As a kid I watched a TV series about a Canadian Mountie patrolling the wilds of the Yukon. At the end of every episode Sergeant Preston would hug his faithful dog and say, “Well, King, this case is closed.”

13 months ago GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth held its world premiere to a packed house at the West End Cinema in Washington DC. Since then, community groups, environmental organizations, universities, conferences, individuals and film festivals have hosted hundreds of screenings around the world. One might think this case is closed. Film produced, film released, film viewed, end of story. I suppose it could be, but this case is far from closed. We are making progress, but the world is not yet in a 12-step program for recovery from growth addiction. . . .

This Thursday many families in the U.S. will observe the Thanksgiving holiday. Some  will push their plates away after a celebratory feast, get up from the table and head out the door to wreck the planet. Most of them won’t be aware of the dire consequences of their shopping sprees.

Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. The frenzy of holiday shoppers chasing after bargains dominates the news broadcasts. In recent years it has become extra newsworthy as shoppers have been shot or trampled to death. The sheer absurdity is captured brilliantly in this video from Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff project:

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when we cease to be human beings and become consumers: . . .

Stanford biologist and longtime sustainability advocate Dr. Paul Ehrlich is in Australia on a research project. He has given me permission to share his thoughts about the recent U.S. election, sent via email late last night, after the presidential election had been called. At GrowthBusters we try to remain apolitical, but of course we admonish political fools when they exhibit growthmania, and we congratulate political leaders when they demonstrate good sense. So, these are Paul Ehrlich’s words. Paul doesn’t hide his disdain for the current GOP, but I think it’s safe to say he’s not thrilled with President Obama’s environmental track record thus far. . . .

“We’ve got to get this economy going again!” Unless your cave lacks wifi, cable or satellite, you’ve heard this once or twice in the last four seconds.

Job creation and economic growth dominate the November election in the U.S. — perhaps more than any election in history. Campaign ads for local, state and national candidates all promise jobs. The presidential election this year has become a referendum on who can breathe new life into our economy.

News Flash: Neither presidential candidate will succeed.

What if our unexamined assumptions about the need and possibility of perpetual economic growth are wrong? What if robust economic growth is our civilization’s way of driving off a cliff? What if the planet is incapable of supporting continued increase in global economic throughput? . . .

One year ago today world population quietly passed through the 7 billion mark. It was not treated as a major news item. I took note, because I had given up the previous 6 months of my life working night and day to finish the GrowthBusters documentary in time for an October 31 release. It seemed an appropriate occasion for the film’s premiere, and I genuinely thought the news media would be looking for unique angles to report on the world reaching this population milestone.

While our world premiere in Washington DC was standing room only, it turned out the world really didn’t much care. So today, on the one-year anniversary of that event, I expect nothing. This commentary may be all we see. Ambivalence about population growth is just one of the challenges preventing our society from addressing the perils of overpopulation. Local and national growth addiction play an important role. For many of us, however, our attitude about population growth springs from ignorance. So today I’ll address the most common myths about population growth: . . .