EHS AP Environmental's Podcasts

E: Good afternoon! You are watching News Channel 6! S: Today, we are going to talk to you about Japan’s attempts to bolster their declining and ‘aging’ population! Parts of this policy includes the spreading of contraceptives and the legalization of abortion followed, although abortion, family planning, and related activities were presented by the government as health policies and not as solutions to the population problem. N: This policy was created after WWII and was meant to decrease the Japanese population and growth rate. One part of their policy was to decrease immigration in their country. It has been very successful especially since their growth rate today is 0%, because they do not allow immigrants to come into their nation. S: Wow Natalie! That’s interesting! Also, did you know that in 1995 Japan was the 7th most populated country in the world, and is currently the 10th, with a population of 127 million! E: Wow! If only they could improve more! They are even expected to lose 21% of their population by 2050, which would put their population at 100 million. Another effect from the policy was that the fertility rate was declined due to restriction of fertility. N: All the actions Japan has taken has obviously made an impact in their population and has worked very well by decreasing their population. Now our time is up. Thanks for listening to News Channel 6! http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/zero.htm http://www.nli-research.co.jp/english/economics/2002/eco021118.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Japan

Carolyn, Katie, and MacKinnon Rwandan Genocide The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass killing of the cultural groups, the Tutsis and Hutus. In 1994 the Hutu majority in Rwanda organized and implemented the mass slaughter of the Tutsi minority. In just one hundred days, 800,000 Tutsi were slaughtered. The overall purpose of the genocide was to decimate the population of Tutsis and peaceful, non-militant Hutus. First, Hutus and Tutsis were given ID cards to separate them by ethnic groups. The government could check them whenever they wanted with threat of force. Physical appearance was also a factor. Typically, darker skin people were Hutus and the lighter skin people were Tutsis. The media got involved, which exacerbated the stereotypes and dislike of the Tutsi group. The media was delivering to the public that the violence and killing should go on. This policy was meant to decrease the population and ended with a success. The population before the genocide in Rwanda was 7 million people. The estimated number killed during the Genocide is disputable. Some say it was as much as 1,071,000 but others say it was 800,000 or at least 500,000 people. This is about 20% of the population. The United States knowingly stood by while the genocide occurred. Friends in Belgium sent troops to help the Hutu moderates, but after 10 of their soldiers were killed, the Belgium Prime Minister ordered them to be removed without first consulting the United Nations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide http://www.rwanda-genocide.org/

Haley: Welcome to the World Leaders Meeting. Today we will be discussing Italy’s population plan. Mussolini: Welcome to the World Leaders Meeting, I am Mussolini from Italy and I want a bigger population! FDR: Please describe your plan Moussolini: I plan to increase the population of Italy by providing an incentive to have more kids. This would also help the size of the army. Hitler: Hallo! I am Hitler! I agree with Mussolini’s policy to increase the population of Italy and build a big strong army! Churchill: I am not sure if a agree with that idea. Why are you doing this? Moussolini: After WWI, Italy has anticipated drastic changes because of our loss, we need to start an increase in my countries population, such as creating an incentive. I want my population to be bigger than Germany’s! FDR: like propaganda? Moussolini: exactly! I should create billboards with pictures of babies! Hitler: or you should have holidays that inspire people to have children. Churchill: you shouldn’t pay people to have babies, let them do what they want. Moussolini: Right now the population is 37 million and I want it to increase to 60 million enventually. I will do this by providing an incentive to have kids. If a family has five kids, they will receive huge tax breaks and very cheap housing. Everybody will want to have kids. Hitler: I love that idea. I want to do the same thing for Germany FDR:NOOOOO, you can’t just keep increasing your population like that Moussolini: Yes we can, if America has such a big population then why can’t Italy? Churchill: People could steal babies to make it look like they have more. Moussolini: Nonsense that would never happen this is a great idea and Italy will be implementing it immediately. Haley: Alright this meeting is closed.

By Olivia C, Sam D, and Shelby S. Narrator: “The Wonton family lives in China where the one child policy is strictly enforced. Xio, the mother of Chewy and Fukcha, accidently had a second son with her husband Mark. The anger that raged inside Xio led her to name the child Fukcha. Xio realizes that China’s policy will be a huge problem for her family. Xio: Mark, what are we going to do? We are in direct violation of the one child policy. We do not meet any of the exceptions because we are not a rural couple, we are not an ethnic minority, we have siblings, and none of our children have died. Chewy was our first daughter, and we should have been more careful not to have another child. Our family’s life is at stake. Mark: I understand that Xio. Just thinking of the consequences for having an extra child is terrible. Expensive monthly fines and the prospect of our homes, government benefits, and even jobs being taken away is terrible. As a poor urban family, we are among the many people who probably won’t be able to continue to sustain our lives because of the one child policy. Xio: Doesn’t China realize that there are millions of families that are devastated by the law? Mark: Yes, but the government is intending to decrease their total population growth and size. They figured that a law would be the easiest way to reduce population. So far it has been effective, reducing the old population growth average of 1.3 billion by 300 million. The law has also been successful in reducing the growth rate to 1.7, well below the US’s at 2.1. Deng Xiaoping, the creator of the law, had good intentions for the country. China’s current population of 1,325,639,982 is almost a sixth of the entire world and needs to be cut down. Xio: Even with those positive results, many countries still don’t support the law. One because of families like us who are devastated by the punishments and two, because many people believe that everyone has natural born rights, one of them being to have children. Narrator: Out of the 6,000,000,000+ people in the world, China’s population makes up for 20.8% of it; meaning that one in every five people are from China. China’s current population exceeds 1.25 billion, and increases every couple of minutes. In order to control this rapid population growth, Deng Xiao Ping established China’s “One Child Policy”. This policy was locally known as the Family Planning Policy, and was initially meant to be temporary, until it was found to be so successful that the government continued to practice the One Child Policy. What this course of action entails is that every family is limited to one child, with exemptions for certain circumstances. For example, some circumstances include: rural couples, ethnic minorities, parents without any siblings, and lastly, parents affected by the unexpected death of a child. With these exceptions, only about 40% of the Chinese population is affected by the latest policy. Unfortunately, Xio and Mark had to abide by this policy and Fukcha does not have an identity.

RWANDA GENOCIDE 1994 Hi I’m Coco, I’m Katarina, I’m Candace and I’m Lila. We’re here to tell you about the Rwandan Genocide In 1994, over 800,000 citizens were killed over the 100-day period that is now known as the Rwandan Genocide. The genocide began when the so-called “inferior” group in Rwanda, the Hutus, wanted to break the spreading ideology that the Tutsis, or lighter skinned Africans, would eventually enslave the Hutus. The Hutus wanted to implement their power by taking control of the Rwandan government and eliminating the Tutsis. They assassinated their own Hutu president and framed the Tutsi group so they would have justification to start a civil war. The Rwandan genocide differed from others because the Hutus were using the media as a way to spread their cause of Tutsi elimination. The Rwandan genocide was fully covered by journalists and television cameras, but still no one made a legitimate effort to intervene. Other countries didn’t approve of the situation, but did little to help. The United Nations put forth the feeble effort of sending Peace Corps troops to intimidate the Hutus, despite the fact that the UN could not use their weapons. Canada was the only country that made a valiant effort to keep the peace, because other countries saw it as a civil brawl, and did not want to become aggressors. Overall, the Rwandan Genocide resulted in a large depletion of the country’s population through the execution of 20% of the Rwandan population.

John K & Mandy W Script Japan’s population is rapidly declining, largely due to the fact that there is a large fraction of Japan’s population that is elderly and beyond reproductive age. This is also due to the fact that many couples at reproductive age are not having children. Nearly 21% of Japan’s population is over 65 years of age, and only 13.8% of their population is under 14 years old. Japan’s growth rate dropped to 1.57 in 1989, the lowest growth rate in its history. As a result, the Japanese Government created the Angel Plan in 1994. The plan was to provide counseling and an infrastructure that encouraged working parents through counseling services and attempting to include both parents in the child rearing process. However, at the time, another bill called the Golden Bill became popular in Japan due to the benefits it offered to retired citizens, not only taking away money that could be used to help increase reproduction, but also encouraging people to not have children so they have more money in retirement. The Angel Plan quickly failed and the growth rate plummeted to 1.23 in 2008, meaning that for every 8.1 births, there are 8.9 deaths. As a result the Japanese government again revised the Angel plan, providing more child-support services such as more daycares and better government support for children. Currently, the Angel plan provides 5,000 Yen to parents with one child per month, equivalent to about 55 American dollars or 164 Peruvian Sol. Sources: 1. Cardiosk, Michael. "Japan's Population Policy: 'Angel Plan.'" AssociatedContent.com. N.p., 27 Oct. 2008. Web. 19 Nov. 2009. <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1117971/ japans_population_policy_angel_plan.html?cat=37>.

Bryce and Nina's China presentation China is a country in East Asia, surrounded by many bodies of water as well as Vietnam and North Korea. Approximately the size of the United States, China currently has a much larger population of around 1,338,612,900. Though China still has a very large population, it was estimated that there would have been 300 to 400 million more people without China’s one child policy. The policy was created and put into action in 1979 by the Chinese government to decrease the population. The policy limits each family to only one child. Exceptions are made to rural couples that need more people to work on the farm, to ethnic minorities, and to parents who are only kids themselves. Payments are required if you wish to have another child. The country uses monetary incentives to make people follow the law, and those who do not must pay fines and pay for the education and healthcare of all additional children. The country also educates people through family planning commissions about the problems of overpopulation. While 76% of the population is said to be in support of the policy, there is still much criticism. Many believe restricting the amount of children a person can have is a violation of human rights. Also, since most families in China wish to have boys for cultural and economic reasons, the policy has also resulted in a gender imbalance with many girls being aborted or put up for adoption. The policy is, however, achieving its goal to a certain extent. The total fertility rate of the country has gone from over 5 in the early 1970’s to a current 1.8. While the population is still growing by .655% because people are living longer, the policy has helped prevent the population from growing at an even larger rate. “China.” CIA World Factbook. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ ch.htm>. “One-child policy.” Wikipedia. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. .

Morgan, Daley and Andrew Hello, welcome to America! We base our government on freedom and democracy so we give people the right to choose the number of children they have. However, we have implemented immigration and population policies in order to stabilize the nation’s population. First, we give monetary incentives to families who choose to have more children. For every child a family chooses to have, they receive a tax return. For example, in Tennessee, a person would receive around $4,500 back for every child they have. Second, we try to educate people from a young age on sex, abortion, contraceptive use, abstinence, and family planning. Programs such as the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Adolescent Family Life Act, which is a teen chastity program, help to raise awareness of the issues. We believe that everyone should have the ability to acquire contraceptives, therefore, they are available at local centers as well as handed out for free at certain centers such as Planned Parenthood. Third, along with birth rate another problem is the influx of immigration. America has always opened its borders to immigrants who are willing to cooperate legally. However, in recent years, there has been plethora of illegal immigrants escaping harsh conditions in Mexico. Although we understand their desire to come for new opportunity and escaping unlivable conditions back home, illegal immigration accounts for undocumented population increase. Due to this increase, a valid response would be to deport the illegal immigrants. However, it becomes difficult when they start to settle down and have families where their children have become citizens. An attempt to prevent this from happening, we have set up border controls and in some places United States citizens have taken the matter into their own hands, known as the minutemen. Lastly, one of the biggest promotions we try to make in America is to encourage job opportunities for women. This, along with monetary incentives, education, and immigration control, we attempt to sustain our nation’s population.