Zero Population
Growth
of Greater Boston
NEWSLETTER
| Volume 7, Number 1 |
January/February 1997 |
Table Of Contents
Speakers Network 1997
by Kerry J. Allen
I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for
your time and effort in making our 1996 Speakers Network a success. Let's
keep it up - only in 1997 I'd like to see our calendar twice as full! In
my new position as ZPG's Speakers Network
Coordinator, I'm going to do my best to work on outreach for the Speakers
Network so those of you who haven't had an opportunity to do a presentation
yet will get the chance in 1997. I also want to remind you that you are
always welcome to help us generate speaking opportunities:
A) Consider group meetings that you are likely to attend in the coming
year. Do any seem like possible sponsors or forums for a presentation focused
on population and the environment?
B) In addition, consider other groups such as adult and student gatherings
in your community: schools, universities, religious institutions, civic
organizations, environmental and public interest groups and others that
regularly draw people together to discuss issues of common concern.
As you identify potential speaking opportunities, there are three ways
you can follow up on them:
-
You can personally talk with the appropriate contact person about a Network
member making a presentation on behalf of ZPG at one of their meetings;
-
You can send the contact person a letter from ZPG publicizing the Speakers
Network availability. (You may request any number of letters you need from
me at ZPG/National);
-
You may contact us and we can get in touch with the group if you will send
the names, addresses and phone numbers of the appropriate contact people.
In any case, ZPG will get in touch and offer a speaker who is based in
the local community.
If you find groups that would welcome a presenter from our Speakers Network,
or if you would be interested in joining yourself or have any questions,
I am anxious to hear from you:
Hot Off The Press
Just published is Paul and Anne Ehrlich's new book, Betrayal
of Science and Reason: How Anti-Environmental Rhetoric Threatens Our Future.
They wrote it to educate the public as to the state of environmental science
as it stands today: that the biosphere is being dangerously over-taxed.
The authors "call for a national consensus, as resolute as that which held
the country together through World War II, to back environmental policies
that will rein in humanity's 'global experiment' with the biosphere."
MIT's Technology Review Magazine
had this to say about the book: "The public has been hearing some fantastic
tales lately that all is well with the environment and that government
regulations serve only to stifle economic growth. Two prominent environmental
scientists argue that promoters of this 'don't-worry, be-happy' point of
view have their heads in the sand." You can read the
complete review on their website.
ACTION ALERT!
Population Lobby Week in Washington, DC, February 8-12. This event is sponsored
by ZPG, National
Wildlife Federation & Sierra
Club. Your attendance is encouraged for a day or all week, whatever
your schedule permits. Write your Congressmen to release money for international
family planning. For more information: 1/800/POP-1956.
What We Each Can Do
by The Talking Chair (Mike Hanauer)
It is now 1997; another year has rolled by. The good news is that, worldwide,
growth rates have slowed down a bit. The bad news is that we have another
95 million of us on the planet including another 3 million in the United
States.
At ZPG, we are about creating awareness
and action, and it is our members who make that happen. Could you take
an hour or two a month to help? Here are some suggestions:
-
Plan or participate in a local event to incorporate population concerns
and awareness.
-
Arrange a billboard -- population growth and its relation to personal life.
-
Arrange for local or school newspaper, newsletter, subway, train advertisements.
-
Arrange a presentation or workshop with a group you know or a local school,
etc.
-
Arrange for a teachers workshop to fit population into ecology courses.
-
Adopt a college and be our liaison with its environmental groups.
-
Do a ZPG/Boston newsletter or outreach vehicle.
-
Encourage college newsletters, radio, cable or TV stations to carry ZPG
public service announcements, ads, or programming.
-
Write letters to community newspapers or magazines.
-
Write letters to government officials, organize a post card campaign perhaps
writing a generic (reusable) letter or postcard.
-
Do an article for a local newspaper.
-
Contact environmental or socially concerned groups; have them sign the
Priority Statement on Population and/or encourage them to make population
a part of their activist message (see the Top-10
list).
-
Place signs on condom machines: "Help
Save the Earth".
-
Encourage your community schools to do more complete sex education.
-
Do ZPG event press releases, follow up for free and good publicity.
-
Keep up with what other ZPG (or other groups) chapters are doing; liaison.
-
Build and maintain a library of materials.
-
Create a professional looking booth display.
-
Arrange an (ongoing) population display at a museum.
-
Keep up the population connection message in environmental (electronic)
bulletin boards.
-
Research -- find a real steady state economy which can serve as a model.
-
Find a wealthy individual or corporate benefactor.
-
Help build our ranks of activists.
-
Display a banner at the walk for ____ noting that ____ can't be saved without
dealing with population.
-
Display a banner over the highway noting that if there were fewer people,
you'd be home now.
-
Arrange a counter demonstration at Planned
Parenthood clinic.
-
Write a children's story which makes kids think about population issues.
-
Coordinate a committee to help do any of the above ideas.
Please do give me a call at 781/862-5927 to explore any of these or other
ideas. You can contribute, learn about yourself and have fun all at the
same time and all on your own terms.
And to all of our present and future activists, thank you.
May 1997 be fruitful without the multiplying!
An example of suggestion #9!
This letter was published in the Lexington
Minuteman
December 5, 1996
Minutes: Excerpts from November 18 Chapter Meeting
The meeting began with Mike Hanauer, Chair, suggesting that there is a
need to raise awareness that issues such as no place to put the trash,
traffic congestion and the cost of building new schools are circumstances
that are tied to over-population. Howie Breinan reported that the Earth
Day Greater Boston organizing committee wants to foster zoo activities
interacting with kids and, incidentally, increasing awareness of ZPG.
The New England Environmental Conference at Tufts University
may be an event of the past because of financial considerations; it lost
money in 1996. At the September meeting of the ZPG/National Board of Directors
it was agreed to add two more people; after considerable debate and disagreement
over immigration, the decision was made to add individuals who think that
downplaying this issue is the wisest course of action. However, this was
not the prevailing sentiment at this Chapter meeting. ZPG will be opening
a West Coast office in Sacramento, CA. Celebrities are being contacted
and asked to lend their names to ads; Ted Turner, for one, is particularly
significant given his media influence.
Annie Faulkner updated her report from the Nov/Dec Newsletter on New
England Coalition for Sustainable Population. Activists include Kay
Delanoy in New Hampshire and Barbara
Duncan in Vermont. The Vermont
House of Representatives is responsible for legislation being passed
which limits growth. At the moment, similar bills are not even being introduced
in Massachusetts. The Boston
Globe receives about 200 letters
a day from readers. It may just be that a call
to the "Letters" editor will make the difference between being published
or not.
The highlight of the evening was the showing of "Immigration
by the Numbers" hosted by Roy
Beck; he is author of Re-Charting
America's Future. This video made some dramatic points: from 1925-1965
the US averaged 178,000 immigrants a year; this number swelled to 507,000
from 1965-1990. Had we stopped immigration in 1970, the US population would
have leveled off at 247 million, (266 today). At the current rate, the
US will have 500 million+ by mid-next century. If we went to a policy of
zero net immigration , we'd peak at 300 million. A lively discussion followed
focusing on issues of equity, etc.
Next Meeting
WHEN: Monday, January 20, 1997 at 7:30 pm (munchies provided)
WHERE: Mike Hanauer's, 6 April Lane #11, Lexington, MA 02173
(left off Concord Ave 100 yards East of Waltham St.)
TEL: 781/862-5927
Directions
FROM ROUTE 2 GOING EAST: Exit Rt. 2 at Pleasant Street exit (Exit 55, about
1 mile East of Rt. 128/95). Turn Right at bottom of ramp and go to end.
Turn right onto Concord Ave, go 1/2 mile. Right onto April Lane (Minute
Man Village condo). Head in to end, turn left and right following road.
#6 is on left. Park only in far side of lot to right of building.
FROM ROUTE 2 GOING WEST: Exit Rt. 2 at Waltham St./Waltham exit (Exit
54A, last exit before Rt. 128/95). Keep right at the ramp options, going
back under Rt 2 onto Waltham Street. Turn left at first light onto Concord
Ave. Take a quick left onto April Lane (Minute Man Village Condo). Head
in to end, turn left and right following road. #6 is on left. Park only
in far side of lot to right of building.
If possible, please RSVP to
Mike: MGHanauer@alumni.uml.edu or 781/862-5927
Mike Hanauer
6 April Lane #11
Lexington, MA 02173
781/862-5927
MGHanauer@alumni.uml.edu
Please see the meeting schedule for general
information and other meeting dates.
