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Please Note - As this newsletter was originally published in November, 2005, some of the information about events and references to other opportunities may no longer be timely. This and the other back issues of newsletters are archived here so that interested parties can get an idea of the kinds of activities in which World Population Balance is involved and learn about the importance of our growing population problem.

To receive timely information in our free newsletter, please subscribe here.

Balanced View, November 2005

In this Issue:

• Public Radio is Spreading our Message
• Racing to Meet the Challenge
• My Year of Challenges - by David Paxson
• Carolyn VandenDolder: Our Office Administrator Extraordinaire!
• Shop4Zero
• UN Report: Rising Population Threatens Security
• World Population Balance Board Honors Babka
• Untangling our Tangled Web(site)
• Current Population
• Our Mission

Public Radio is Spreading our Message

We are tremendously excited to begin a major public awareness initiative that will bring our population messages to hundreds of thousands of additional Upper Midwest citizens.

Thanks to a very generous donation of seed money for this Media Initiative from Mary Lee Dayton, our population announcements began broadcasting on Minnesota Public Radio in November. Beginning in December we will air additional announcements that will reinforce the unsustainability of increasing human numbers and decreasing vital resources. We are especially grateful to Mrs. Dayton for her vision and generosity for this initiative.

Our November message is: "Programming is supported by World Population Balance, a Minnesota nonprofit working to humanely stabilize population. Every day global resources like oil, safe water, and topsoil decline while populations increase by over two hundred thousand. More at World Population Balance dot org."

We hope to find additional funding to continue this broad-based population education program. We would like to expand to other media, as funds allow. Leading possibilities include television and billboards.

We believe these messages will spark a major shift of awareness among Minnesotans and our leaders as we confront our most challenging issues. The impact of population growth will take its rightful place in important deliberations.

In addition, we are optimistic that some public radio listeners will choose to join World Population Balance. We have just completed a major redesign of our Web site in anticipation of increased public presence. (Please see our Web article on the back page of this issue.) As always, we are anxious to hear your thoughts and suggestions about how we can improve our population awareness efforts. Feel free to call. write, or e-mail us.

Racing to Meet the Challenge

We are absolutely thrilled that The World Population Fund of The Minneapolis Foundation has just awarded us a $10,000 challenge grant between now and December 31st.

This means that every dollar you, our financial partners, contribute will be doubled by the Fund! Although matching the entire $10,000 will be a stretch, we are highly optimistic that with your generous help we can do it.

We find people more receptive to our message following recent, tragic events in the world. For the sake of every person on the planet we must humanely slow and stop population growth. We are heartened that more and more folks are now "getting it".

So if you have not yet sent in a donation for 2005 please do it today. If you already have and you choose to take advantage of this match by blessing us with an additional gift, we will be most grateful. If you would like us to send you a return envelope, please call us at 612-869-1640. Thank you.

My Year of Challenges

From the President By David Paxson

The past year has been one of the most exciting, busy, and challenging of my life.

I spent over half the month of May in Ecuador -- my first time in South America. Of course, I could write pages about that experience. Prior to that I lost three family members: my father-in-law, brother-in-law, and mother. And in June we were stunned to learn that Nancy had cancer.

After sixteen weeks of chemotherapy and surgery she now is recuperating before radiation begins. We are most relieved and thankful that recent medical reports are very encouraging. We appreciate all the love, prayers, and help many of you have been giving. Thank you.

Regarding population education efforts, I was inspired and energized in July when World Population Balance received seed money to begin a media initiative -- my greatest dream for our organization for the past several years.

Since our inception over fourteen years ago, I have strongly believed that to educate vastly greater numbers of people it was essential to leverage our messages in the media. At last we are beginning that initiative. And, arguably, we are the best population education organization in the United States to accomplish this task. We are one of the very few who have kept our mission highly focused upon education about the population issue -- and on educating Americans rather than people in other countries.

In addition, we may be the only population organization in the entire country that has successfully brought together good people on both sides of issues like abortion. Some of our members are strongly pro-life and others strongly pro-choice. They have respectfully agreed to disagree about that incredibly difficult issue in order to remain focused upon what many world leaders say is the number one challenge of our time: humane population stabilization.

I believe we are poised to have vastly greater impact — exponentially greater! -- upon raising people's awareness about population issues. Our most influential times as an organization are ahead of us!

Please help us accomplish this critical task. Your financial support is essential to our success!

Carolyn VandenDolder: Our Office Administrator Extraordinaire!

Two years ago Carolyn VandenDolder, a long-time friend of David Paxson, expressed interest in our part-time Office Administrator position. She has become the indispensable person in the office, who keeps track of all our many projects and activities.

A peace and social justice activist since young adulthood, Carolyn understands how unchecked population growth exacerbates virtually all other problems facing our modern society and is at the root of many of them. She is a graduate of Kenyon College with a degree in English. She and her husband, Rick, live in Minneapolis with their three sons.

We have come to admire her steady, calm presence in what can sometimes be a rather hectic place. Thank you, Carolyn.

Shop4zero

Benefit WPB with your online shopping! Shop for Zero is a special Web site established to help non-profit organizations receive cash donations from merchants such as Target, Office Depot, Nordstroms, Oshkosh, Eddie Bauer, Discovery Store, and more!

Shop with Shop for Zero and 2.25% of your purchase total will automatically go to WPB at no additional cost to you! Register free and receive the satisfaction of knowing you are helping us expand population education at the same time!

UN Report: Rising Population Threatens Security

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 8 (IPS) - The world's rapid population growth, predicted to rise from the current 6.5 billion people to about 9.1 billion by the middle of the century, could have "serious security consequences" not only for a country or region but for the entire world, a new report warns.

The study, titled "Breeding Insecurity: Global Security Implications of Rapid Population Growth," points out that population growth leads to large youth bulges, rapid urbanisation, and resource scarcity, all of which can lead to insecurity and instability.

"Large groups of unemployed young people, combined with overcrowded cities and lack of access to farmland and water, create a population that is angry and frustrated with the status quo, and thus more likely to resort to violence to enact change," the study warns.

The vast majority of the growth is expected to take place in the world's 50 least developed countries (LDCs), described as the poorest of the poor, where fertility rates can be as high as eight children per woman.

Anwarul K. Chowdhury, U.N. Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Least Developed Countries, said that "The fight against poverty, hunger, and disease ... is being seriously hampered by rapid population growth and its 'dragging' effect upon all of their social and economic development objectives."

World Population Balance Board Honors Babka

The board of directors and staff of World Population Balance gathered for a dinner this fall to honor and recognize the tremendous contribution of Frank Babka.

Frank has been serving WPB faithfully for the past six years, volunteering full-time to speak in schools to tens of thousands of students about the state of the world and the importance of stabilizing world population. This fall he has already spoken in over 25 schools, and in many of them he has done multiple presentations.

David Bengston, Advisory Board member and professor at the University of Minnesota said, "You have accomplished more in [the past six years] than most people will accomplish in a lifetime, touching the lives of young people with a crucial message. Thank you so much for your dedication, professionalism, vision, tireless work, and your valuable time and energy."

Thanks from all of us, Frank!

Untangling our Tangled Web(site)

We have just completed a major redesign of our web site, and already people are raving about the many improvements!

The seed money donated for our Media Initiative inspired this redesign. We hope many Minnesota Public Radio listeners will be attracted to our site in the coming weeks after hearing our announcements.

Major improvements include:

• A sidebar directory for much quicker and easier navigation
• More obvious information about where to find specific topics
• A ticking metronome to demonstrate increasing world population
• A schedule of upcoming talks
• Clearer information about how to sign up for our newsletter, join, and/or financially support our efforts
• More internal links between various topics covered on the site
• A sample letter to members of Congress, and an easy way to customize and send it
• Updated statistics

Our Web editor, Ben Stallings, has worked wonders in this redesign. There are many surprises and improvements, so if you have a computer, we hope you will take a look.

Since the site will always be a work in progress, we would appreciate your feedback -- both pro and con. We need the benefit of your perspective. Thank you.

Of course for those of you who don't use a computer, we love being in touch by phone and mail! Either way, please stay in touch.

Our Mission

World Population Balance is committed to educating the general public, policymakers, and the media about current population facts and trends, the consequences of population growth, and the benefits of stabilization.

We are a non-profit organization and present our message through public presentations and conferences, appointments with elected officials, written articles, our newsletter, web site, media interviews, and public service announcements.

Every minute, the world gains over 140 people, net gain -- over 70 million more every year. Yet many renewable and non-renewable resources are decreasing. "Any cause is a lost cause without population stabilization." Support global and national population stabilization. Join World Population Balance.

"Every increment of added population and each added increment of affluence invariably destroy an increment of the remaining environment."

-- Albert Bartlett, University of Colorado

WORLD ^POPULATION BALANCE
P.O. Box 23472 (612) 869-1640
Minneapolis, MN 55423 U.S.A.