Our Shrinking Planet

Massimo Livi Bacci is Emeritus Professor of Demography at the University of Florence.

Author’s note
Introduction
Chapter One
Growing and shrinking
Eros, Thanatos and the demographic balance in the ancient world. From biological-instinctual conditions to individual choice. The world’s changeable geodemography. Demographic transition and demographic revolution: from 1 to 10 billion in two centuries.
Chapter Two
Land, water, air
Simeon Stylites and his environmental footprint. The cabal of the 10 x 2 x 7. More than half the planet changed by human intervention. Population and fragile regions: coasts, forests and urbanisation. From the London smog of the seventeenth century to the greenhouse effect in the twenty-first.
Chapter Three
Adaptation and self-regulation
Demographic systems’ adaptation and self-regulation. Examples from history. The possibility of regulating modern populations: reproduction levels and migration. Biological and social change. Italy after the crisis: a system-change?
Chapter Four
SustainableÉ for whom?
Zeus, the Brundtland Report and sustainability. The Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals: isn’t population a priority any more? Demographic explosion, demographic decline: both unsustainable. The parable of Tycoonia and Pauperia.
Chapter Five
Geodemography and geopolitics
Mussolini Ð numbers mean power. The pendulum of fear, between growth and decline. Geodemography and geopolitics. The weight of numbers within states: ethnicities, religions, minorities and majorities. Power rankings.
Chapter Six
Homo sapiens, Homo movens
Shipwrecks and barriers. International migration grows despite obstacles. Demographic and economic pressures. Three past globalisation processes, and the fourth one to come. The unsustainability of politics without international rules.
Chapter Seven
Long lifespans have their cost
A woman from Arles lived to 122 years of age. In the rich countries a life expectancy of 90 is not far off. The sustainability of long lifespans. The profile of a 100 year society. Rigid ages, flexible roles. Four generations under one roof.
Chapter Eight
Few prescriptions for many ills
Poverty and hunger: the Millennium Development Goals reached. But the numbers of poor and hungry in Africa increase. The burden of 168 objectives. The Malthusian trap. Nuclear-armed India with one in five children wasted. Political mission: concentrate efforts, dismantle the trap.
Epilogue
Our shrinking planet
A thousand times more crowded, a thousand times smaller. Still today a pendulum of fear, between overpopulation and depopulation. Seven demographic and political notes. Awareness of limits.
Notes
Index