Professor Emirita of Development Studies Betsy Hartmann from Hampshire College in Amherst New Jersey, gave a lecture entitled “Population Politics at the Crossroads of Gender, Environment, Migration and Security,” on Jan. 27 in Genomics 1102A to a crowd of approximately 50 people. This talk was presented by the Gender and Sexuality Studies Department and the Sustainability Studies program, in partnership with the Center for Ideas and Society.
The lecture focused on the strategic use of population and birth control aimed at minority populations and communities in order to reduce how many children they produce, in addition to a discussion on what Hartmann calls “the greening of hate,” where anti-immigrant groups use an environmental platform to spread xenophobic ideas.
Hartmann began the lecture with a series of three provisos to discuss her critical analysis of population control and politics. The first was that while the talk critiques the idea that population growth is the major cause of poverty, environmental degradation and political instability, Hartmann supports reproductive health and rights, including affordable contraception and abortion.
The second included that though she critiques population control, she understands that unregulated population growth impacts the environment and increases poverty. However, the situation is complicated and varies over time. The final proviso stated that while she is critical of how population control affects climate change, she believes that climate change is one of the most important topics affecting the world at this time.
Hartmann explained that while population has been increasing, factors that indicate population growth such as family size have been decreasing since the 1960s (which decreased from 4.9 children per household globally in 1960 to 2.53 in 2016). Hartmann described that while the global population is expected to peak at 9.5 billion by 2050, policy experts should focus on how to plan to support 2.4 billion additional people in environmentally friendly ways.
The professor then discussed how population control is typically targeted toward impoverished and marginalized groups, especially toward women. Hartmann then described that despite policies targeting those groups a majority of human consumption and environmental damage is caused by the world’s wealthiest people. “Mix privatization, financialization, militarization and 1 percent of concentration, squeeze the poor and put social welfare programs on ice. Then blame your hangover on overpopulation,” Hartman emphasized.
Hartmann described how organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation provide Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARCs) to impoverished countries in Africa as a means of population control. In the U.S. similar LARCs programs have been marketed toward communities of color by the Buffett Foundation (which is sponsored by investor Warren Buffett).
According to Hartmann these programs “ignore the fact it (overpopulation) is not because of (a person’s) child-bearing decision … this is closer to modern eugenics.”
The professor then discussed organizations such as the Carrying Capacity Network, which is a white supremacist anti-immigration group that pushes a xenophobic agenda through environmental policies. A recent slogan by the group stated, “58 percent of California is in an exceptional drought. Yet we continue to admit more immigrants.”
After the lecture Hartmann hosted a Q-and-A session with the audience. Kate Gonzalez, a political science major asked, “What do you think is the best birth control method that should be established in this country?”
“I definitely believe that we should offer people choices … no contraceptive is perfect, but some are riskier than others,” Hartman stated. “In the context of where people don’t have many rights … methods like implants, might be alright in a situation where you might get them taken out … the problem is the idea that one solution is best for everyone.”
Mark Carpenter, a sociology professor at Riverside City College who attended the event, stated, “I was taken by the concept of the greening of hate. I thought that was an interesting take and I had not been aware of that before today. I can now see it as an actual dynamic.” In addition, Carpenter stated that it is important to make sure that people of all classes have access to healthy population control methods.
