Researchers urge united nations to reject growth-driven framework in favor of lower population and consumption
2024-08-06
(Press-News.org) In a new peer-reviewed article in The Journal of Population and Sustainability, demographic experts are urging the United Nations to reject the current “‘growth’ paradigm which treats Earth and its nonhuman inhabitants as mere resources” and to take the lead in “contracting the large-scale variables of the human enterprise” in order to “forge a path out of multiple environmental and social crises,” and “reverse our advanced state of ecological overshoot.”
Earth Overshoot Day, the date when humanity’s demand on nature’s resources surpasses Earth’s capacity to regenerate them for the given year, fell on August 1 in the United States. Earth Overshoot Day is calculated annually by Global Footprint Network as a measure of unsustainability. Falling on August 1 this year indicates we would need 1.75 Earths to meet human consumption demands and absorb other human impacts year-round.
August 1 is also the date The Journal of Population and Sustainability article appeared. “Overshoot is the underlying driver of climate breakdown, biodiversity collapse, global toxification and aggravation of social conflicts and war,” its authors state. Citing an extensive body of existing research, they argue that lowering population and consumption growth and upholding reproductive rights and autonomy for women and girls are on the critical path to redressing these crises, reversing overshoot, and advancing social and ecological justice.
The authors pinpoint the 1994 Cairo conference on Population and Development as “a sharp turn away from the earlier emphasis on population concerns and their link to environmental protection,” and they cite the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) 2023 State of World Population (SWOP) report, glibly titled “8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities,” as evidence of continued UN reluctance to reckon with population growth as a driver of today’s environmental and social crises.
“The [SWOP] report dismisses numerous studies by reputable scientists that draw conclusive links between growth in human numbers and climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, species extinctions, resource scarcity, conflict, poverty, food insecurity and more,” the authors write. They call for a return to centering population and environmental concerns and enjoin the UN to lead the way “to move beyond the failed approaches of our current politics…to abandon the incessant pursuit of growth, and to embrace a sense of our shared humanity embedded within the larger web of life.”
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2024-08-06
Outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), which causes fever and rash in young children, typically occur in the summer months. Similarly, historic cases of polio were observed in the summer months in the United States. Both diseases are caused by different species of enteroviruses, a large genus of RNA viruses. However, the drivers of the seasonal patterns of these diseases have remained somewhat unclear.
A common set of drivers can explain the timing of outbreaks of both HFMD and polio according a recent study by researchers at Brown University, Princeton University ...
2024-08-06
(Memphis, Tenn. – August 6, 2024) To effectively treat a disease or disorder, doctors must first know the root cause. Such is the case for developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), whose root causes can be hugely complex and heterogeneous. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital demonstrated the value of DNA methylation patterns for identifying the root cause of DEEs, showing specific gene methylation and genome-wide methylation “episignatures” ...
2024-08-06
URBANA, Ill. – Black Americans experience racial discrimination on a regular basis, and it is a cause of chronic and pervasive stress. It is known to contribute to elevated risk for poor mental health outcomes, but most research has focused on individuals. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at the interpersonal effects of discrimination on parents and their adolescent children.
“A person’s experiences with racial discrimination are not just their own but may spill over into the ...
2024-08-06
DETROIT — Mark Lumley, Ph.D., distinguished professor of psychology in Wayne State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was recently awarded the 2024 Nathan W. Perry, Jr. Award for Career Service to Health Psychology from the Society for Health Psychology.
The Society for Health Psychology is a national nonprofit that seeks to improve the lives of individuals and society by promoting health, preventing illness and improving health care through research, practice, education, training and advocacy.
“I’m delighted and greatly honored for this recognition,” ...
2024-08-06
URBANA, Ill. -- Elephant conservation is a major priority in southern Africa, but habitat loss and urbanization mean the far-ranging pachyderms are increasingly restricted to protected areas like game reserves. The risk? Contained populations could become genetically isolated over time, making elephants more vulnerable to disease and environmental change.
A recent study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Pretoria in South Africa demonstrates how African conservation managers could create and optimize elephant movement corridors across a seven-country ...
2024-08-06
Social media’s rise to popularity between 2010 and 2020 has been strongly correlated with the nationwide freefall in youth mental health that characterized the 2010s. Lawmakers have put increasing pressure on the U.S. government to take social media regulation more seriously, with cases about platforms like Facebook, Instagram and X rising to the Supreme Court level.
But despite the ubiquity of social media, scientists at Northwestern Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago found that in Illinois, youth emergency room visits and hospitalizations for depression and anxiety decreased ...
2024-08-06
or many plants, more branches means more fruit. But what causes a plant to grow branches? New research from the University of California, Davis shows how plants break down the hormone strigolactone, which suppresses branching, to become more “bushy.” Understanding how strigolactone is regulated could have big implications for many crop plants.
The study was published August 1 in Nature Communications.
“Being able to manipulate strigolactone could also have implications beyond plant architecture, including on a plant’s resilience to drought and pathogens,” said senior author Nitzan Shabek, an associate professor in the UC Davis Department of ...
2024-08-06
How would you summarize your study for a lay audience?
Some proteins, such as programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1), can stop the immune system from attacking cancer cells and, therefore, support the growth of cancer. Therapies targeting these proteins can be highly effective, but tumors can become resistant.
We applied a method to detect proteins on a single–cell level to uncover human carcinoembryonic antigen cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) patterns in melanoma. We found that increased ...
2024-08-06
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards $5.2 million to top clinical investigators
The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation has named six new Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators. The recipients of this prestigious award are outstanding, early-career physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research at major research centers under the mentorship of the nation's leading scientists and clinicians.
The Clinical Investigator Award program was designed to increase the number of physicians capable of translating scientific discoveries into new treatments for cancer patients. Each Awardee will receive $600,000 over three years, ...
2024-08-06
August 6, 2024 — Thoracic ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (TOPLL) is a rare condition associated with ectopic bone formation in the thoracic spine. A long-term follow-up study from Japan shows significant and lasting improvement in outcomes with posterior decompression and fixation surgery for patients with T-OPLL, reports The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
"Surgical treatment of T-OPLL is effective in improving neurological function, quality ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Researchers urge united nations to reject growth-driven framework in favor of lower population and consumption
