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The Overpopulation Podcast
The Overpopulation Podcast (here’s why we use the term “overpopulation”) features enlightening conversations between executive director Nandita Bajaj, researcher Alan Ware, and expert guests to discuss the often misunderstood impacts of our expanding human footprint on human rights, animal protection, and ecological preservation, as well as individual and collective solutions. We are proud to be the first and only nonprofit organization globally that draws the connections between pronatalism, human supremacy, social inequalities, and ecological overshoot. Ranking in the top 1.5% of all podcasts globally, we draw over 20,000 listeners from across 80 countries.
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New to our podcast?
There are over 60 episodes of The Overpopulation Podcast. If you are new to the podcast and are looking for a good place to start, we recommend you listen to these episodes first.
Latest Episodes
PETA: Leading the Fight for Animal Liberation
Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment. For International Animal Rights Day, we are joined by Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and President of PETA, the world’s largest animal rights organization.
Progressive Pathways for a Smaller Population
Population dynamics are deeply connected to environmental sustainability and social justice. That's the message of Pam Wasserman and Hannah Evans from Population Connection - the oldest grassroots population organization in the U.S.
What Does Water Want? | Restoring Earth by Realigning with Water’s Rhythms
Erica Gies, award-winning journalist and author of Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge, chats with us about the complex relationships between water, nature, and human societies, emphasizing the need to embrace 'slow water'—respecting the natural rhythms of water’s cycles for the benefit of both human and nonhuman life.
Breaking Out of the Baby Matrix: Busting Common Pronatalist Myths
In this interview with Laura Carroll, internationally recognized expert on pronatalism and the childfree choice, we unpack the many pervasively pronatalist assumptions that people have to navigate while deciding whether or not to have children, and the effects of those decisions on people and planet.
The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule
In this interview with award-winning science journalist Angela Saini, based on her bold and radical book The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule, we explore the roots and complex history of how patriarchy — in the form of gendered roles, pronatalism, and militarism — first became embedded in societies and spread across the globe from prehistory into the present.
The Toxification of Population Discourse: How Population Became a Dirty Word
When and why did population become a dirty word? And why are so many people shamed for advocating for population reduction? In this episode with political theorist and feminist scholar, Dr. Diana Coole, we unpack the history of the toxification of the population discourse over the last 30 years and the dire social and ecological consequences that this silencing has unleashed.
Population Growth, Modern Slavery, and Ecocide
Dr. Kevin Bales, world-renowned expert on contemporary global slavery, shines a light on the human rights violations and ecocidal impacts of modern day slavery, and the role that population growth, patriarchal pronatalism, religion, political regimes, global and local economies, and conflict play in perpetuating it.
Neoliberalism in the Womb: Japan’s Answer to its Baby Shortage Panic
Japan-based feminist scholar, Dr. Isabel Fassbender, discusses the toxic mix of patriarchy, biomedical capitalism, and nationalism that has emerged in response to Japan’s slightly declining population.
The Environmental Impact of Overpopulation: The Ethics of Procreation
Dr. Trevor Hedberg discusses his recent book The Environmental Impact of Overpopulation: The Ethics of Procreation about the ethical implications of procreation, both in terms of the risk of harm to the child and to the planet, understanding how pronatalism influences procreative decision-making, while rejecting antinatalist and misanthopic philosophies.
Engaging Boys and Men to Confront Patriarchy in Uganda
Andrew Kyamagero, an award-winning Ugandan journalist and family-planning advocate discusses the interaction of population dynamics, family planning, and male involvement in the promotion of gender equity within Uganda.
Reproductive Autonomy: A Human Right and a Foundation for a Healthy Planet
In honor of World Population Day, long-term researcher, writer, and advocate of reproductive and planetary health, Robert Engelman shines a light on the intimate links between reproductive autonomy and planetary health.
Patriarchy, Motherhood, and the Search for Meaning
Dr. Amrita Nandy, India-based feminist scholar addresses the questions: If autonomy is a basic human right, why do many women have little or no choice when it comes to motherhood? Do women know they have a choice? And how might we reimagine the widest sense of family-making and spiritual kinship that includes our love for all humans and more-than-humans?
An OB-GYN Unpacks the “Biological Clock,” Abortion, & Medical Pronatalism
OB-GYN Dr. Kristyn Brandi unpacks the “biological clock”, medical pronatalism, & the state of abortion care in post-Roe America. We also discuss the history of reproductive control & why understanding Critical Race Theory (CRT), Reproductive Justice (RJ), & pronatalism, is essential to justice & sustainability.
Breaking the Taboo on Motherhood Regret
Israeli sociologist Dr. Orna Donath discusses her groundbreaking research on motherhood regret, including the stringent control that society has over our emotions and actions, and how pronatalism is a cause for much confusion and suffering for parents and non-parents alike.
Soap Operas For Social Justice
Bill Ryerson, founder of one of the most effective sustainable population organizations in the world—Population Media Center, discusses the educational entertainment that his organization has used to promote important social and cultural changes that have helped 500 million people in over 50 countries.
Cops, Cabbages, and Thailand’s Mr. Condom
Affectionately known in Thailand as “Mr. Condom,” multiple award-winning health advocate Mechai Viravaidya discusses how, by using creativity and humor, he championed the most successful family-planning, AIDS prevention, and poverty reduction programs ever known.
The Unique Challenges of Being Black and Childfree
Dr. Kimya Nuru Dennis discusses her research on the Black childfree diaspora in countries around the world. We also touch upon the role that patriarchy and male domination plays in the relative powerlessness of women to take control over their reproduction, especially in BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities.
Vasectomy: One Small Snip For Man, One Giant Leap For Humankind(ness)
Columbian-American Dr. Esgar Guarín is on a mission to help destigmatize male reproductive responsibility for the love of their partners and the planet. Using a mobile vasectomy clinic as his advocacy vehicle to drive around the US spreading humor and activism, he offers free on-site mobile vasectomies.
The Not-So-Selfish Choice To Be Childfree
Therese Shechter discusses her new paradigm shifting documentary film My So-Called Selfish Life about one of our greatest social taboos: choosing not to become a mother. She exposes the oppressive and powerful cultural narratives that seek to maintain control over women's minds, bodies, and lives.
Sex Education (As Good As The Show!)
Sarah Baillie and Kelley Dennings from The Center for Biological Diversity share their exciting initiatives and advocacy work on destigmatizing sex, contraception, and reproductive decisions. They also share their awareness campaigns relating to population and consumption pressures on biodiversity.