Population Balance (formerly World Population Balance) is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

non-profit organization in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that raises awareness of the connections between pronatalism, human supremacy,

social inequalities Social inequality occurs when resources within a society are distributed unevenly, often as a result of inequitable allocation practices that create distinct unequal patterns based on socially defined categories of people. Differences in acce ...

, and

ecological overshoot Ecological overshoot is the phenomenon which occurs when the demands made on a natural ecosystem exceed its regenerative capacity. Global ecological overshoot occurs when the demands made by humanity exceed what the biosphere of Earth can provide ...

, and advocates for solutions to address their combined impacts on the planet, people, and animals.

History and background

Population Balance was founded by David Paxson as World Population Balance in 1993. He was succeeded as the executive director in 2016 by Dave Gardner. In 2021 Nandita Bajaj became executive director and the organization adopted its current name of Population Balance and a new vision, mission, and philosophy. Notable past and present advisors include

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

laureate

Norman Borlaug Norman Ernest Borlaug (; March 25, 1914September 12, 2009) was an American agronomist who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution. Borlaug was awarded multiple ...

, former Governor of Michigan

William Milliken William Grawn Milliken (March 26, 1922 – October 18, 2019) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 44th governor of Michigan from 1969 to 1983. A member of the Republican Party, he assumed the governorship following the r ...

, originator of the "

ecological footprint The ecological footprint measures human demand on natural capital, i.e. the quantity of nature it takes to support people and their economies. It tracks human demand on nature through an ecological accounting system. The accounts contrast the biolo ...

" concept William E. Rees, actress and activist

Alexandra Paul Alexandra Elizabeth Paul (born July 29, 1963) is an American actress. She began her career modeling in New York before landing her first major role in John Carpenter's horror film '' Christine'' (1983). This was followed with prominent roles in ...

, and physicist

Albert Allen Bartlett Albert Allen Bartlett (March 21, 1923 – September 7, 2013) was an American professor of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. As of July 2001, Professor Bartlett had lectured over 1,742 times since September 1969 on ''Arithmetic, P ...

Activities

Activities include The Overpopulation Podcast, classroom and conference presentations, academic and media publications, and media and podcast interviews.

The Overpopulation Podcast

The Overpopulation Podcast is released twice monthly and is ranked in the top 1.5% of podcasts globally. The podcast hosts interview expert guests to explore the drivers and impacts of ecological overshoot as well as individual and collective solutions. Notable guests have included

Mechai Viravaidya Mechai Viravaidya (born 17 January 1941, ; ) is a former politician and activist in Thailand known for promoting condoms, family planning, and AIDS awareness. Since the 1970s, Mechai has been affectionately called "Mr. Condom", and condoms are ...

Riane Eisler Riane Tennenhaus Eisler (born July 22, 1931) is an Austrian-born American systems scientist, futurist, attorney, and author who writes about the effect of gender and family politics historically on societies, and vice versa. She is best known ...

Paul Ehrlich Paul Ehrlich (; 14 March 1854 – 20 August 1915) was a Nobel Prize-winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology and antimicrobial chemotherapy. Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure fo ...

, Alan Weisman,

Naomi Oreskes Naomi Oreskes (; born November 25, 1958) is an American historian of science. She became Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University in 2013, after 15 years as Professor of H ...

, William E. Rees,

Angela Saini Angela Saini (born 1980) is a British science journalist, broadcaster and the author of books, of which the fourth, ''The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality'', was published in 2023 and was a finalist for that year's George Orwell Prize for ...

Partha Dasgupta Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta (born 17 November 1942) is an Indian-British economist who is Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, and a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. Personal life H ...

Carl Safina Carl Safina (born May 23, 1955) is an American ecologist and author of books and other writings about the human relationship with the natural world. His books include ''Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achie ...

Richard Heinberg Richard William Heinberg (b. October 21, 1950) is an American journalist and educator who has written extensively on energy, economic, and ecological issues, including oil depletion. He is the author of 14 books, and presently serves as the senio ...

, Orna Donath,

Robert Jensen Robert William Jensen (born July 14, 1958) is a former professor of journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. From 1992 to 2018 he taught graduate and undergraduate courses in media law, ethics, and politics. He has focused much of his ...

Jo-Anne McArthur Jo-Anne McArthur (born December 23, 1976) is a Canadian photojournalist, humane educator, animal rights activist and author. She is known for her We Animals project, a photography project documenting human relationships with animals. Through the W ...

, Robert Engelman, Malcolm Potts,

Kevin Bales Kevin Brian Bales (born 1952) is Professor of Contemporary Slavery at the University of Nottingham, co-author of the Global Slavery Index, and was a co-founder and previously president of Free the Slaves, the US sister organization of Anti-Sla ...

, and

Vegard Skirbekk Vegard Skirbekk is a Norwegian population economist and social scientist specializing in demographic analysis and cohort studies. He is a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and also Professor of Population and Family ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Population Balance Ecology organizations Environmental organizations established in 1993 Non-profit organizations based in the United States Population concern organizations Environmental organizations Population concern advocacy groups Sustainability organizations Anti-consumerist groups Minimalism Animal rights organizations Reproductive rights organizations Women's rights organizations based in the United States Women's rights organizations Degrowth Abortion-rights organizations Social justice organizations Vegan organizations 501(c)(3) organizations