OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance

How has Japan's slightly declining population given rise to a toxic mix of patriarchy, biomedical capitalism, and nationalism? Isabel Fassbender, a Japan-based feminist scholar and author of Active Pursuit of Pregnancy: Neoliberalism, Postfeminism and the Politics of Reproduction in Contemporary Japan, joins us. Highlights include: How Japan's panicked response to a slight population decline reflects a troubling blend of patriarchy, nationalism, and biomedical capitalism; Why a country with an ecological overshoot and chronic overwork crisis should welcome population decline but instead promotes pronatalist alarm; What exploitative tactics Japanese policymakers and media use to pressure women into reproduction, in collaboration with the fertility industry; How poor sex education, limited abortion provision, and limited reproductive rights undermine women's autonomy in one of the world's least gender-equal industrialized nations. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/isabel-fassbender 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

Dr. Camilo Mora, a renowned professor, discusses the impacts of population growth on climate change, biodiversity loss, and pandemics. He shares personal experiences from Colombia, highlighting the connection between population pressures and environmental degradation. The podcast delves into the challenges of addressing overpopulation denial and the importance of implementing sustainable solutions for the wellbeing of people and the planet.

Trevor Hedberg, an environmental and procreative ethicist, discusses the ethical implications of procreation, the environmental impact of overpopulation, pronatalism, and the need for population reduction to reduce suffering. He explores rights-based policy strategies to balance the right to have a family with the rights of others and rejects antinatalism and misanthropy.

What happens when we renounce our ego and allow nature to become our teacher? Subrabha Seshan, rainforest conservationist and educator, joins us. Highlights include: What the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Kerala, India is doing to serve as an ecological "ark" amid the flood of human expansion; How Subrapha's work combines traditional knowledge and scientific practices to protect endangered plants of the Western Ghats biome; Why understanding plant interdependence is essential for restoring forest ecosystems and supporting biodiversity; How rewilding efforts at the sanctuary provide refuge for both nonhuman life and human spirit in a time of ecological destruction; What lessons human societies can learn from living in harmony with complex plant communities. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/suprabha-seshan 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

Male involvement in family planning is key to changing population dynamics and promoting gender equity in Uganda. Andrew Kyamagero, a Ugandan journalist and family-planning advocate, joins us. Highlights include: How patriarchal norms drive high fertility, child marriage, and low female education and workforce participation in Uganda; Why Western imperialism, both historical and ongoing, continues to challenge Uganda's sovereignty; Why engaging boys and men in confronting patriarchy and pronatalism is essential for sustainable gender equality; How male advocacy complements the empowerment of girls and women to achieve true gender equality and ecological sustainbility in Uganda. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/andrew-kyamagero 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

Reproductive autonomy and empowering choice are key to both human rights and planetary health. Robert Engelman, researcher, writer, former newspaper reporter and author of More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want, joins us. Highlights include: How women have been controlling their fertility for thousands of years through various forms of contraception; What 10,000 years of history reveal about the link between the erosion of women's reproductive rights, population growth, and environmental degradation; How women lost control over both the timing and frequency of their pregnancies as patriarchal cultural norms became more established; How fertility rates have declined alongside gains in gender equality over the past century and why continuing this trend is vital for both reproductive and ecological justice. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/robert-engelman 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

What happens when we stop treating people and the planet like they're here to serve the economy and start treating the economy like it's here to serve us? Amanda Janoo, Economics and Policy Lead at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, joins us. Through clear examples and policy strategies, Janoo illustrates the cultural and metaphysical transformation that can occur within communities when social and ecological wellbeing become our primary goals, and the economy becomes the means to help us achieve those goals by putting our fundamental needs for Dignity, Nature, Purpose, Fairness and Participation at the core of its activities and getting things right the first time around. We also discuss the work of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance in leading the collaboration of organisations, alliances, movements and individuals working to transform the economic system. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/amanda-janoo 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

Free-market fundamentalism undermines democracy and exploits marginalized communities to benefit a small minority of elites. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University and co-author of The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, joins us. Using her latest book that she co-authored with Erik M. Conway, The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loath Government and Love the Free Market as the basis of our conversation, she explains how free-market fundamentalism has had a long history of undermining democracy and exploiting marginalized communities to benefit a small minority of elites. We also discuss the role that libertarian, techno-fundamentalist, and Catholic anti-choice think tanks such as the Cato Institute, Foundation for Economic Education, the Breakthrough Institute, and Population Research Institute have played in fueling anti-Science propaganda on overpopulation denialism, and why these forces must be vehemently opposed for a more just and sustainable planet. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/naomi-oreskes 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

Humans are overpowering Earth's natural systems and oppressing one another. Richard Heinberg, author of Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival and one of the world's foremost experts on energy and sustainability, joins us. Using his latest book, Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival as the basis of our conversation, we unpack how humans have come to overpower Earth's natural systems and oppress one another and how we might address this. Richard challenges the techno-utopian absurdity of "green growth" and explains how unfettered human expansionism, even with a "green" tint, is incompatible with natural limits. We discuss how we might deliberately rein in our power, starting with an urgent transition away from fossil fuels, and move from a culture of unabated growth toward a culture of sufficiency, simplicity, and resilience. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/richard-heinberg 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

If autonomy is a basic human right, why do many women have little or no choice when it comes to motherhood? Amrita Nandy, a feminist scholar and author of Motherhood and Choice: Uncommon Mothers, Childfree Women, joins us. India has just surpassed China as the most populous country in the world. What role has patriarchal pronatalism played in spurring this growth? What roles do patriarchy, religion, and the free market play in institutionalizing marriage and motherhood, and what influence does that have on women's lives and identities? 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? These are some of the questions we explore in this episode with Dr. Amrita Nandy, India-based feminist, researcher, and writer. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/amrita-nandy 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