PROJECTS
BOOK:
GROWING PAINS --
A PLANET IN DISTRESS
ISBN: 9781450204293
Softcover $23.95
Hardcover $33.95
332 Pages (including bibliography and index)
This book is now available and may be ordered through usual outlets (Chapters, Coles, Amazon, etc) or by contacting:
iUniverse
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.iuniverse.com
1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)
ENDORSEMENTS:
"We have waited a long time for a book like this. In the clearest terms, Growing Pains provides the reasons why we need to reduce the world's population and gives us the how-to information required to get on with the job. Val Allen lists things anyone can do right now, regardless of the size of their family, to help humanity overcome its greatest threat. Buy this book, read it and pass it on. We should all take its message to heart."
Ben Gadd, award-winning naturalist and author
"Ms. Allen is passionate about the problems of overpopulation both globally and locally and she conveys her passion very well in this book. She examines incontrovertible facts and their implications, as well as pointing out how our leaders and our societies ignore these facts. In the face of these facts she points out that there are some who advocate policies that make worse the problems of overpopulation. The public needs to know the facts that are presented in this book."
Prof. Albert A. Bartlett Boulder Colorado
"In a world reeling from environmental, social, political, and economic crisis, the vast majority of elected people, scientists, citizens and media doggedly prolong their failure to even address, let alone deal with, the driving force behind this turmoil -- massive and escalating human overpopulation. This book is a brave and rare effort to step into the gap and shine light on human kinds most critical and threatening failure."
Dr. Brian L. Horejsi, Wildlife Conservation Scientist Calgary, AB
"A valuable reference for every world citizen concerned about protecting the earth from rampant population growth."
Edward C. Hartman Author: "The Population Fix"
"This is really quite a significant piece of work. Val Allen has assembled just a huge mass of information from disparate sources on a wide range of critical topics and laid it out in a very effective manner.
The many anecdotal and personal views lend a ground level perspective which serves to flatten the learning curve for the otherwise daunting scale of these issues. The message is very clear without being strident. Scope and depth are excellent.
It manages to be both a solid starter for any interested person and a great reference for the researcher. Growing Pains takes the pain out of learning about our planetary problems."
Cheers,
John Meyer
BOOK FOREWORD
"Val Allen has written a very readable book on a very serious subject—Earth’s human population in overshoot. Her book provides plenty of facts and data, but it does much more than that. It also reaches us at an emotional level and invites us to consider what we are destroying and to mourn the loss we are inflicting upon ourselves even as we decimate other life-forms. For those who will consider it and connect a very few dots, the evidence of what we are doing has become incontrovertible. And yet, as stated in Growing Pains, “Never before on this planet have so many inhabitants been so misinformed about something that is so important and urgent, as with the population issue.” Allen illustrates with examples how, at many levels, political priorities are misguided, to say the least. She also describes the futility of so many of the “solutions” to our environmental, social, and economic problems, because they ignore the Real problem—that infinite growth of population and consumption on a finite planet is impossible.
Humankind’s most noble objectives, such as human rights for all as endorsed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, will not be attainable in a world in which overpopulation is unraveling the web of life. Allen offers some rays of hope. She uses citations from and describes the efforts of many population activists and scientists. A quote from Victor Hugo reads, “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” Perhaps the increased reporting on population that is now starting to occur reflects the slowly dawning awareness among a critical mass of people that we humans are biological organisms that can and indeed have exceeded the carrying capacity of our environment. Val Allen’s straightforward book is a great tool to help spread this idea whose time has most certainly come."
Dr. Madeline Weld
President, Population Institute of Canada
Book Reviews
Growing Pains by Val Allen
A review by Dr. Vivian Pharis
Former President of the Alberta Wilderness Association
Some books are known to change people’s lives. Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring is one such book that changed many. Now, out of SW Alberta comes a book by Val Allen that could and should be another life changer. Growing Pains is an extremely timely compendium of logical, reasonable thoughts made by those who have clearly considered where the human obsession with growth has come from and where it is pushing us to go. Her work is designed to galvanize people’s actions on what is clearly the single most critical issue facing humankind, and the one underlying and under scoring most of the world’s intractable problems – that being too many of us demanding too much from one small planet. Anticipating a new global movement, Growing Pains points to possible, rational routes through the morass of growth that can lead the world to a stable future, but time is critical. Val’s book is not a doom and gloomer, rather, it’s an eye opener, and a very readable and compelling one too.
Through her book, Val delves into each of the major issues confronting global stability, including poverty, endless wars, brinksmanship and fear, climate change, failure of our economic model, failure of feminism, man’s inhumanity to man, and the loss of biodiversity, fresh water and wilderness. She relates how each is being driven by uncontrolled growth, particularly of our own numbers and of our insatiable appetite for resources. While many of us realize we cannot continue to ride this escalator where we now seem trapped into always needing more, most of us have no idea how to jump off. Val knows though, and her ideas for change, gleaned from extensive research into the ramifications of growth, are logical, understandable and even doable. Growing Pains is a book of fact, explanation, hope and practicality.
Through her book, a compelling case is built that entreats people to divert attention and efforts in a gargantuan way towards the most fundamentally vital of causes – the reduction of population and consumption. As you read Growing Pains the realization sets in that the long and good fights by environmentalists, anti-poverty groups, world aid groups, and so on, are all for naught as every gain is soon overwhelmed by the pressures of more growth. If population and consumption levels could fall towards sustainability, almost all of the other major world problems would diminish correspondingly. Only recently the Optimal Population Society of Britain made the point that the most efficient and cost effective way to stem climate change is to increase contraception. In the words of Sir David Attenborough, “Instead of controlling the environment for the benefit of the population, maybe we should control the population to ensure the survival of the environment.”
Growing Pains is full of apt quotations, but none better sums the crux of what Val Allen has achieved through the distilling of many thoughts on a matter so convoluted, controversial and crucial as growth, than Victor Hugo’s “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.”
What Val Allen has done is expose the myths and explode the taboos about our own devastating fecundity and bring logic and reason into play to counter it. She shows it is possible to take hold of the population juggernaut and wrestle it into reasonable order. Yes we can! This idea has legs that will carry it around the world! Yes, it must!
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"Growing Pains" by Val Allen
Val Allen has produced a fine, well-researched and important piece of work. It continually astonishes me that when one considers the overwhelming and myriad of difficulties Earth is facing, and how many of them have as their root cause human over-population, yet open discussion of population in many circles is an unmentionable forbidden topic. Because the problem of human over-population is so glaringly and stridently obvious to me, I am always puzzled why so many others, not only deny the problem, but won’t even talk about it. An open discussion of this topic, often seems to trigger anger and then strenuous denial that there is any problem at all. We are definitely in a state of denial.
Val Allen’s book, the text of which flows well, is filled with many thoughtful insights and fascinating, easy to follow, useful statistics. I like her style of writing. I was particularly impressed with her analysis of the roles of the status of women, politics, patriarchal attitudes and religion in influencing birth rate. Ms. Allen has also dug up lots of wonderful quotes on the problems of the increasing human population. Her comments on our dependence on the drug of consumption of consumer goods and the greed of those who drive this system are well made.
If politicians, policy makers and industrialists are really interested in the fate of their children and grand children, and of the Earth itself,they must read this book and take its message seriously. Every educator needs to take notice of Ms. Allen's impressive and elegant analysis of the population problem.
David Mayne Reid,
Professor of Botany,
Dept. of Biological Sciences,
University of Calgary
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"GROWING PAINS - A PLANET IN DISTRESS" by Valorie M. Allen
When I heard that Valorie Allen was writing her first book about the population problem I was excited. I have known Val for many years. She has always been a passionate, caring and ethical person. It is my belief that “healthy debate” leads to change. As noted in PEDAGOGICAL POSSIBILITIES FOR ARGUMENTATIVE AGENCY IN ACADEMIC DEBATE Argumentation & Advocacy, 1998, Vol. 35 Issue 2, p41-60, Gordon R. Mitchell, Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh, uses this quote to support advocacy for thoughtful debate:
Our principle is the power of individuals to participate with others in shaping their world through the human capacity of language; Our commitment to argument expresses our faith in reason-giving as a key to that power; Our commitment to advocacy expresses our faith in oral expression as a means to empower people in situations of their lives; Our research studies the place of argument and advocacy in these situations of empowerment; Our teaching seeks to expand students' appreciation for the place of argument and advocacy in shaping their world, and to prepare students through classrooms, forums, and competition for participation in their world through the power of expression; and Our public involvement seeks to empower through argument and advocacy. --American Forensic Association Credo.
Put very simply, Val’s book promotes debate and is deserving of its place within the realms of academia for intelligent debate on this most important issue.
Debra A. Kumbhare Med Bed
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PROJECT 2 ECOCIDE RISISNG
Sustainable Population Australia has accepted the following article (or a shortened version), ECOCIDE RISING, for their next newsletter as of Feb. 1, 2011 as part of the Global Population Speak Out.
ECOCIDE RISING by Valorie M. Allen
Ecocide: the damage, destruction or loss of ecosystems, whether by human agency or other causes.
Legal definition proposed to the UN by International Environmental lawyer, Polly Higgins, in April 2010
Have you ever wondered why we would need to create A NEW WORD to describe the colossal damage we are doing to our ecosystem? Perhaps it is because we have never been as ruthless and abusive to our ecosystem as we are today.
Have you ever wondered why we would need to create A NEW LAW making the destruction of our planet a crime? Perhaps it is because in recorded history mankind has never intentionally caused such massive and escalating destruction as we are today.
Have you ever wondered why we would need to create a NEW WORLD ETHIC to bring our human population back into harmony with our natural world? Perhaps it is because, as Einstein said, “The problems in the world today are so enormous they cannot be solved with the level of thinking that created them.”
I submit that these are signs that ecocide is rising. New words, laws, and ethics are needed because our impacts have become so drastic that our situation demands it. The past vocabulary limited our ability to comprehend the scale of the mass extinction underway, needless human and animal suffering, climate change, food and water shortages, and crimes against peace, humanity and future security.
The failure rests with those in a position of superior responsibility. Those people know the consequences, yet choose to ignore them and convince others to do the same. The stewards of this planet are basing decisions on misinformation and financial manipulation, and wrongfully promoting the claim that our economy depends on endless population growth to survive.
In other sectors such as finance, investment manager Bernie Madoff’s $50 Billion Ponzi Scheme was considered a crime, and punished. Yet those in high positions, such as the United Nations, the Vatican, and International Agencies are not being held accountable for deceiving the public and causing rampant destruction of our ecosystems. This cruel and unacceptable abuse of power is called Tyranny, and has never been as rampant as it is today.
At present there is no law that addresses crimes of this magnitude against nature. But that may be changing soon. As Polly Higgins states in her article Why We Need a Law on Ecocide in the January 11, 2011 UK Guardian, “We do not currently have a legal crime in place that fits this description but there is one fast looming on the horizon and that crime is ecocide.”
“Making the destruction of our planet a crime ... A CRIME AGAINST PEACE. Ecocide is the extensive destruction, damage to or loss of ecosystem(s) .......... “ www.thisisecocide.com
I maintain that reforming the United Nations should be a priority in order to respond effectively to the challenges of our time, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agrees. In January 2008, he outlined the changes that are needed:
“Every day we are reminded of the need for a strengthened United Nations, as we face a growing array of new challenges, including humanitarian crises, human rights violations, armed conflicts and important health and environmental concerns. Seldom has the United Nations been called upon to do so much for so many. I am determined to breathe new life and inject renewed confidence into a strengthened United Nations firmly anchored in the twenty-first century, and which is effective, efficient, coherent and accountable.”
Of course, since that time pressing global issues have only increased and worsened because the greatest threat to our planet has never been adequately addressed – that being the problem of overpopulation. The Union of Concerned Scientists has warned that pressures resulting from unrestrained population growth put demands on the natural world that can overwhelm any efforts to achieve a sustainable future.
The mission statement for the United Nations Population Fund states that their international development agency: “…supports countries in using population data for policies and programs to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.” Yet by allowing the Vatican to have veto power in the United Nations, and unwarranted influence over almost a billion Catholics worldwide, any attempt at addressing these population issues has been derailed.
As Geoffrey Robertson states in the September 6, 2010 New Statesman article The Case Against Vatican Power:
“The Catholic Church is the only religion that is permitted – under international law as interpreted by the Foreign Office, and at the United Nations – to claim the privileges of sovereignty and statehood. These are considerable: both the Vatican and its leader have immunity from civil or criminal actions for the damage that they do to others – whether by trafficking pedophile priests or by condoning fraud at the Vatican Bank (suspects can avoid European arrest warrants by staying within the inviolable walls of the Holy City).
At the UN, which has wrongly allowed the Holy See to do everything a nation state may do except vote in the General Assembly (where it is nonetheless accorded six seats from which to speak and lobby), the Church’s advantages over other faith groups are enormous. At conferences, it lobbies relentlessly (usually with the help of Libya and Iraq) against any humanitarian action that might condone the “Heinous evils” of abortion – even after incest or rape – or homosexuality, and attempts to sabotage the distribution of condoms, including to married couples, to contain he plague of HIV/Aids.
……..Sovereign statehood brings huge advantages over other faith groups and non-governmental organizations, which the Church uses to oppose the sexual and health rights of everyone and the rights of women in particular.”
What is most alarming is that no one has dared criticize the Vatican for their violation against human rights or for committing ecocide. Not a whisper has been heard from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Labor Organization, Greenpeace, or the United Nations Population Fund to bring the Vatican to justice.
Just as an investment advisor giving false and inaccurate information to his clients is illegal, the Vatican giving inaccurate and misleading information to hundreds of millions of adherents should also be illegal. A crime is being committed, and the resulting ecocide is not only a crime against the global environment, but ultimately against humanity.
Therefore, I contend that the special privilege allowed the Vatican in the United Nations has been abused and should be revoked, and the Catholic Church should be given the same rights as any other religious entity. This would truly bring the United Nations into the 21 century - and align the decision making process with the environment, not religious affiliation.
Valorie M. Allen – author of “Growing Pains – A Planet In Distress”
www.populationinsync.net
1-403-553-4400
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PROJECT 3: POPULATION 7 BILLION
***********Essay Contest - Win $300
*Open to all Lethbridge College and U of L Students ---- Deadline January 15, 2012
*A POPULATION IN SYNC project for the “Global Population Speak Out” (GPSO) -- February 2012 www.populationspeakout.org
*email essays to valcrows@yahoo.ca
How to Win!!
*Write a 950-1000 word essay entitled “The Day That Growth Stood Still” explaining how things will change when our population starts decreasing!
*Email typed double-spaced essay with contact info by January 15, 2012.
*An essay will be chosen by Jan. 31, 2012 - the winner will be notified and essay will be posted on GPSO website!!
Researcher’s Bonanza!
"Growing Pains - A Planet In Distress"
Book available at the Lethbridge College Bookstore And U of L Bookstore or at
www.populationinsync.net
PROJECT
