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Entries from June 2008

This Week…

June 26th, 2008 · No Comments · Uncategorized

Come out and listen to Bob SING and talk about More at Busboys & Poets on Monday, June 30 at 6 p.m.
More info is here.

The Washington Post Book World reviewed More this past Sunday calling it “Useful and Illuminating…”
Read the review here

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Less Mentioned in More

June 24th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

Keeping a book short is no easy task, especially on a set of topics as complex and controversial as population and the reproductive intentions of women. Now that I’m discussing my latest book, More, widely, and the publication is gaining some reviews (such as this one in the Washington Post), I’m developing a list of topics I hope to develop further if I ever write the sequel. The title could be More More, or maybe even Longer More.

Many points that some readers feel I’ve missed are actually in the book, though perhaps not highlighted or explored in

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Egyptian Population Concerns: More of What Men Want

June 16th, 2008 · No Comments · Uncategorized

Some people think policies aimed at slowing population growth are foisted on the developing world by heavy-handed industrialized countries. Actually, most population policies are home grown, and sometimes none the better for this. I have a hunch there’s not much gender diversity in the circles that develop them. And those who write about them often fall into the same trap.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak recently endorsed a new $80 million campaign that reportedly focuses on the slogan “Two children per family—a chance for a better life.” Mubarak took office in 1981 in a country with about 45 million people

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All-Consuming Question: Is Population or Behavior the Problem?

June 6th, 2008 · No Comments · population

Talking to reporters and others about my new book, More: Population, Nature, and What Women, I’m sometimes asked where consumption fits into the population picture. A review in the intriguingly named magazine Bitch, for example, criticized the book for “failing to adequately distinguish between the individuals who are overpopulating the world and the individuals who are responsible for the type of overconsumption that causes environmental deterioration.”

Well, the book actually doesn’t identify any individuals who are “overpopulating the world.” I explain on the book’s second page why I don’t like the word overpopulation. And for

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Recently…

June 2nd, 2008 · No Comments · Uncategorized

Bob talked about women’s reproductive rights and their connection to the environment on May 30th on NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Science Friday.
Listen to the interview here
or learn more at the Science Friday site.

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Robert Engelman: “Oops” Pregnancies in High Places

June 2nd, 2008 · 2 Comments · population, women

“Oops, I’m pregnant.”

Even in today’s age of safe and effective modern contraception, women in every society get pregnant when that wasn’t the plan. It’s a simple point I explore in More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want. In the wealthy and health-obsessed United States, for example, 49 percent of conceptions result in “oops” pregnancies. The figure for the world as a whole is estimated at around 38 percent. I suspect that women in many countries under-report unintended pregnancies and that the real proportion is even higher.

Interestingly, the estimated number of annual unintended pregnancies worldwide is almost the same as

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