OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance

Are there ethical and moral ways for governments to accelerate the move to smaller families in order to contract population? Ethicists Colin Hickey and Jake Earl weigh in on why this should be done and how we might do it fairly. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/earl-hickey   ABOUT US OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance [Formerly The Overpopulation Podcast] OVERSHOOT tackles today’s interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity’s excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance.  *Episodes from 2016-2021 were hosted by former executive director Dave Gardner and later with co-host Erika Arias, and then with co-host Nandita Bajaj. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance  

Everyone should consider the ethics of having children on an overpopulated, climate-disrupted planet. Travis Rieder, bioethicist and author of Toward a Small Family Ethic: How Overpopulation and Climate Change are Affecting the Morality of Procreation, joins us. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/travis-rieder   ABOUT US OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance [Formerly The Overpopulation Podcast] OVERSHOOT tackles today’s interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity’s excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance.  *Episodes from 2016-2021 were hosted by former executive director Dave Gardner and later with co-host Erika Arias, and then with co-host Nandita Bajaj. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance  

For over 20 years Laura Carroll has been researching the childfree choice and she’s interviewed thousands who’ve made this choice. We discuss the roots of our pronatal culture, where to get support for the childfree decision, myths about family size, the cost of raising children, and doing your part to solve overpopulation. Laura served as editor for the book, Man Swarm: How Overpopulation is Killing the Wild World by Dave Foreman, and is the author of The Baby Matrix: Why Freeing Our Minds From Outmoded Thinking About Parenthood & Reproduction Will Create a Better World, and Families of Two: Interviews With Happily Married Couples Without Children by Choice. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/laura-carroll   ABOUT US OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance [Formerly The Overpopulation Podcast] OVERSHOOT tackles today’s interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity’s excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance.  *Episodes from 2016-2021 were hosted by former executive director Dave Gardner and later with co-host Erika Arias, and then with co-host Nandita Bajaj. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance