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The news that China\u2019s massive population dropped by nearly a million people last year was almost universally reported as a \u201ccrisis.\u201d In this episode we unpack the news coverage and take journalists to task for completely overlooking the fact that, in an overpopulated world, population contraction should be greeted with a collective sigh of relief.

The population news was accompanied by an announcement that China\u2019s economy grew by only three percent, less than half the previous year\u2019s 8.1 percent. This, too, was reported as bad news for China. Of course, obsession with GDP growth is what\u2019s driving China\u2019s recently-found determination to convince its citizens to start birthing more laborers. And globally the GDP growth fetish is killing the planet.

Dave explains how China\u2019s efforts to keep its population growing are an effort to perpetuate a Ponzi scheme, and this is not the behavior of a good global citizen. \u201cWe need to make one-child families the norm, for the next hundred years, if we want those children to have any shot at a decent life.\u201d

We give special attention to the reporting of Steve Inskeep on NPR\u2019s Morning Edition, as well as Geoff Bennett of PBS NewsHour. These journalists should have a much more comprehensive understanding of limits to growth and the unsustainability of perpetual economic and population growth.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

China\u2019s Population Can Still Prosper - by Catherine Bowen and Vegard Skirbekk
https://www.wired.com/story/china-fertility-population-decline-demography-economics/

Mainstream Media Blindness to China\u2019s Depopulation Dividend - by Jon Austen, in our Ending Overshoot publication on Medium
https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/mainstream-media-blindness-to-chinas-depopulation-dividend-419e708e460

Now Here\u2019s What We Call an Eco-Superhero - Episode 76 of the GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/eco-superhero/

Join the GrowthBusters online community
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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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