Bill Maher and Steven Colbert become the first honorees on the GrowthBusters podcast’s “Wall of Excellence.” Plus: Why are millennials having fewer children? Maher celebrates the declining birth rate in the over-developed world because it is the single most effective thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint. On the other hand, Senator Mike Lee thinks having more babies will solve climate change. Thanks to Steven Colbert for a send-up.

Will you be able to feed your family in ten or fifteen years? Mass starvation in industrialized countries due to climate change – in the near future – is a real probability, according to Michael Brownlee, author of Taking Back Our Food Supply.

Things Go Better with Degrowth

What if we told you the coming climate catastrophe MAY not turn out to be as bad as we all thought? I’m not sure I’m ready to buy that, but one of our guests on this episode tells us just that. IPCC worst-case scenarios seem to forget peak oil. Limited fossil fuel supplies on the planet could be a factor. But don’t break out the champagne; we still have enough fossil fuels to screw things up pretty badly. See what you think!

Our two guests for this episode:

Dr. James Ward, a sustainability science and ecological engineering researcher and educator from the University of South Australia.

Professor Paul Sutton from the Department of Geography & the Environment at the University of Denver. . . .

Love is in the air on Valentine’s Day, so this seems the perfect time to learn what you can do to green up your wedding. With over 2 million weddings per year just in the U.S., greening your wedding can make a real difference. The Center for Biological Diversity’s Sarah Baillie shares low-impact wedding tips from the new Wildlife-Friendly Wedding Guide. Listen for more tips and information. And by all means get the guide if you have a wedding to plan!

Your choice of wedding location can make a big difference. So can menu choices. Did you know a vegetarian menu has 75% less emissions than a meat-based menu? For a vegan menu the reduction is 90%. And have you considered that renting attire for the wedding party vs. buying can substantially cut your wedding’s impact? Attending a wedding has its share of impacts and costs. According to LendEDU, the average wedding attendee spends $1,386 per wedding. . . .

When you’ve had a tough day and need some comfort, do you go for a long hike and commune with nature, or do you get on Amazon? What gives us joy, yet what do we strive to achieve? Are we in dominion over nature, or are we part of nature? Suez Jacobson (believe it or not, an economics professor) shares why she produced the film Wild Hope, which premieres February 23, 2019 at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival.

The film includes Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, George Monbiot and several other luminaries, including Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario.

Host Dave Gardner also engages Jacobson in a fascinating conversation about the shortcomings of college-level economics education. She also shares how she has begun teaching economics. . . .