Children acquire language in very different ways depending on their native tongue. That can make a big difference for kids …
Population
Why Empowering Poor Women Is Good for the Planet
Overpopulation isn’t the great environmental fear that it once was, but there are still parts of the planet where large family sizes are a problem. Female education can help change that
Access to Contraception Helps Save Lives—and the Planet
In too much of the world, the most dangerous thing a woman can do is bear a child. Every day, 800 women die from preventable causes while giving birth. Almost none of those women have to die—after all, 99% of maternal deaths …
Population Studies: Birthrates Are Declining. For the Earth — and a Lot of People — That’s Not a Bad Thing
I worked in Japan for a year as a journalist for TIME in 2006 and ’07, and here’s what I realized: the Japanese do everything first. Camera phones, Zen Buddhism, little fuel-efficient cars, huge public debt, a stagnant economy, …
TED Talks: Peter Diamandis on Why Things Are Getting Better All the Time
It’s Friday afternoon on Ecocentric, which means it’s time for videos. And there’s no better place to find them than TED, the summit of smart people and the wealthy who’d like to be near them that just concluded last week. I picked out a strong one: Peter Diamandis, the tech veteran and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, talking about …
Getting Out of Danger’s Way: Why We’re Not Prepared for Twisters
The Midwest has every reason in the world to be sick of tornadoes by now. In April alone, there were a shocking 600 of them, and in the past two months more than 400 Americans have been killed by the storms. At least 116 more were added on May 22 in the massive twister that cut a 6-mile (9.6 km) swath across Joplin, Mo., generating winds …
New Population Projections Show Us Growing Unsustainably, But We Can Put on the Brakes
Pencil in October 31, 2011 on your calendar. It’s not just the one day of the year you get to dress like Edward Cullen without everyone thinking there’s something deeply wrong with you. According to the United Nations Population Division (UNPD)—the demographers who rule over all demographers—that’s the day when the 7 billionth person …