As the general population becomes more aware of our environmental challenges and the emerging energy crisis certain words have become popular in the media.  Not too many years ago words like sustainable, green or renewable would bring snickers from people who thought the environmental movement and search for alternative energy sources were just hoaxes perpetuated by those with purely political agendas.  Not anymore.  Just about everywhere you look in media and advertising people are talking green and sustainability.

One unfortunate side effect of having meaningful words become marketing buzzwords is that what these words mean and represent is often lost in a barrage of advertising and shallow quasi-news reporting.

The words sustainable and sustainability are powerful words with meaning that reveals great wisdom for the future of humankind.  It is important that we preserve the power of these words to help us understand what we must do to provide a high quality of life in the years ahead.  It would be tragic to be seduced by the spin doctors that because we put a green or sustainable label on something that we are properly addressing our long-term challenges.

Problem:  As the total human population of the earth increases it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a sustainable society.

Solution:  As the average level of education increases birth rates decline.

There is a consistent relationship between the level of education attained by women in a society and their birth rates per capita.  Reviewing the statistics below suggests that increasing education programs in underdeveloped countries with high birth rates would have the effect of putting more women into the workforce and falling birth rates – changes that would not only reduce the strain on local resources, but also may help to build the local economy.