Day 18: Population

Today you will learn from expert guest Karen Hardee about population, why it's an obstacle to solving climate change, and how we mitigate or eliminate the obstacle of the population for climate change solutions.

Summary

Guest: Karen Hardee

Dr. Hardee is a population and reproductive health expert who has focused on the intersection of population dynamics and climate change. She explores the implications of population growth for climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. Karen Hardee has a PhD in social demography from Cornell University and more than 30 years of international technical and leadership experience working with a range of bilateral and multilateral organizations, nongovernmental organizations and as a consultant.  Dr. Hardee has also been president and CEO of the What Works Association.

Follow Karen:

• LinkedIn
• Website

Explain succinctly what population is from first principles.

Population is a group of something that we're interested in.

Populations can change in three ways:

• births: fertility and number of children
• deaths: mortality and how many people die.
• migration: moving within a country, but moving also outside of country.

The world's population just reached 8 billion. We're currently adding 80 million people a year to the world's population.

Why does population impede us from creating solutions or overcoming climate change?

The easiest way to think about population and climate change is that population is a variable in climate model.

The best way to think about it is through this the IPAT equation; human impact on greenhouse gas emissions is a function of population. So there's our population variable and sort of affluence.

The early studies on population showed that a 1 percent increase in  population growth was associated with a 1 percent  increase in carbon emissions. Studies since then have become far more, complex and sophisticated. There are significant differences among groups both between populations, but also within within populations within within countries.

If you take the world takes the low path of population projections that may reduce global emissions by 15 percent by 2050  and 40 to 60 percent by 2100.

How might we mitigate or eliminate the obstacle of population for climate change solutions?

So the best thing really is to is to invest in quality education and rights, what we call human rights based family planning with no coercion.

The IPCC states GDP per capita and population growth remain the strongest drivers of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel consumption combustion in the last decade.

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Additional Resources

• Project Drawdown
• World scientists’ warnings into action, local to global
• Karen Hardee Publications
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

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Top Skills To Learn

Our guest recommends learning the following skills:

• Number skills: demography, statistics, big data
• Public policy: it's one thing to have the science on your side but it's a whole another thing to understand the system in which decisions are made about about that science. So I've. It's been really interesting learning about the the U.
• Advocacy skills and digital media
• Women's health & reproductive rights

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Activity

Activity: Urban Planning Vision

Description: Imagine designing a sustainable city that accommodates projected population growth while minimizing carbon emissions. Sketch or describe the city layout, transportation systems, and green spaces that promote climate resilience.

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Skill Lesson Mastered

Demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skills presented in this lesson by applying it to the above activity. If, and only if, you have a full understanding and have mastered the knowledge and skills presented in this lesson, select the next lesson in the navigation.