0:00:07.473,0:00:09.839
I grew up in the 1960s,

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watching those TV commercials[br]with those starving kids in Africa

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who stared vacantly at the camera[br]with sad eyes and distended bellies.

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And in sixth grade,

0:00:21.183,0:00:24.766
my glee club teacher, Mr. Collins,

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had us change the words[br]in this song we were singing -

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(Singing) "Three billion[br]people in the world" -

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to

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(Singing) "Four billion[br]people in the world."

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And I was shocked.

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I couldn't believe[br]that the population was so big.

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And I was even more shocked

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because no one else in the class[br]seemed at all disturbed by this fact.

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A couple of days later,[br]I told my friend Suzy Hollander

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that because there seemed to be[br]too many people in the world

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for it to handle,

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that I wasn't going to have any kids.

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And she looked at me, and she replied[br]that she was going to have three.

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And I felt pretty alone in my beliefs.

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And 37 years later,

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I still feel pretty alone in my beliefs,

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and I'm still shocked that not more people[br]are disturbed by population growth.

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And I think it's because as a species[br]we've decided not to talk about it,

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to kind of tuck it away.

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So I'm here to untuck it.

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Modern man first showed up[br]on earth 200,000 years ago.

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And by 1850,

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we had reproduced so successfully,

0:01:37.587,0:01:41.110
there were 1 billion people on the planet.

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That means it took 200,000 years for us[br]to put the first billion people on earth.

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The next billion came in 100 years.

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200,000 years to get to the first billion;

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100 years to get to the second billion;

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now, we add 1 billion people[br]to the planet every 12 years.

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And in 2011, the world population[br]reached 7 billion people.

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Now, this surge in growth

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came about because of improvements[br]in agriculture and medicine,

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because as a species,[br]we are a biological success story.

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Survival of the fittest -[br]we have survived!

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And we're also a religious success story:

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we have gone forth and multiplied.

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(Laughter)

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But now we have to stop,

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or it will be our downfall.

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And just to give you an idea[br]of how fast population grows:

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Bangladesh had a hurricane[br]that killed 139,000 people.

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How long did it take Bangladesh to replace[br]those deaths with 139,000 new births?

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Two and a half weeks.

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Now, the world population[br]is growing at just 1% a year,

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which might not sound like very much,

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but 1% of seven billion[br]is actually a big number.

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It means that every day[br]we add 220,000 people to the planet -

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every day.

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And this is unsustainable,

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which means that at some point,

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the world population[br]is going to stop growing.

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The question is how?

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Will it stop growing because of famine,[br]disease, a war over resources?

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Or will it stop growing because[br]people choose to have smaller families?

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And by "smaller families,"[br]I mean one-child families.

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This is where people start getting nervous

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talking about overpopulation[br]and population issues

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because they're scared

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that I'm going to take away[br]their rights to have children.

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But I don't want[br]to take people's rights away;

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I want to give people rights.

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Forcing people to have[br]fewer children does not work.

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In fact,

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the fastest and most efficient way[br]to stabilize the world population

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is to send girls to school[br]and to empower women

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and to give everyone access to[br]and education on birth control.

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And those are good things.

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And as a culture,

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we need to emphasize the benefits[br]of having a one-child family

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so people will choose to have fewer kids.

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Because for thousands of years,

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we've been inculcated with this ethic[br]that big families are happy families

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and only children are lonely children.

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Couples like myself and my husband, Ian,[br]who have chosen not to have kids

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were child-less instead of child-free.

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And myself, several times,[br]I have been accused of being selfish

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because of my decision[br]not to have children.

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And all this made sense

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when it was important for us[br]to procreate for our survival.

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But now?

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For our survival,[br]we have to not procreate.

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And we have to change and rewire[br]our biology and our culture

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to recognize the benefits[br]of a one-child family

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because right now,[br]mostly what we see is the negatives.

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For example,

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when a country's population falls,

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there's all this economic doom[br]and gloom in the media

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because capitalism[br]is based on eternal growth.

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Capitalism depends upon[br]more and more consumers.

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So yeah - when population lowers,[br]the economy will suffer.

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But it will suffer less

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than if there's no more oil[br]and food and water

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because there are 10 billion people[br]on the planet in 40 years,

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which is what the UN is projecting.

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Now, you might be thinking,

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"Okay, this population issue[br]sounds troublesome.

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But we should be having the babies.

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We're smart and we're educated[br]and we listen to TED Talks

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and we can afford kids and heck -

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our offspring, they might save the world!"

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Even my mom says,

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"Oh Alexandra,[br]you'd be such a good mother!

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And your kids, they'd be wonderful!"

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And they might be wonderful,

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but they would also be wasteful

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because North Americans[br]use 32 times the resources

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as someone from a developing country,

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so it's even more important[br]that we have smaller families.

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For example,

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someone in the United States, on average,[br]uses 176 gallons of water a day

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compared to the average person[br]from Africa who only uses 5 gallons a day.

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And it's not just vis-à-vis[br]poor countries either.

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We here in the United States,

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we use twice the energy as someone[br]from France or England or Japan.

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There are a lot of countries[br]that have a higher fertility rate

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than we do here in the United States,

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but we all have to aspire[br]to a one-child family,

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especially those of us living here.

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Maybe you're thinking,

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"Well, don't worry, Alexandra -[br]technology will save us."

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Yes, it's possible that we might be able[br]to eke a few more years of resources

0:07:09.534,0:07:13.344
because of some new[br]inventions or technologies.

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But in the end, even if we can[br]feed and house 14 billion people,

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what would their lives be like?

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The population is going to[br]have to stop growing at some point,

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so why not stop now

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instead of wishing that some[br]invention or technology will save us

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that doesn't even exist yet[br]and we're not even sure works?

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So for everyone to have quality of life,

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the number of humans on earth[br]needs to go down.

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And I believe that it needs[br]to go down to 2 billion people,

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which sounds radical

0:07:47.725,0:07:50.822
because there are 7 billion people[br]on the planet today.

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But it's actually the world population[br]of just 80 years ago.

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So let's change our idea[br]of what the ideal family looks like -

0:08:01.610,0:08:04.609
one is a beautiful number.

0:08:04.609,0:08:07.080
And let's not be afraid[br]to talk about overpopulation.

0:08:07.080,0:08:09.653
Because it is not about[br]taking rights away from people;

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it is about giving opportunities to women,[br]children, and future generations.

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And lastly, let's be part of the solution

0:08:18.903,0:08:21.076
and choose, from now on,

0:08:21.076,0:08:25.940
to bring forth no more[br]than one child ourselves.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)