The Population Problem: Human Impact, Extinctions, and the Biodiversity Crisis with Corey Bradshaw
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2024
⏱️ 121 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
(Conversation recorded on July 25th, 2024)
Show Summary:
Human overpopulation is often depicted in the media in one of two ways: as either a catastrophic disaster or an overly-exaggerated concern. Yet the data understood by scientists and researchers is clear. So what is the actual state of our overshoot, and, despite our growing numbers, are we already seeing the signs that the sixth mass extinction is underway?
In this episode, Nate is joined by global ecologist Corey Bradshaw to discuss his recent research on the rapid decline in biodiversity, how population and demographics will change in the coming decades, and what both of these will mean for complex global economies currently reliant on a stable environment.
How might the current rate of species loss result in a domino effect of widespread and severe impacts on the health of the biosphere? What are the key factors driving changes in population growth, and how do these vary across different countries and cultures? Could we stabilize these trends and achieve a sustainable balance between biodiversity and human population through targeted policies and initiatives — and how much time is left to act?
About Corey Bradshaw:
Corey Bradshaw is the Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Director of the Global Ecology Laboratory at Flinders University in South Australia. He is also the head of the Flinders Modelling Node of the Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage. He has completed three tertiary degrees in ecology (BSc, MSc, PhD) from universities in Canada and New Zealand, and a Certificate in Veterinary Conservation Medicine from Murdoch University.
In a world where human activity has precipitated the current Anthropocene extinction event, he aims to provide irrefutable evidence to influence government policy and private behavior for the preservation of our planet's biowealth. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles, 13 book chapters and 3 books, including The Effective Scientist and Killing the Koala and Poisoning the Prairie.
---
Support Institute for the Study of Energy and Our Future
Join our Discord channel and connect with other listeners
---
Watch this video episode on Youtube
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | We're looking at a series of death by a thousand cuts in many cases of the combination of a rapidly changing climate, but just the expansion of humans and their needs. |
| 0:11.7 | I mean, even if we live in a completely eco-friendly way and have very low per capita consumption and we live, you know, not in this high consumption manner that we have today, we completely change the economic system or it's forced upon us by collapse. There's still so many |
| 0:25.5 | of us. We still eat and we will still hunt and we will still take resources until they're gone. |
| 0:32.6 | And then subsequently, we will be of lower density. I don't think humans are going to go extinct |
| 0:37.5 | anytime soon, but there will be a point when the Earth's carrying capacity, and I think we've |
| 0:43.4 | surpassed that by several decades already, will no longer be able to support the numbers that are there. |
| 0:51.2 | You're listening to the Great Simplification. |
| 0:55.1 | I'm Nate Higgins. |
| 1:03.9 | On this show, we describe how energy, the economy, the environment, and human behavior all fit together and what it might mean for our future. By sharing insights from global thinkers, we hope to inform and inspire more humans to play emergent roles in the coming great simplification. |
| 1:17.5 | I would like to welcome Australian Professor Corey Bradshaw to the program to discuss his latest |
| 1:24.8 | research on the sixth mass extinction, as well as human population |
| 1:29.5 | demographics. |
| 1:30.8 | I would like to caution viewers. |
| 1:32.8 | This is not an episode for the faint of heart. |
| 1:35.6 | If I was still teaching, I would probably have to issue a trigger warning. |
| 1:39.3 | It's very intense on some of the topics on climate, mass extinctions, human population, but you all show |
| 1:48.9 | up here to learn about the world we face. So it's an excellent conversation, and I hope you |
| 1:53.4 | listen to it, but it's intense. Corey Bradshaw is a Matthew Flinders fellow in global ecology at Flinders University in Australia. |
| 2:04.1 | He's published over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles. |
| 2:08.3 | He's also the director of the Global Ecology Laboratory and a chief investigator in the |
| 2:14.3 | ARC Center of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage. |
| 2:19.2 | Corey's research is mainly focused on global change ecology, how human endeavors and |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Nate Hagens, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Nate Hagens and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.