Included in the Film:

Please check back here as these pages are added. In a few weeks, you may click on the links below for an overview of topics explored in the film.

• Cows and Population Growth
• Population Growth; Sustainability's "No Go" Zone
• Population History
• Population & Human Identities
• Poverty & Population Growth
• Aging Societies & Population Growth
• Consumption & Population Growth
• The Role of Belief
• The Natural Environment & Population Growth
• Growth Like a Tree
• A New Take on Limits

What's the Point?

When too many individuals live in a finite space the physical resources required to sustain life depleted and the ability for humans to mentally and emotionally thrive is significantly jeopardized.

How We'll Explore It

Through an animated story about my dad and his ever-increasing herd of cows, we’ll form a hypothesis of why human population growth is so difficult for many to acknowledge as having negative impacts. In addition, we’ll introduce the concept that population growth can significantly influence human mental and emotional well-being.

We will draw parallels between the finite space of a fenced field and planet Earth. As the pasture becomes overgrazed (depletion of natural resources that sustain life) and financial resources (costly scientific replacements for natural resources) replace natural resources to ensure the cows remain healthy, it becomes evident to everyone that there are just too many cows for our family farm to handle. Everyone, that is, except my dad.

In his struggle to keep the herd healthy, he loses the happiness he had once experienced on the farm. Taking care of the cows depletes not only the pasture and the checking account, it depletes his joy of raising cows. As cows fall ill, he finally understands that, if the farm and the people living on it are going to be healthy, secure and happy, there is a limit to the number of cows in the field.