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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
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.
The Social and Ecological Costs of Population Denialism | In memory of Haydn Washington
Dr. Helen Kopnina pays tribute to late Dr. Hadyn Washington and his uncompromising commitment to sustainability and justice. She also discusses her personal introduction to an eco-centric worldview through nature’s healing power, as well as the social and ecological costs of population denialism.
Weaving Meaning Back into Life
Deep and integrative thinker Jeremy Lent dismantles the dominant narrative that we are machines driven by selfishness and competition, and helps us reconsider our human identity in the context of the deep intelligence and interconnectedness that animates life within and around us.
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.
Accounting for Nature: The Economics of Biodiversity
Sir Partha Dasgupta takes us on a journey on how the current growth-based economic models came to be, and why their Nature-destructive policies have turned our planet into a house of cards. We unpack his most recent publication UK government-commissioned publication, The Economics of Biodiversity.
Embracing Limits With Ecospheric Grace
Author Robert Jensen discusses his latest book An Inconvenient Apocalypse that he co-authored with The Land Institute’s co-founder Wes Jackson, about the need to grapple with difficult questions and to consciously embrace limits, as a pathway to a more graceful and meaningful co-existence with Nature.
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.
A Profound Vision For An Ecological Civilization
Dr. Eileen Crist—a deep, profound, and compassionate systems thinker—shines a light on the worldview of human supremacy that foregrounds our relationship of dominion towards non-human animals and all of nature, and offers a vision for cultivating a more indigenous-inspired identity as Earthlings.
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.
Sawing off the Limb on Which We are Perched
Co/author of over 40 books, including the best-selling book The Population Bomb, Dr. Paul Ehrlich gives us a 50,000-ft view of humanity’s evolution over 300,000 years and the misunderstood and manufactured “normal” that currently defines us.
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.
Tackling Islamophobic Population Myths
Dr. S.Y. Quraishi discusses his latest book The Population Myth and debunks the myth around exaggerated fears of Muslim numbers, born out of Islamophobic propaganda, and shares that lack of socio-economic empowerment rather than religiosity fuels higher fertility rates.
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.
Rome is Burning. The Time is Now
On a mission to bend the curve on population and consumption, Dr. Phoebe Barnard discusses the need to move beyond dichotomous thinking and to rally together leaders from across faith, science, and activism to urgently protect our incredible spaceship Earth-with humility, love, and deep collaboration.
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.
Are Children and Future Generations Being Betrayed?
Dr. Sofia Pineda Ochoa explains why she is taking our society to task for ignoring the peril of human overpopulation. Habitat destruction, species extinction, and animal agriculture top the list of topics. “Can’t we talk about something that’s so obvious and undeniable?” asks Ochoa.
Pronatalism and Overpopulation | Challenging the Social Pressures to Procreate
The decision to have children or not is arguably one of the most important decisions we make in our lives. It’s largely regarded as an isolated personal decision, but how personal is it really? We are joined by four expert international panelists to unpack the pervasive and oppressive powers of pronatalism.
Earth Overshoot Day: Overdrafting the World's Ecosystems
“We are using up the biophysical basis of our own existence; the only way out of overshoot is less production and less consumption, so it means a much smaller economy and far fewer people.” That’s the bottom line of this Earth Overshoot Day conversation with William Rees, the father of ecological footprint analysis.
Perspectives from Population Institute's New President
Great strides have been made in advancing women’s reproductive autonomy, but there is still much to accomplish. Kathleen Mogelgaard discusses the Institute’s work, including reducing the unmet need for family planning and an active effort to permanently repeal the global gag rule.