Discussing the Silence and Denial around Population Growth and Its Environmental Impact. How Do We Find Ways Forward?

Haydn Washington and Helen Kopnina ()
Additional contact information
Haydn Washington: Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre (ESSRC), School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Level 5, Biological Sciences Building (D26) Kensington Campus, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Helen Kopnina: Newcastle Business School, University of Northumbria, Newcastle NE1 8ST, UK

World, 2022, vol. 3, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: Academia and government often ignore or deny the impact of population growth on the environment. However, key scientific institutions and reports confirm that population growth is a major driver of climate disruption and other environmental crises. We review the environmental science of population growth. Issues that block dialogue are discussed, such as growthism, anthropocentrism, denial, religious and cultural taboos, fear of being called a racist, the issue of rights claims, seeking political power through numbers, the framing of social justice issues, and sophistical claims regarding ‘racism’. We examine examples of denial about population in academia and government. We explore ways forward to gain dialogue, and we also consider success stories. We conclude that population growth, like overconsumption, must be foregrounded to create ecologocally sustainable economies and a sustainable future.

Keywords: population; blocks to dialogue; growthism; anthropocentrism; denial; cultural taboos; rights; social justice; sophistry; ecological limits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G17 G18 L21 L22 L25 L26 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 R51 R52 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/3/4/57/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/3/4/57/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jworld:v:3:y:2022:i:4:p:57-1027:d:992046

Access Statistics for this article

World is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Hu

More articles in World from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().