OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance

Childfree adults make up a significant portion of the population, yet they remain largely invisible in policymaking and demographic surveys. Zachary Neal and Jennifer Watling Neal, psychologists and childfree researchers, join us. Highlights include: A discussion of how childfree adults make up a significant portion of the population, yet they remain largely invisible in policymaking and demographic surveys; Zak and Jenna's attempt to create a consistent definition of "childfree" by including specific questions about people's desire for children rather than their biological capability for having children; Among people without children, being voluntarily childfree is significantly more prevalent than being involuntarily childless, which challenges the often alarmist and pronatalist media and demographic narratives; The underrepresentation of the needs and desires of people without children in real estate planning, which privileges the needs of people with children, is also reflected in their lower levels of satisfaction with their neighborhoods; How the combination of market forces and alarmist 'population crash' arguments are increasingly influencing demographic research, making it less reliable; How the childfree community can leverage social network theory – by using bonding and bridging ties between childfree and parent individuals – to build stronger childfree social networks and shift societal norms towards greater acceptance of childfree choices. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/zachary-neal-jennifer-watling-neal 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Modern life is filled with confusing and often terrifying problems, leaving many of us struggling with how to make morally decent choices. Travis N. Rieder, bioethicist and moral philosopher and author of Catastrophe Ethics, joins us. Highlights include: Why modern life can be both morally exhausting and puzzling and individual action can often seem insignificant within the context of the massive and complex systems that surround our daily lives; How we can overcome this sense of 'moral dumbfounding' to better align our actions with our values; Why the decision to have a biological child is an example of 'monumental ethics' that requires a great amount of moral deliberation; Why an overly narrow focus on utilitarian ethics can be dangerous and the modern 'effective altruism' movement reflects these dangers. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/travis-rieder-2 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Pronatalism shapes how we think about parenthood and reproduction, often in ways we don't even notice. Laura Carroll, an expert on pronatalism, the childfree choice, and author of The Baby Matrix, joins us. Highlights include: Highlighted stories of women from Laura's latest book, A Special Sisterhood: 100 Fascinating Women From History Who Never had Children; A discussion of the various 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; Laura offers alternative perspectives that elevate reproductive autonomy — such that parenthood and non-parenthood are equally acceptable options, and reproductive responsibility — a consideration of the wellbeing of potential child and the planet. How to respond to pronatalist pressures from family and friends in as loving a way as possible, while staying grounded in our own knowledge and truth. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/laura-carroll-2 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Techno-industrial extractivism is driving environmental destruction, and the media is complicit in upholding the growth model that sustains it. Christopher Ketcham, author of This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption Are Ruining the American West, joins us. Highlights include: How techno-industrial extractivism plagues modern societies and the media is complicity in failing to challenge the growth model on which it is based; How environmental destruction in the U.S. West has been aided and abetted by corrupt federal land management agencies that have been captured by the livestock, forestry, and mining interests they're supposed to be regulating; The U.S. Department of Interior has failed to enforce the Endangered Species Act and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service engages in ongoing and shocking mass slaughter of animals that threaten the livestock industry; How 'green growth' ideology is fueling the lithium mining on sacred indigenous lands and aligns leading environmental groups with 'green' industry interests; Chris' vision of ecological restoration which calls for freeing the trampled, denuded ecosystems from the effects of grazing, enforcing the laws already in place to defend biodiversity, allowing the native species of the West to recover under a fully implemented Endangered Species Act, and establishing vast stretches of public land where there will be no development at all, not even for recreation. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/christopher-ketcham 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Patriarchy has shaped societies across the globe, but how did it take root? Angela Saini, science journalist and author of The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule, joins us. Highlights include: How gendered roles, pronatalism, and militarism – key features of patriarchies – are very recent phenomena within the long span of human history, emerging with the rise of early states and empires and their pressures on women to have many children for the state for the sake of greater economic and military power; The diversity of human arrangements, including the prevalence of egalitarian and matrilineal societies around the world – past and present – reveal that male-supremacy is neither natural nor immutable. As long as nation states remain committed to valuing productivity and growth – primarily by maintaining control over women's reproduction and over nature – achieving gender equality and ecological justice will remain illusory goals, even in the most progressive nations. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/angela-saini 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

When and why did population become a dirty word? Diana Coole, political theorist and feminist scholar, joins us. Highlights include: Why population shaming is the main barrier to open conversations about overpopulation - an major contributor to mounting social and ecological catastrophes, including climate change, biodiversity destruction, resource scarcity, and conflict; How population shaming pushed overpopulation from a central environmental issue in the 1970s to a near-taboo topic today; How fears of neo-colonialism in the Global South made population issues politically untouchable; How associations with past eugenics programs silenced overpopulation discourse in the Global North; Why neoliberalism and the fixation on economic growth continue to promote population growth policies; What the 1974, 1984, and 1994 World Population and Development conferences reveal about shifting religious, cultural, and political attitudes toward population. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/diana-coole 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Environmental and social breakdown from intersecting crises is accelerating, but how can we navigate it? Asher Miller and Rob Dietz of the Post Carbon Institute join us to discuss their latest report, Welcome to the Great Unraveling. Highlights include: Why human supremacy and ecological overshoot are the root causes of the unfolding 'great unraveling'; How global suffering could increase with the threat of rising polarization, techno-solutionism, and conflict; Why embracing complexity, uncertainty, and competing priorities is key to maintaining social cohesion and international peace; How seeking wisdom and knowledge from communities who have experienced collapse and suffering can help us build household and community resilience for this precarious time. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/asher-miller-rob-dietz 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Oppression, exploitation, and domination harm both humans and nonhumans, but how can we dismantle these systems? Hope Ferdowsian, president of Phoenix Zones Initiative and a public health physician, joins us. Highlights include: Why the exploitation of animals in food production and research is linked to broader global violence and conflict; How powerful corporate interests fuel issues like hunger, climate change, extinction, and pandemics through institutionalized animal exploitation; What ethics-based policy changes in academia, public health, and global institutions can do to transform harmful systems; How the "phoenix effect" in survivors of trauma reveals pathways to healing, resilience, and justice for all beings. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/hope-ferdowsian 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

How has blind faith in human exceptionalism, neoliberal economics, and technological optimism led us into a state of ecological overshoot? Bill Rees, population ecologist and co-creator of the ecological footprint analysis, joins us. Highlights include: How human exceptionalism, techno-optimism, and neoliberal economics have blinded us to ecological limits and fueled ecological overshoot; How cheap and abundant energy enabled the transformation of nature into human artifacts and the exploitation of poorer nations by richer ones; Why continuing the same path of economic growth obsession in the form of "green growth" will still lead to ecological collapse; Why nothing short of a cooperative, well-planned, orderly contraction of economic activity, consumption, and population is needed to align human activity with Earth's productive and assimilative capacities; Why Bill concludes what is "ecologically necessary is politically infeasible, while the politically feasible is ecologically catastrophic"; How communities grounded in ecological wisdom might act as lifeboats guiding us toward a livable post-industrial future. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/william-rees-2 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Modern-day slavery persists as a global tragedy, violating fundamental human rights and causing widespread ecological destruction. Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery and Research Director of the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, UK and an expert on modern day slavery, joins us. Highlights include: How population growth, pronatalism, religion, economic systems, and war have sustained slavery in the past and present; Why modern slavery is often difficult to identify due to cultural practices and laws such debt bondage, forced marriage, and labor exploitation that are provided cultural and legal camouflage; How modern slavery contributes disproportionately to environmental harm, including CO₂ emissions and biodiversity loss; What it takes to dismantle slavery today and the joy that Kevin feels in helping free thousands of people from slavery. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/kevin-bales 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. Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance