As of October 31, 2011 world demographers say that we have reached 7 billion people on Earth. While the strongest driver of unsustainability is the production/consumption cycle of our current model of capitalism, population is the combinative factor that puts us in overshoot. Our friend Dr. Al Bartlett asserts that the greatest threat to humanity is our failure to understand the exponential equation. It took millennia to reach our first billion on Earth in 1804, yet it took only twelve years to grow from 6 billion in 1999 to today’s total. Fortunately, elevating women’s rights is one of the highest levers for transforming population issues. In our holistic framework for sustainability, we urge members of the RLI community to work on behalf of, volunteer for, or support women’s education and empowerment, and to inspire our organizations and families to do the same. At RLI, one of our choices is to donate a portion of our revenues to World Pulse. We invite you to take similar action this week in service to a sustainable world.
Photo Credit: National Geographic
