Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?

by Alan Weisman

  Mohr, Mark, ed. “Japan’s Declining Population: Clearly a Problem, but What’s the Solution?” Asia Program Special Report No. 141, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, July 2008.

  Moore, Tristana. “Baby Gap: Germany’s Birth Rate Hits Historic Low.” Time, May 23, 2010. http://www.time.com/time/world/article.

  Muzuhashi. “Hay Fever.” Muzuhashi (blog), August 3, 2012. http://www.muzuhashi.com.

  Normile, Dennis. “The Upside of Downsizing.” Science, vol. 333, no. 6042 (July 2011): 547. doi: 10.1126/science.333.6042.547.

  Oiwa, Keibo. “Nuked and X-rayed.” Keibo Oiwa (blog), April 8, 2011. http://keibooiwa.sblo.jp/article/44193716.html.

  Oltermann, Philip. “Merkel’s Own Goal.” Guardian (UK), October 17, 2010.

  Onishi, Norimitsu. “Japanese, in Shortage, Willingly Ration Watts.” New York Times, July 28, 2011.

  Panchaud, Christine, Susheela Singh, Dina Feivelson, and Jacqueline E. Darroch. “Sexually Transmitted Diseases Among Adolescents in Developed Countries.” Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 32, no. 1 (January/February 2000).

  Petersen, Freya. “Population Clock Shows Japanese Face Extinction in 1000 Years.” GlobalPost, May 13, 2012.

  Petrosian, Kristine. “AIDS Explodes in Russia—HIV Rate ‘Fastest’ in the World.” Russiatoday.com. http://www.russiatoday.com/rusjournal.

  Piper, David. “Lack of Babies Could Mean the Extinction of the Japanese People.” FoxNews.com, May 11, 2012.

  Rees, William E. “Toward a Sustainable World Economy.” Presented at the Institute for New Economic Thinking Annual Conference, Bretton Woods, NH, April 8–11, 2011.

  Retherford, Robert D., and Naohiro Ogawa. “Japan’s Baby Bust: Causes, Implications, and Policy Responses.” East-West Center Working Papers, Population and Health Series. No. 118, April 2005.

  “Reversing the Population Decline.” Japan Times, June 19, 2012.

  Rodriguez, Andrea. “Cuba’s Aging Population Will Test Economic Reform.” Associated Press, August 7, 2012.

  Romm, Joe. “Jeremy Grantham Must-Read, ‘Time to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices Are Over Forever.’ ” Thinkprogress.org, May 2, 2011. http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/05/02.

  Ryall, Julian. “Japan’s Population Has Contracted at the Fastest Rate Since at Least 1947.” Telegraph (UK), January 4, 2012.

  _______.“Japan’s Vanishing Villages; Gradual Depopulation Has Left Rural Districts Teetering on Extinction.” Straits Times (Singapore), May 21, 2012.

  Sharp, Andy. “Japan’s Population Declines by Record in Challenge for Growth.” Bloomberg Businessweek, April 17, 2012. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-17/japan-s-population-declined-by-largest-ever-0-dot-2-percent-last-year.

  Sherman, Janette D., and Josephe Mango. “A 35% Spike in Infant Mortality in Northwest Cities Since Meltdown: Is the Dramatic Increase in Baby Deaths in the US a Result of Fukushima Fallout?” Counter Punch, weekend edition, June 10, 2011. Access at: http://www.counterpunch.org/sherman06102011.html.

  Singapore government’s Baby Bonus Scheme, website: http://www.babybonus.gov.sg/bbss/html/index.html.

  Smith, Ron. “Population, Debt Problems So Big, They Defy Solutions.” Baltimore Sun, July 18, 2011.

  Stewart, Heather, and Phillip Inman. “Age of Austerity Set to Last for Decades: Key Factor Is the Rising Cost of Health Care for an Ageing Population.” Guardian (UK), July 22, 2011.

  Sukhdev, Pavan. “The Corporate Climate Overhaul: The Rules of Business Must Be Changed if the Planet Is to Be Saved.” Nature, vol. 486 (June 7, 2012): 27–28.

  Takahashi, Junko. “Abstinencia a la Japonesa: Crisis Sexual en el País del Sol Naciente.” El Mundo, April 27, 2008.

  Takeuchi, Kazuhiko. “Rebuilding the Relationship Between People and Nature: The Satoyama Initiative.” Ecological Research, vol. 25, no. 5 (2010): 891–97.

  Tavernise, Sabrina. “Dip in Birth Rates Reflects Recession, Report Suggests.” New York Times, October 13, 2011.

  United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Population to 2300. New York: United Nations, 2004.

  Wehner, Mike. “Sushi-Making Robots Can Crank Out Tasty Fish Rolls 24 Hours a Day.” Today in Tech (blog), Tecca, Yahoo! News, April 6, 2012.

  “Whose Lost Decade?” Economist (UK), November 19, 2011. http://www.economist.com/node/21538745.

  Yamada, Takao. “Weighing Economic Growth Against Nuclear Risks Makes No Sense.” Mainichi Daily News (Japan), August 1, 2011.

  Yasunari, Teppei J., Andreas Stohl, Ryugo S. Hayano, John F. Burkhart, Sabine Eckhardt, and Tetsuzo Yasunari. “Cesium-137 Deposition and Contamination of Japanese Soils Due to the Fukushima Nuclear Accident.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 108, no. 49 (December 2011): 1530–34. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1112058108.

  “Young Japanese Losing Sex Drive.” Agence France-Presse, January 14, 2011.

  Chapter Fourteen: Tomorrow

  BOOKS

  Boo, Katherine. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. New York: Random House, Inc., 2012.

  Brown, Lester R. Outgrowing the Earth: The Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2012.

  Human Development Report 2005: Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India: Centre for Development Studies, Government of Kerala, 2006.

  McKibben, Bill. Deep Economy. New York: Times Books, 2007.

  Minahan, James B. Ethnic Groups of South Asia and the Pacific: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012.

  Sharma, Kalpana. Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.

  ARTICLES

  Ahuja, Charanjit. “Water Table Dips in Punjab, Haryana.” Financial Express, September 2, 2012.

  “Annual Estimates of Total Fertility Rate by Residence, India and Bigger States, 2005–10.” National Family Health Survey, International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai. April 10, 2012. Accessed at: planningcommission.nic.in/data/datatable/0904/tab_137.pdf.

  “Appeals for Sanjay Dutt, but Should He Go Free?” Hindustan Times, March 24, 2013.

  Bagchi, Suvojit. “Punjab suicides cast shadow on polls.” BBC News, April 12, 2009.

  Bedi, Rahul. “Youth Drug Addiction Crisis Ravages Punjab’s Heartlands.” June 17, 2010. http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/hard-talk.

  Central Bureau of Investigation (India). “Bombay Bomb Blast Cases.” http://cbi.nic.in/fromarchives/bombayblast/mumblast.php.

  Chavan, Shri S. B., Minister of Home Affairs. “Bomb Blast in Bombay.” April 21, 1993. http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lsdeb/ls10/ses6/0521049301.htm.

  Chu, Henry, and Mark Magnie. “For Muslims in India, an Uneasy Calm.” Los Angeles Times, December 14, 2008.

  “Dr. Gurcharan Singh Kalkat.” Accessed at: pbplanning.gov.in/pdf/Biodata%20GS%20Kalkat.pdf.

  “Farmer suicides: NGO points to Punjab reporting fewer numbers.” Times of India, December 30, 2011.

  Ferris, David. “Asia’s Megacities Pose a Stark Environmental Challenge.” Forbes, August 31, 2012.

  Goldenberg, Suzanne. “Where a Baby Is Born Every 2 Seconds.” Guardian (UK), Saturday 14, 1999.

  Gupta, Shankar Prasad. “Forest Tenure Issues in Terai of Nepal: Understanding the Present Management Regimes.” A Term Paper Report on Forestry and Wildlife. Kathmandu University, 2011.

  Gwatkin, Davidson R. “Political Will and Family Planning: The Implications of India’s Emergency Experience.” Population and Development Review, vol. 5, no. 1 (March 1979): 29–59.

  “India Postpones Population Stabilization Target by 15 Years.” Merinews (India), May 6, 2012.

  Jain, R. K., N. B. Gouda, V. K. Sharma, T. N. Dubey, A. Shende, R. Malik, and G. Tiwari. “Esophageal Complications Following Aluminium Phosphide Ingestion: An Emerging Issue Among Survivors of Poisoning.” Dysphagia, vol. 25, no. 4 (December 2010): 271–76.

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bsp; John, Mary E. “Feminism, Poverty and Globalization: An Indian View.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, vol. 3, no. 3 (2002).

  Kaur, Naunidhi. “Mumbai: A Decade After Riots.” Frontline, vol. 20, no.14, July 5, 2003.

  Kumar, Siddhartha. “Unwanted Daughters.” Deutsche Presse-Agentur, April 18, 2012.

  Lewis, Clara. “Dharavi in Mumbai Is No Longer Asia’s Largest Slum.” Times of India, July 6, 2011.

  Marquand, Robert. “Six Billion People and a Countertrend: Literate Women in India’s Kerala Help Hold Population Growth Nearly Flat.” Christian Science Monitor, October 12, 1999.

  Mathew, E. T. “Growth of Literacy in Kerala: State Intervention, Missionary Initiatives and Social Movements.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 34, no. 39 (September 25–October 1, 1999): 2811–20.

  “Methane Gas from Cows: The Proof Is in the Feces.” ScienceDaily, June 7, 2011. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110606112822.htm.

  “Mumbai FY09 Tax Revenue May Miss Target.” Economic Times, December 16, 2008.

  Murali, R., Ashish Bhalla, Dalbir Singh, and Surjit Singh. “Acute Pesticide Poisoning: 15 Years Experience of a Large North-West Indian Hospital.” Clinical Toxicology, vol. 47, no. 1 (2009): 35–38.

  Nag, Kingshuk. “Smaller States a Recipe for Disaster.” Times of India, June 29, 2009.

  Naidoo, G. V., R. Cuthbert, R. E. Green, D. J. Pain, et al. “Removing the Threat of Diclofenac to Critically Endangered Asian Vultures.” PLoS Biol, vol. 4, no. 3 (2006). e66. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040066.

  Narayan, Shoba. “It’s Mumbai, Yaar!” Condé Nast Traveler, October 2009.

  “Punjab’s Killing Fields.” India Today, April 15, 2010.

  “Ruminant Livestock,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/rlep.

  Sekar, Rukmini. “Interview with Sugatha Kumari.” New Internationalist Magazine, January 1996.

  Sen, Amartya. “Capitalism Beyond the Crisis.” New York Review of Books, March 26, 2009.

  Shwartz, Mark. “Global Bird Populations Face Dramatic Decline in Coming Decades, Study Predicts.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, online early edition, December 7, 2004.

  Singh, D., I. Jit, and S. Tyagi. “Changing Trends in Acute Poisoning in Chandigarh Zone: A 25-Year Autopsy Experience from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Northern India.” American Journal of Forensic Medical Pathology, vol. 20, no. 2 (June 1999): 203–10.

  Sinha, Kounteya. “Average Indian’s Life Expectancy up 4.6 Years.” Times of India, October 2, 2012.

  “The Situation of Children in India: A Profile.” United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), May 2011. http://www.unicef.org/sitan/files/SitAn_India_May_2011.pdf.

  Srivastava, Vivek, Mumtaz Ansari, Somprakas Basu, Damayanti Agrawal, T. K. Lahiri, and Anand Kumar. “Colonic Conduit for Esophageal Bypass in Celphos-Induced Tracheoesophageal Fistula: Our Experience of Two Cases.” International Journal of Colorectal Disease, vol. 24, no. 6 (2009): 727–28.

  Stephenson, Wesley. “Indian farmers and suicide: How big is the problem?” BBC News, January 22, 2013.

  Sugathakumari. “Marathinu Sthuthi” [Hymn to Trees], in Ambala Mani [Temple Bells]. Kottayam, Kerala, India: National Book Stall, 1981, p. 127.

  Tait, Malcolm. “Towers of Silence.” Ecologist, vol. 34, no. 8 (October 2004): 14.

  Tharu, Susie, and J. Ke Lalita. “Sugatha Kumari,” in Women Writing in India, Volume II: The Twentieth Century. New York: Feminist Press at CUNY, 1993, pp. 398–401.

  Thomas, Rajaji Mathew. “Kerala’s Silent Revolution.” Countercurrents.org, March 18, 2005.

  Thomas, Shibu, Bharati Dubey, and Dhananjay Mahapatra. “1993 Bombay Bomb Blasts: Sanjay Dutt Has Little Chance of Relief.” Times of India, March 22, 2013.

  Verma, Vijay Kumar, S. K. Gupta, and Ashok Parihar. “Aluminium Phosphide Poisoning: A Challenge for the Physician.” JK Science, vol. 1, no. 1 (January–March 2001).

  Yadav, Priya. “Another Report Says 73.5% Punjab Youth Drug Addicts.” Times of India, October 14, 2012.

  Chapter Fifteen: Safe Sex

  BOOKS

  D’Agnes, Thomas. From Condoms to Cabbages: An Authorized Biography of Mechai Viravaidya. Bangkok: Post Books, 2001.

  ARTICLES

  Corben, Ron. “Thailand Floods Worst in Five Decades.” Voice of America, October 2, 2011.

  “Could Thailand Withstand Another Flood?” Asia Sentinel/The Irrawaddy, August 31, 2012.

  Evans, Ben. “U.S. Condom Factory Losing U.S. Contract to Asian Companies.” Associated Press, March 25, 2009.

  Hunter, Elise. “Transforming Communities Through Humor, Grit and Entrepreneurship: A Conversation with Thailand’s ‘Mr Condom.’ ” Huffington Post, March 5, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/student-reporter.

  “Mechai Viravaidya: Using Condoms to Fight Poverty,” YouTube video. Posted by Gates Foundation, April 14, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCCJky_SC4U.

  “Paticca-samuppada-vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of Dependent Co-arising” (SN 12.2). Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, June 17, 2010. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.002.than.html.

  Simpkins, Dulcey. “Rethinking the Sex Industry: Thailand’s Sex Workers, the State, and Changing Cultures of Consumption.” Michigan Feminist Studies, vol. 12, 1997–1998.

  Szuster, Brian W. “Shrimp Farming in Thailand’s Chao Phraya River Delta: Boom, Bust and Echo.” International Water Management Institute River Basin Case Study Project, January 2003.

  “The Thai Floods, Rain, and Water Going into the Dams—Part 1.” Bangkok Pundit (blog), Asian Correspondent, October 24, 2011. http://asiancorrespondent.com/67873/.

  “The Thai Floods, Rain, and Water Going into the Dams—Part 2.” Bangkok Pundit (blog), Asian Correspondent, November 2, 2011. http://asiancorrespondent.com/67987.

  Thai Meteorological Department. “Monthly Current Report Rainfall and Accumulative Rainfall.” March 2011. http://www.tmd.go.th.

  Thielke, Thilo. “Thailand’s Heavy Monsoons: Bangkok Evacuates as Floodwaters Rise.” Der Spiegel, no. 44 (2011).

  Viravaidya, Mechai. “The School That Flies.” Qi: Global Network of Innovators video, 2010. http://www.qi-global.com/10mv.

  Winterwerp, Johan C., William G. Borst, and Mindert B. de Vries. “Pilot Study on the Erosion and Rehabilitation of a Mangrove Mud Coast.” Journal of Coastal Research, vol. 21, no. 2 (2005): 223–30.

  Chapter Sixteen: Parkland Earth

  BOOKS

  Bongaarts, John, John Cleland, John W. Townsend, Jane T. Bertrand, and Monica Das Gupta. Family Planning Programs for the 21st Century: Rationale and Design. New York: The Population Council, 2012.

  Brinkley, Douglas. The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.

  Brown, Lester R. Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth. London: Earthscan Publications, 2003.

  Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962.

  Cincotta, Richard P., Robert Engelman, and Daniele Anastasion. The Security Demographic: Population and Civil Conflict After the Cold War. Washington, DC: Population Action International, 2003.

  Clancy, Kate. Greener Pastures: How Grass-Fed Beef and Milk Contribute to Healthy Eating. Cambridge, MA: Union of Concerned Scientists, 2006.

  Coastal Hazards. Highlights of National Academies Reports, Ocean Science Series, Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 2007.

  Kean, Thomas H., Chair. The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. Washington, DC: National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, 2004. http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf.

  Leopold, Aldo. Game Management. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987.

  _______. A Sand County Almanac: With Essays on Conservation from Round River. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1949.

  Lynas, Mark. Six Degrees: Our
Future on a Hotter Planet. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2008.

  Pimentel, David, and Marcia H. Pimentel, eds. Food, Energy, and Society, 3d edition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2007.

  Sanger, Alexander. Beyond Choice: Reproductive Freedom in the 21st Century. New York: Public Affairs, 2004.

  ARTICLES

  “Additional Investments in Family Planning Would Save Developing Countries More Than $11 Billion a Year.” Press release, UN Population Fund (UNFPA), November 14, 2012. http://www.unfpa.org/public/home/news/pid/12601.

  “Ag 101: Major Crops Grown in the United States.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/ag101/cropmajor.html.

  Arima, Eugenio Y., Peter Richards, Robert Walker, and Marcellus M. Caldas. “Statistical Confirmation of Indirect Land Use Change in the Brazilian Amazon,” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 6, no. 2 (May 2011).

  Bachelard, Michael. “Some Say Cows Are Killing the Earth. So Do We Need to Ban Beef?” Sydney Morning Herald, September 25, 2011.

  Bamber, J. L., and W. P. Aspinall. “An Expert Judgment Assessment of Future Sea Level Rise from the Ice Sheets.” Nature Climate Change, January 6, 2013.

  Barnett, T. P., and D. W. Pierce. “When Will Lake Mead Go Dry?” Water Resources Research, vol. 44, issue 3 (March 2008).

  Barrett, Julia R. “The Science of Soy: What Do We Really Know?” Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 114, no. 6 (June 2006): A352–58.

  Barthole, Jeffrey. “When Will Scientists Grow Meat in a Petri Dish?” Scientific American, May 17, 2011.

  Bavley, Alan. “Researchers Hopeful About Male Partner for ‘The Pill.’ ” McClatchy Newspapers, February 26, 2012.

  Belluck, Pam. “Scientific Advances on Contraceptive for Men.” New York Times, July 23, 2011.

  Binkley, Dan, Margaret M. Moore, William H. Romme, and Peter M. Brown. “Was Aldo Leopold Right About the Kaibab Deer Herd?” Ecosystems, vol. 9 (2006):227–41.

  Brean, Henry. “Concrete Trucks Rev Up for Third Intake Project at Lake Mead.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 25, 2012.