist Philip Cafaro joins us to discuss the motivations behind these policies and the moral questions about whether people are \u201centitled\u201d to have children on an overpopulated planet.

In this episode, we hear some unenlightened statements about U.S. population from U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, including inviting listeners to conclude U.S. population is declining (it is not), and a healthy dose of depopulation panic.

Cafaro is professor of philosophy at Colorado State University and an affiliated faculty member of CSU\u2019s School of Global Environmental Sustainability. He\u2019s also written a couple of books about human overpopulation, and he is co-founder of The Overpopulation Project.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

The Overpopulation Project
https://overpopulation-project.com/

Just Population Policies for an Overpopulated World - by Philip Cafaro
\xa0https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/pdfs/epub-046.pdf

Climate Ethics and Population Policy - by Philip Cafaro
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264492830_Climate_ethics_and_population_policy

Climate Ethics and Population Policy: A Review of Recent Philosophical Work - by Philip Cafaro
\xa0https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wcc.748

Toward a Small Family Ethic: How Overpopulation and Climate Change Are Affecting the Morality of Procreation \u2013 by Travis Rieder
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29846041-toward-a-small-family-ethic

Moral Basis for Small Families: Travis Rieder - Episode #206 of Conversation Earth
http://www.conversationearth.org/moral-basis-small-families-travis-rieder-206/

Public Policy Brakes on Procreation? Travis Rieder - Episode #207 of Conversation Earth
http://www.conversationearth.org/public-policy-brakes-procreation-travis-rieder-207/

One Child: Do We Have a Right to More \u2013 by Sarah Conly
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26308950-one-child

Stuck in Traffic? Head to Mars - Episode 63 of GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/stuck-in-traffic-head-to-mars/

8 Billion Angels \u2013 documentary film
https://8billionangels.org/

Earth Overshoot
https://www.earthovershoot.org/

Sustainable Population Australia
https://population.org.au/

Time\u2019s 2021 Person of the Year Elon Musk Is So\xa0Wrong \u2013 by Simon Cole
https://equanimity.blog/2021/12/29/times-2021-person-of-the-year-elon-musk-is-so-wrong/

Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival \u2013 by Richard Heinberg
https://power.postcarbon.org/

Ice Shelf Holding Back Antarctica\u2019s \u2018Doomsday Glacier\u2019, Is Fracturing And \u2018Won\u2019t Last Long\u2019, Scientists Warn
https://au.yahoo.com/news/ice-shelf-holding-back-antarctica-184346587.html

Human Consciousness \u2013 by Robert Bolman
https://robertbolman.com/human-consciousness/

This Sustainable Life podcast \u2013 by Joshua Spodek
https://joshuaspodek.com/podcast

Don't Call Doof Food: Systemic Change Begins with Personal Change \u2013 Joshua Spodek TEDx Talk
https://youtu.be/L4OAaI_uXgY

GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth \u2013 free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo

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The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/

On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society\u2019s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture\u2019s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.

Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared \u201ccould be the most important film ever made.\u201d Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.

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