IUSSP Debate: 

"The population of humans that can be supported sustainably on the planet at a reasonable standard of living is below 4 billion." Yes or No. 

 

Wednesday 18 October 2023

  

Webinar description        
 

This was a member-proposed webinar organized by Stan Becker. The topic of the debate was:

•    "The population of humans that can be supported sustainably on the planet at a reasonable standard of living is below 4 billion." Yes or No.            
             
Four debaters took turns debating in favor of one of the two positions: Timothy Guinnane and Jacques Emina argued "No", while Anastasia Pseiridis and Frank Götmark argued "Yes”. The webinar was  introduced by IUSSP President Shireen Jejeebhoy and moderated by Stan Becker.  Joel Cohen offered some background to frame the debate and Suzana Cavenaghi provided a summary of the debate at the end.

The debaters' slides and those by Joel Cohen are available in the table below. 

The audience was invited to post questions in the Q&A. See the questions

Attendees were also invited to cast their vote in favor of one of the arguments before and after the debate. The results of the first and second poll are below:

INTRODUCTION

Shireen Jejeebhoy           
Aksha Centre for Equity and Wellbeing, India        
IUSSP President

 

MODERATOR

Stan Becker            
Johns Hopkins University, United States

 

BACKGROUND FOR THE DEBATE

Joel E. Cohen  
Rockefeller University & Columbia University, United States

SLIDES

 

DEBATERS

Jacques Emina           
University of Kinshasa & Population and Health Research Institute, Democratic Republic of Congo

SLIDES

 

Frank Götmark           
University of Gothenburg, Sweden

SLIDES

 

Timothy Guinnane         
Yale University, United States

SLIDES

 

Anastasia Pseiridis          
Panteion University, Greece

SLIDES

 

SUMMARY

Suzana Cavenaghi            
Independent researcher, Brazil