The Population Institute is a charity based in

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, United States. Global Population Speak Out (GPSO) is its special project. Founded by John Feeney, PhD, an

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

writer and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

based in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

, United States, GPSO is designed to boost public discussion of human population as a key factor in the struggle for sustainable living on earth. The project has three stages. First, a pledge letter explaining GPSO is endorsed by a group of high-profile scientists, activists and celebrities. Over the years, endorsers have included scientists such as

Paul R. Ehrlich Paul Ralph Ehrlich (born May 29, 1932) is an American biologist known for his warnings about the consequences of population growth and limited resources. He is the Bing Professor Emeritus of Population Studies of the Department of Biology of St ...

, and

Dennis Meadows Dennis Lynn Meadows (born June 7, 1942) is an American scientist and Emeritus Professor of Systems Management, and former director of the Institute for Policy and Social Science Research at the University of New Hampshire. He is President of t ...

. The letter is distributed to people interested in human population dynamics, urging them to speak out publicly during the month of February about the growing human population. Scientists, representatives of environmental

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

’s, science writers and activists, along with ordinary concerned citizens are targeted. Finally, the recruits are asked to report their project activities back to the GPSO coordinator, who posts them on the GPSO website.

Background

Dr. Feeney conceived of the GPSO idea in 2008 and organized and managed the first Global Population Speak Out in February 2009. He subsequently arranged for the GPSO franchise, and future GPSO activities, to be managed by the Population Institute, Washington D.C.

GPSO 2009

After the letter had been signed by 32 persons, GPSO started as a project in the World Wide Web on September 2008. In October the journal ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' wrote: "''At a time when some developed nations are paying citizens to bolster flagging birth-rates (Science, 30 June 2006, p. 1894), a grass-roots group of scientists and environmentalists is calling for a new push to limit human numbers''". GPSO is being supported by the

World Union for Protection of Life The World Union for Protection of Life (German: ''Weltbund zum Schutz des Lebens'', French: ''Union Mondiale pour la Protection de la Vie'', Russian: Всемирный союз для защиты жизни) is an international non-profit organ ...

(WUPL), which was founded in Luxembourg 1964. GPSO 2009 received pledges from 216 persons in at least 17 countries. Among them was

John Guillebaud John Guillebaud is Emeritus Professor of Family Planning and Reproductive Health at University College London. He was born in Burundi and brought up in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Britain. He qualified as a medical doctor from University of Camb ...

, Emeritus Professor of Family Planning & Reproductive Health,

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, and former Co-chair of

OPT OPT or Opt may refer for: Computing * /opt, a directory in the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard * Option key, a modifier key on Apple keyboards * Optimal page replacement algorithm, a page replacement algorithms for swapping out pages from memory ...

. In November 2009 the Population Institute (PI), established since 1969 in Washington D.C., declared its cooperation with GPSO. In 2009, the Global Population Speak Out was covered in ''

'', ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...

'' and ''

The Times Online ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', among others.

GPSO 2010

GPSO 2010 increased the number of project endorsers from 32 (in 2009) to 50 in 2010 (including 28 Ph.D's). Under Population Institute's project management, the number of pledgers had also increased from 216 in 2009 to 386.

GPSO 2011

GPSO 2011 maintained the number of project endorsers at 50. There were 24 women and 26 men, who represented 16 nations, including:

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, Australia,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, Germany, India, Italy,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, Portugal,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

, UK, and the USA. The number of Pledgers increased from 386 in 2010 to 1,037 in 2011. Overall, GPSO 2011 achieved participation from individuals from 52 countries.

References

External links

* http://www.populationspeakout.org * https://twitter.com/gpso2011 * http://www.populationinstitute.org/programs/gpso/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Gpso Charities based in Washington, D.C.