So began today’s Tree of Life ceremony at In the Heart of the Beast’s (HOBT) 33rd annual May Day Parade and Festival. This year’s theme was “Somos Agua” – a reminder and a celebration of the life-nourishing and restorative water that is much on the mind of Worldchangers everywhere.

HOBT is a community-based puppet and mask theater in Minneapolis that works with papier-mâché and a whole lot of artistry to create original plays about the natural world and our common human experience, inspired by cultures from around the world. Today’s parade was reflective of the multi-cultural ethic of the theatre – groups ranging from Capoeira players to Hare Krishna chanters to a Native American school to punks on tricked-out bicycles were entertaining the thousands of families that came out to watch the parade. The stars of the parade, though, were the delightfully imaginative, larger-than-life puppets that are HOBT’s trademark.

Keeping with the theme, this year's puppets and floats were largely creatures of water – fish, octopi, mermaids, jellyfish, alligators and turtles zipped by on Bloomington Avenue on their way to Powderhorn Park. Intermixed with the fantastical puppets was a political story – for example, the section of the parade “Water Works’ reminded us of the tremendous infrastructure surrounding our seemingly-unlimited water supply with a giant pipe float, and the “work” that water does for us, with clowns using water the way we do everyday – sometimes quite stupidly. The section of the parade “Are You Thirsty?” overflowed with plastic water bottles (a recurring image throughout the parade) – using them effectively to remind us of the financial, social and ecological costs of using bottled water.

The theme of water is part of a greater focus for HOBT. Earlier this year, they concluded Episode 1 of “Invigorate the Common Well”, a three-part community advocacy, educational and creative production about how we use (and mis-use) water, and the political and ecological ramifications of our actions. Episode 1 “Come to the Well” invited local residents to the water commons to learn about and discuss how we can better manage our water, focusing on ownership of water resources and the quantities of water used in different sectors of our economy. Episode 2 “Beneath the Surface” will begin in July, where HOBT says it will explore and celebrate the Minneapolis Water Works and the Mississippi Watershed, and how these water systems connect to all the water in the world. With both “Invigorate the Common Well” and the May Day parade, HOBT has effectively captured a complex topic, pulling together story threads from science, local and global politics and spirituality into accessible, fun and original productions that stimulate the imagination and the intellect.

Each year, the May Day parade ends with the Tree of Life Ceremony. It is a spiritual celebration of the rebirth of spring, and this year it incorporated (among others) traditions of Native American chanting and gospel music with the fantasy and symbolism of the puppets. “The Tree of Life is Burning!” began the ceremony, as the tree of life was literally burned. It was followed by a beautiful demonstration of creativity, reverence and love, by which the Tree of Life was re-grown by people and the healing powers of water to become even more vibrant and joyful than it began. It seemed to me that the message of the ceremony was quite in keeping with the philosophies here at Worldchanging. Happy May Day!

A while back, I met with MMs Director of Enviro Music Programs, Wren Aigaki-Lander, who gave me the run down on SMART.

SMART, which stands for Sustainable Minded Artists Recording & Touring is an artist-funded and artist-driven campaign designed to get musicians thinking about the environmental impact of recording and touring. It’s taking the lead in the effort to green the entire industry by encouraging artists to rethink their day-to-day practices in terms of five categories: CO2 reduction and offsetting, energy efficiency, waste reduction, sourcing of sustainable merchandise, and communication with fans. And, for their efforts, SMART is offering musicians SMART-certification, which the folks at Music Matters hope will become something of a badge of honor throughout the industry.

Here’s how it works: Participating artists gain anytime, anywhere access to SMART’s web-based hub, which is full of practical resources. Say a band subsisting on gas station hoagies and Pabst for the past nine months is seeking a little variety in their diet, SMART’s online organic translator makes it easy for them to find healthier choices.

If the band isn’t sure where they’re going to find bio-diesel fix for their new van between Philly and New York City at 2 am on Monday, the Website promises some suggestions.

If the drummer doesn’t understand why the lead singer insists on using soy-based ink for the band’s posters, he can read up about its benefits online.

If those posters are looking a little expensive for the band’s budget, SMART can direct them towards vendors who offer discounts.

If the band has heard murmurs of the ever-increasing popularity of green tours, but doesn’t even know what questions to ask, SMART can connect them via email or blog link to tour managers and other artists who have a chosen the low-impact lifestyle.

If the band wants to get their fans on board by encouraging them to carpool or use public transport to get to shows, or the band wants to distribute information about their practices via newsletter, SMART can show them how.

Besides this knowledge database, artists who have specific questions about their particular needs while on the road or in the studio have access to a phone bank, which can hook them up with the right people.

Here’s what I find most fascinating: To consider a band on tour is to consider a vast network of interconnected people and places—from record execs in an L.A. office to that guy who cleans the toilets at some underground punk club in Poughkeepsie. When the artists, the public face of the industry, decide to make changes, they are potentially affecting everyone in the web. That is why SMART insists on being artist-driven. They are in the best position to have the greatest impact.

The incentive for following these prescriptions, as I mentioned, will be SMART certification. For now, one will either be certified or not, but in the future, there will be different levels of certification. That’s so bands don’t have to go straight from their current unsustainable practices to, as Aigaki-Lander said, “living in a grass hut.”

Solutions is an event modeled after Pecha Kucha (which means “the sound of conversation” in Japanese) a design event “in which creative work can be easily and informally shown, without having to rent a gallery or chat up a magazine editor.” The format is simple: Find people with the best and brightest design ideas. Put them in front of a live audience. Allow them to present twenty images for twenty seconds each (that’s six minutes and forty seconds per presentation). No guff, no fluff, just the essence of the ideas. To say Pecha Kucha has caught on is an understatement. The event, started in 2003 by two English architects living in Japan who now has manifestations in nearly fifty cities around the globe.

Using the same 20/20 format, Solutions, will expand the focus to include any person or organization with “future positive” ideas. The first event, billed as “Solutions Volume I” will be held at the Southern Theater on Wednesday, May 2nd from 8-10pm, has already garnered an impressive list of presenters or “solutionists,” including local/international magazine NEED, Alchemy Architects, Architecture for Humanity, Studio 4284 at the U of M, Dual Currency Systems, Roof Bloom, Urban Earth Flower and Garden Co-op, Give Us Wings, and MN Artists.

Tom Webb, over at the Pioneer Press, reported earlier this week that there has been a steadily increasing demand for renewable energy in Minnesota. It’s in such high demand, in fact, that the suppliers aren’t even able to keep up. One of Webb’s sources states that energy produced by the major wind-turbine makers is already sold out for the next two years. That’s a problem, yes, but it’s also a “powerful signal, telling investors and green-energy firms that there's a lot of business to be had in Minnesota.�? Another source told Webb that “this as a rare moment when consumer demand, business interest, government support, environmental concern and technological possibility are all flowing together.�?

Now, our lawmakers are being asked to consider another bill that would decrease rid Minnesota of much of its greenhouse gas emissions. The Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Act, sponsored by Maria Ruud (DFL-Minnetonka), passed the Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday and is being heard in the Energy Finance and Policy Committee this coming Monday. As is, the Act would reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.

It’s all music to worldchanging ears!

Just as I was feeling nostalgic for some plastic game pieces, a big slab of cardboard, an Orange Slice in a Styrofoam cup and a fight with my older sister, it dawned on me the board games of my childhood were more than a waste of my time. They were just plain wasteful. Needless to say, I was happy to stumble across Kvale Good Natured Games. Kvale is local board game company committed to creating games that are “as earth friendly as possible.�?

Says their Website:

All of our game pads and cards are constructed with 100% recycled paper, printed with processes and materials (i.e. soy inks) that improve upon environmental, health, and safety standards; our tokens are recycled wood composites, and we use biodegradable, non-toxic pencils."

KGNG was founded by Tony Kvale, a lifelong board game enthusiast whose professional background is in promoting natural products. According to their Website “In 2005, Tony had a revelation that he could blend his deep passion for board games with the distinct attraction he had more natural products with principles.�? Now, he’s out with the company’s first came, Head1Liners, for which players have to give headlines to anonymous photographs. They’ve got a demo up on their site, so curious players can check it out.

What if we used that enormous stockpile of currency to reward community volunteerism, promote sustainable buying decisions, reinforce healthy lifestyle choices and fund seniors’ retirement? That is exactly what a Twin Cities-based start-up called DualCurrency Systems (DCS) has not only imagined, but is already beta testing right here in the Twin Cities.

This is how one of the beta tests works: For every hour that a person volunteers in a community project (Third Way Network affordable housing projects), DCS adds 10 electronic volunteer credits to an account. (Third Way Network affordable housing projects). The volunteer credits can be used with dollars to purchase goods from participating merchants, in a ratio determined by the merchant.

Say you want to buy a pizza that costs $10 from a local pizza joint - you buy the pizza with a debit or credit card, spending $8 and 2 volunteer credits. The transactional details to allocate the proper amount of volunteer credits and dollars is taken care of electronically by DCS' system. Users get a periodic statement showing their balance of volunteer credits and their normal cash.

Also being piloted are "EcoBucks" - exchanged for volunteering at last year's local Bioneers conference to prove the concept, but eventually intended to reward green behaviors like car-pooling or eco-education.

The beta tests are to demonstrate the viability of the system and prove that DCS' technology can be feasibly used. Worldchanging has touched on complementary currencies before, and this has similarities. It is differentiated from community-based systems in that it is commercial endeavor, being profit driven and market based. The potential impact of DCS' ideas could have global impact.

I saw Joel Hodroff, the CEO and founder of DCS, speak about his business to the Carlson School of Management chapter of Net Impact members a couple of weeks ago. He is enthusiastic and articulate, and his ideas are compelling. I encourage readers to peruse his white paper that describes DCS' systems and philosophies in detail. I'll attempt to give you the paraphrased/condensed version of Joel's views here:

Our economy is producing more goods and services at higher quality with fewer materials, less energy, less labor and less capital, yet paradoxically these changes are not driving improvements in living standards, environmental conditions, and overall quality of life. Meanwhile, there is evidence of wasted business capacity throughout the economy, in the form of unsold inventories (both physical - like unsold cars, and service - like empty restaurant tables). This capacity represents an inefficiency in the market (similar to the wasted capacity in our transportation system).

If consumers had the purchasing power (money), they would be using these resources which are now wasted - there are abundant unmet wants and needs for business' products and services, but businesses routinely downsize and fail despite their ability to produce and distribute more. Downsizing creates a negative feedback loop: labor cuts in one area of the economy result in reduced consumer purchasing power, which depress sales and profits elsewhere in the economy, driving further downward pressure on labor costs, resulting in more cuts...

Many of these cuts are driven by too much competition, and not enough cooperation. Industry has cooperated in the past to provide a level playing field and encourage growth - in the financial world, an example of this is the creation of the VISA processing system, where banks compete for individual customers while following the same systems to manage transactions. DCS' system would be a similar cooperative system - companies would pool their "spare capacity" into a pool, which becomes the backing for a new, electronic, currency - business dollars (a form of business scrip). Since money, at its core, is a purely symbolic tool used to facilitate trade, business dollars can thus become a useful tool to facilitate the trade and distribution of goods and services that are relatively abundant. Meanwhile, regular dollars remain useful in the trade and distribution of relatively scarce goods and services. Business dollar networks, once established, would be chaordic, voluntary and self-governing networks, much in the way that the internet and the VISA system currently work. (they also follow a few additional rules to allow accounting and systems compatibility, which are described in the white paper)

Business dollars can still be used to reward customer loyalty - like they currently are, but DCS envisions using them to increase consumer purchasing power through other channels - like community volunteerism (as in the pilot described above), social security enhancements, or as employee rewards through a benefit program. There are as many uses for business dollars as there are for regular dollars.

If this all seems mind-boggling, think about historical transitions from barter to metal coins to paper money to our current age of plastic cards and Paypal. Each of these has represented a fundamental change in our view of what money is and how it works. DCS' ideas clearly have broad-reaching implications. Time will tell if we start spending EcoBucks at our local farmers' markets.

Located on the east bank of the Mississippi River within walking
distance of the University of Minnesota, Marcy-Holmes is home to
two business districts with unique shops and restaurants, numerous
eco-programs and public art displays.

• Lots of bike lanes and a pedestrian bridge (Stone Arch Bridge) that links
to downtown Minneapolis
• Grants available for house/apartment rental rehabilitations
• 15 community gardens and several parks
• Neighborhood eco-programs: riverbank cleanups, tree planting, green
roof program, rainwater recycling project

In many ways, it seems like language is synonymous with loss. And yet, things get done. People communicate their thoughts, ideas, and feelings effectively and often to innovative, benevolent and beautiful affects. Worldchanging itself is testimony to that; we—bloggers and readers alike—are all pivot points in the communication of tools and ideas from one place to another. Not a bad thing to be.

I thought it fitting, then, to acknowledge here a little exhibition with big ideas that opened at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts on January 27th.

Found in Translation: Art and Language in Global Culture, a project of the Brooklyn Artists Alliance, is an international traveling exhibition of books, prints, digital and video documents that use both text and image in an attempt to explore the relationship between what we express and what we understand. Reads the catalogue: “In times characterized simultaneously by globalization and intolerance, the need for effective communication, empathetic comprehension and thoughtful translation is even more acute.�?

While the exhibit itself is not a tool for change, it is an opportunity for worldchangers to contemplate the challenges inherent in all communication/translation, and to consider some of the innovative ways we might transcend those challenges. I’ve highlighted three contributors to the exhibition who I think inspire such contemplations.

Talking Books—Nathaniel Bletter

Bletter, an enthnobiologist who has studied in Peru and Mali, invented “talking books.�? in an effort to return the tools and information to the communities whose plants he studies, where many of the people are nonliterate. These solar-powered and water-resistant albums contain photos of the plants Bletter studies; and at the press of a button, viewers can also listen to a voice explaining each plant’s uses in English and language used that community. As long as the sun still shines, the local knowledge of plant species will be available to future generations.

The Asian Classics Input Project

Since 1989, ACIP has been scouring the globe for ancient Sanskrit and Tibetan texts in an effort to preserve the spiritual and philosophical ideas of those cultures. Once they locate the books (or printing blocks), the information is copied and sent to data-entry centers, where translators can make the information available to speakers of contemporary languages. Found in Translation contains a 19th century meditation text printed from a hand-carved woodblock, as well as an informational DVD about the Project.

New English (Square Word) Calligraphy— Xu Bing’s

Bing is a Chinese-born artist living in Brooklyn who has developed a system of “square words�?—characters which, at first look like traditional Chinese characters, but, upon closer inspection, are really English words with the letters arranged within a square. Seeing familiar words in such a stylistically foreign context is, at first, incomprehensible. Once you’ve discovered the secret though, it becomes a game to “translate�? the characters into the simple messages they spell out. Bing’s work forces viewers to contemplate just how steeped in those twenty-six letters our understanding of the world is.

Found in Translations will be at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts through April 28th.

The event is one of many that has provoked a flurry of coverage on global warming in local media concerning government's changing attitude toward climate change.

In other government news, the MN senate passed a bill requiring that 25 percent of energy in Minnesota must come from renewable sources by 2025. If it passes (and it should, with backing from the Governor and the House), this bill would be nation-leading legislation, giving Minnesota the strongest renewable energy standard in the U.S.

At the national level, Senator Amy Klobuchar has been outspoken on climate change lately.

Meanwhile, this weekend's Wetlands Summit also focused on climate change, specific to its impact on Minnesota's wetlands and prairies.

Finally, the Strib is running a story on the role of religion in pushing for action on climate change.

It seems that not only is climate change in the news in Minnesota right now--it practically is the news. Let's hope the coverage continues--and begins to add focus on sustainable solutions for a greener future for Minnesota.

In 1984, in the midst of it all, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) held a “Conference on the Homeless�? in St. Paul. The product of this conference germinated in 1987 as an intense design charrette called “Search for Shelter." Held simultaneously in 25 cities across the country, the first Search for Shelter was a great success. But its effects weren’t lasting: By the mid 90’s it was clear that Minnesota was the only state that still had an active Search for Shelter committee. To highlight this fact and show other architects that homelessness was still a problem, members of Search for Shelter staged a sleep-out during the 1997 National AIA Convention in Minneapolis.

This year marks the Minnesota Search for Shelter’s 20th anniversary (pdf). While it's certainly a proud occasion, the fact that there are close to 9,000 homeless people in Minnesota on any given night is nothing to celebrate. According to research done by the Wilder Foundation in 2003, 41 percent of our so-called "invisible neighbors"are working, 26 percent of them full time (a number that has tripled since 1990). One in five homeless adults have been diagnosed with an alcohol abuse disorder and one in eight with a drug abuse disorder. 38 percent of these homeless adults suffer from mental illness. The statistics are sobering--homelessness is a problem that cuts deep into our social and cultural fabric. That's why events like Search for Shelter can be so powerful.

At the beginning of this year's event, to be held February 9-11, participants (including professional architects and students from the University of Minnesota) will be broken up into teams and paired with local non-profit housing organizations. Each organization brings a different project to the table, and each team will work through the weekend, often late into the night, preparing to present their ideas at the end of the event. The resulting design boards become a visual tool for the housing organization to acquire funding, educate about their cause, or serve as preliminary building plans. These are real world projects, many of which get kick-started at Search for Shelter and eventually see completion in some form.

If you’re interested in learning more about homelessness in the Twin Cities and new steps being taken to end it, come see guest speaker Cathy ten Broeke talk on Friday night. Cathy heads up the Minneapolis/Hennepin County Commission to End Homelessness; she recently coordinated Heading Home Hennepin, the county’s 10 year plan to end homelessness by 2016. For more information about the event, click here.

“The Clean Energy Resource Team project is your opportunity to play a role in shaping energy conservation and renewable energy implementation for your region of Minnesota. A growing number of Minnesotans envision an energy future built on using energy wisely and generating energy from local renewable resources like wind, solar, biomass, and even hydrogen from renewable sources. By relying more on community-scale renewable energy resources and energy conservation, communities can help prevent pollution and create local economic development opportunities.�?

I’ve attended a number of conferences in Minnesota related to this event over the last few months including Bioneers, and the IREE Research Symposium which I wrote abouthere. There were many familiar faces at the CERTs conference but there were a few notable differences. Because CERTs is a program focused on providing citizen teams in Minnesota with the support - both financing and institutional – to create their own community-based energy solutions, there was a different vibe in the air. At this conference there was a palpable sense of “We Own This�? that I didn’t experience at other conferences where the dynamic had more of a “show and tell�? feel. For instance, during the legislative session at the end of the day when the audience was asked how many of them knew their state representative and senator. Just about every hand in the room went up. When asked how many of them had spoken with their representative or senator in the last 4 months just about every hand stayed up. It was empowering to see a room full of people willing to take action and make things happen.

The quality and passion of the speakers was consistently good, as I’ve come to expect at conferences like this one. You can read about the speakers and conference agenda here if you’d like more details about the sessions.

A few words on the break-out session I attended, on "Green Building":

There were three speakers involved in the session. Warren Hansen, Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, President, spoke first and stated from the start that his organization's goal is to “make all affordable housing [in Minnesota] green by 2010.�? This would constitute 1000-1500 units per year. So how does GMHF define “green?�? Here is the criteria that Warren provided:
• Healthier homes
• Reduced utility costs
• Efficient land use
• Natural resource conservation
• Active living by design
• Increased affordability
• Access to jobs, schools and services

Warren also stated that based on the demonstration projects they’ve completed, the premium for building green is about 2-3%. Several examples of green projects GMHF has completed are the Wellstone Apartments and Ripley Gardens, both in Minneapolis. GMHF is also a big proponent of smaller homes. As Warren stated “it’s tough to be efficient in a big house.�? See “The Not So Big House�? website for more info about this concept.

Bob McLean, Hunt Utilities Group, COO, followed Warren and talked about two different initiatives that are happening under the UHG umbrella, both of which are based in Pine River, MN. First, Bob talked about the research wing of HUG which is committed to being a “catalyst for a more comfortable earth.�?

The principles that HUG follows to achieve this goal are:
• All buildings are self-heating and cooling
• All buildings oriented for optimum solar exposure
• All buildings have extensive monitoring
• All buildings have greenhouses to supplement utilities, food sources, and wonderful aesthetics
• Permaculture is used as a guiding principle in design and to help build a sustainable community.

Second, Bob introduced Happy Dancing Turtle, a non-profit wing of HUG whose mission is to support sustainable living. Happy Dancing Turtle provides educational opportunities for people that range from supporting technical development, to residential experiences living for a few days in one of their buildings.

The third and final speaker in this session was Warren Schulze, Concordia Language Villages, Assistant Director of Facilities. Warren shared information about a building that the Language Village recently completed in their German Village called Waldsee BioHaus. Most of the German Village has been built in the Black Forest style of architecture. The Waldsee BioHaus was built to represent the cutting edge construction techniques being developed in Germany. As Warren said, this style of construction is what you might see in modern Germany right next to traditional architecture so it seemed a natural fit fo the village.

The Waldsee BioHaus has been certified by the German PassivHous Institute which sets aggressive standards for energy consumption and efficiency.

Until yesterday I had no idea that green building resources such as these existed in the state. I’m going to be looking for an opportunity this next summer to tour both the BioHaus and Hunt Utilities Group’s campus and I’ll write more at that time.

Here's a start: The University of Minnesota is hosting a conference January 25-26 called "Risk and Response to Global Environmental Change: Lessons from Cross-National and Global Social Science Research" that will focus on a little-asked question: Why do some nation's governments take action while others (ahem) deny that the problem even exists?

The conference will bring together social scientists from around the world to consider that very question, and then design a research project to take what they find to the next level.

Conference speakers include former V.P. Walter Mondale, Leslie King, dean of the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources at the University of Manitoba, and other researchers from the U.S., Canada, and the Netherlands.

U of M sociology professor Jeffrey Broadbent, who is organizing the conference, explains that global climate change is usually examined from a scientific perspective, which makes sense, given the very tangible factors that are at work. But if this human-influenced problem is going to find a human-influenced solution, we'll have to consider sociological issues such as how we're responding to the crisis. The conference will evaluate different national and global responses to climate change and attempt to pin down the criteria that make for the best public policy.

When: 7:00-9:00 p.m. Thursday, January 25 & 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, January 26

Where: Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 301 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis

Of course, all of these are complicated issues with many contributing variables, but they have at least one common factor – the pressure created by human population growth and over-population. Population stabilization, if not addressed in a humane way, may keep long-term, sustainable solutions to all of these issues -- and many others -- out of reach. This relationship is stated very directly on the World Population Balance web site “Whatever your cause ... it's a lost cause without population stabilization.�?

This is a bold proclamation and I decided that I needed to dig deeper to understand this relationship. I asked David Paxson, Founder and President of Twin Cities based World Population Balance, to have a conversation with me exploring the relationship between human population growth and the greater sustainability movement. I was also interested in learning how Mr. Paxson first became aware of this issue and decided to make it his life’s work. Here are some excerpts from my interview with Mr. Paxson.

Bart Gottschalk: “How did you first become aware of the challenges and implications of human population growth?�?

David Paxson: “It was really a trickle. Some people say they’ve ‘had this epiphany all of a sudden’. Well it wasn’t really like that for me. When I was in college I took some environmental policy courses, I majored in economics where we touched a little bit on population and demography. But it was especially in the environmental policy courses where I started hearing professors talk about incredible, rapid population growth on the planet and the overwhelming decline of resources. This was years ago at University of Michigan, years ago. After that, the next big step was at the University of Minnesota. When I first came to Minnesota, because of my sparked interest in environmental policy and environmental education, I went over to the Medical School at the University of Minnesota and saw the director of the Center for Population Studies.�?

BG: “What year was this?�?

DP: “That was about 1972. And he was very gracious. He did a lot of research, and he also administered a Master’s Degree Program in Family Planning Administration�?

BG: “Do you remember his name?�?

DP: “Oh, yeah. Dr. Harry Forman. The students in the program were about half Americans and half were from developing countries who were sent here to study. Some of them already had MD or master’s degrees in Public Health. They would be sent here to the University of Minnesota to get a masters degree, a one-year program, in Family Planning Administration. Then they would go back to their home countries to administer those programs in family planning.

“Dr Forman invited me to come in and audit his classes. I wasn’t looking to become a student, but I really wanted to learn more. It wasn’t too long before he had a part-time opening for a research and teaching assistant. So I took that job and I worked with him for about three years in the 70’s. That was my next really strong grounding in the issues of population growth and resource depletion in the world. Every week I was reading reports that were coming in from all corners of the world that were describing what was happening. I would go home to my family, friends and neighbors, and most of them didn’t have the first clue about it. After three years I r burned out at that position. Dr Forman had written me into several grant proposals where he was trying to get increased funding for additional projects, and those didn’t come through. So, the funding was starting to dry up for these purposes. That touches on your question you asked earlier, ‘What was the atmosphere like back then?’ and things were starting to change then, in the late 70’s.�?

BG: “Do you remember when world population went past certain landmarks? At that time in your life was there a mark 3 billion, 4 billion, 5 billion where you remember that day?�?

DP: “A little bit. But you know what? It’s fascinating you ask that question because, believe it or not, when I left working with him in the 70’s -- ’76 or so, and went off and did other things for several years -- until I came back to this population issue in about 1990, I basically forgot everything I knew, all the specifics. When I came back in 1990 I didn’t remember -- I’m sort of embarrassed to confess it -- I didn’t remember how many people there were on the planet, I didn’t have a clue what our doubling time was, or any of those kinds of things. And I re-learned all of that over again.

BG: “Because it wasn’t part of the popular press or discussion at the time?�?

DP: “It wasn’t part of the popular press, and I wasn’t still part of that field. I completely went off and did other things, so it was totally off my radar screen.�?

BG: “What was the idea that started the specific organization, World Population Balance, and can you talk a little about the origins of World Population Balance?�?

DP: “Sure. A minister friend of mine -- I used to hear him speak in the late 80’s -- would say ‘what are you really concerned about in the world?’ And once I heard him say ‘what are you willing to die for?’ At the time I was in the financial planning business. Finally, I realized ‘I’m not willing to die for the financial planning business for the next twenty years.’ And when I realized that, I thought, ’what am I really interested in?’ Deep down all those years -- as I had been in school teaching, real estate work, financial investments and such -- I realized that what I was really concerned about was, at the global or macro level, where we’re headed as a human civilization and how unsustainable it is.�?

BG: “So that was the turning point for you where you realized that you needed to do something? How did you go about starting an organization like World Population Balance and what was involved in that?�?

DP: “The first year or so, 1990-1991, I though ‘the last thing I want to do is start an organization’. I don’t want to do that because I thought ‘why duplicate administrative resources?’ So initially I thought I’d try to ally myself with an existing population organization, and I looked around. What I finally became uncomfortable about was that the ones I looked at were all pretty heavily involved in other issues … related to population, but still other issues which, to me, were not central to the population problem itself.�?

BG: “So World Population Balance has been around for about 16 years. Over the years how has the message you’re trying to communicate through World Population Balance changed and what is the primary message or piece of information that you would like people to understand today from the perspective of World Population Balance?�?

DP: “Here is our sound bite – right now on the planet many resources are over-consumed and they’re in decline. At the very same time, human population is still increasing by 200,000 a day, day in and day out. And that is wholly unsustainable.�?

“To some people, like yourself, that message might strike you as quite simplistic. And probably it is for you, because since you were 15 or 20 you had a sense about population growth as an issue. But several times a week, I’m interacting with people who just plain don’t have a clue about those facts right there.�?

BG: “Recently the US population just went over the 300 million mark. My impression was that about 99% of the news media covered it as a big success, and a big celebration. There were one or two exceptions where the media talked about the consequences of this, what this really means. I can imagine how it would be very easy for most people to go through life not ever realizing. Would it be fair to summarize that the primary message from World Population Balance is to get people to be aware that there is an issue?�?

DP: “Exactly. Our mission is focused on raising awareness -- on education.�?

BG: “So it’s more focused at this time about awareness as opposed to ‘here’s how to solve it’?�?

DP: “Oh, absolutely. My dream from day one has been; within a few years, as more and more Americans become aware and convinced that this is the mega-issue of our time, we all can then talk about how to humanely slow and stop population growth. The Dahli Lama, when he was in Minnesota a few years ago, was asked ‘what do you think is the world’s biggest problem?’ And immediately he said one word, ‘population’.�?

BG: “I noticed on your website that you make what I think is a very bold statement, but one I would agree with, that ‘whatever your cause ... it's a lost cause without population stabilization.’ And that fits right in there.�?

DP: “Absolutely. And right now, so many elected officials, much to my disappointment, are dealing with all kids of issues that are being made worse by continued population growth -- resource allocation issues, pollution, national parks issues, highway congestion. There is hardly an issue that isn’t a lost cause unless we slow and stop population growth. But my experience is that when I meet with elected officials, from both sides of the political aisle, they don’t begin to have much of a clue about what’s really happening with population growth on the planet, let alone the impact it’s having on depleting our resource base.�?

BG: “To switch gears a little bit, who is the primary audience that World Population Balance is speaking to or would like to speak to?�?

DP: “If I had a magic wand the primary audience I’d like to speak to would be our elected officials and members of the media. We generally say that we’re looking to educate three primary groups - the general public, elected officials and members of the media. We directly educate about 10,000 people a year. In other words, our speakers have face to face contact with about 10,000 people mostly in the upper mid-west.�?

BG: “And the types of activities you use to do that? I know that you have a newsletter, you have a web site, you speak in person in front of groups, church groups, school groups, community groups. What’s the scope of activities that you use? Or did I just cover it?�?

DP: “Yes. We’re directly educating about 10,000 people. Indirectly, we’re educating 10s of thousands of people through media interviews, and planting seeds with our media campaign that started about a year ago where we’re actually sponsoring announcements on public radio. This next year we’re exploring several other possibilities.�?

BG: “Are the programs that World Population Balance sponsors primarily focused locally here in the Twin Cities or Minnesota or Upper Mid-West?�?

DP: “We network with organizations around the country and other parts of the world, but our mission and focus is on education and raising awareness of people in the Upper Mid-West. And of course, Minnesota is a greater focus than the Upper-Midwest, and you could say that the Twin Cities is an even greater focus.�?

BG: “In the election that just completed, one of the hot issues that was talked about quite a bit was immigration. I’m wondering if World Population Balance sees a relationship between the conversation around immigration into the United States and world population growth?�?

DP: “Our focus as an organization is on the global population issue. However, we also understand that there’s no such thing as a sustainable rate of population growth, anywhere! Any nation in the world that has a positive population increase can’t sustain that forever. It’s impossible. We know that.�?

BG: “It just slows down the inevitable.�?

DP: “Right. We focus on the global population issue. However, we also help point out to Americans that the US right now is consuming many resources much faster than they can replenish. Therefore, since the United States is one of the biggest consumers, per capita, in the world today, increasing population in the United States is not sustainable, either. We have to slow and stop the United States population growth. Whether it comes from high birth rates or immigration it doesn’t matter as far as the impact on our planet and it’s precious resources.

“Studies show that the number of people who can live in the U.S. in a sustainable manner -- that is, without overconsuming many vital resources, as we are doing right now -- is about 150 million. That’s half of our current 300 million. Clearly, our current numbers are not sustainable, long-term.

“Specifically, with regard to immigration, think of it this way. If Bob and Ben are twins who are born in a developing country, and Bob stays in that country his whole life and consumes and pollutes at average rates for people in that country, but Ben immigrates to the U.S. soon after birth and then consumes and pollutes at average rates of an American, Ben’s impact upon resources will be many-fold larger than his twin who did not immigrate. So immigration coupled with consumption and pollution does have a huge impact upon the planet’s declining resources.�?

BG: “Does World Population Balance get involved at all in helping people make decisions about their own reproductive future or is that outside the scope?�?

DP: “I wouldn’t say we do it in a real active fashion. Certainly on an ad-hoc basis we’ve had people come up to us at the end of a talk and they’ll say ‘you know, I just had my second child and I was thinking about having a couple more, but I won’t do that now.’�?

BG: “For people who are reading this article and would like to get involved, what are some things they can do?�?

DP: “First and foremost, we believe that people need to become more informed about the realities of this issue. Learn more about the issue. We’re thrilled to help with that if people want to get in touch with us for more information. Our web site has a lot too. If they would like to get involved, maybe they’d like to become a speaker. We have an active speakers’ program. We can help to support people who would like to learn to speak about this issue. One of my dreams is to have a similar kind of group in every state in the United States that is out there educating Americans in their part of the country about the realities of population growth, the impact population growth is having all across the board, and the benefits of humanely slowing and stopping it.�?

BG: “David, thank you very much for taking the time for this conversation. It has been very interesting.�?

DP: “It’s been a pleasure. Humanely slowing and stopping population growth is the mega-issue of our time.�?