Seven billion humans are alive today, up from one billion in 1900, and the environment is taking a beating. What's next? Nine-plus billion by 2050? Eleven billion? But what happens to these numbers if we educate and empower women? If we provide family planning services? What's stopping us? In "Soaring Past 7 Billion: Population Challenges for a Crowded World," John Seager, president of Population Connection, addresses these issues.  He spoke in Portland last winter for the University of Oregon's Life Long Learning Institute. (Talk edited for time by Stephanie Potter. Music by Kevin MacLeod.)

Population growth stretches natural resources to their limits. Deforestation, food and water shortages, and climate change are all intensified by the addition of nearly 80 million people a year to the world's population. According to the United Nations, the global population could be as high as 11 billion in 2050 or as low as 8 billion, if the right programs are put in place now. At least 200 million women around the world would like to delay or end childbearing but have no access to contraception. Family planning improves maternal and infant health and allows women to be more active in society. The 50 poorest countries on earth are also those with the highest fertility rates. Voluntary family planning improves everyone's quality of life.  --Population Connection 

What is EcoSex? How can it help us to heal ourselves? Heal our planet? What happens when the Earth becomes our lover, rather than our mother? EcoSex Symposium Portland 2012, happening June 29-July 1, will be exploring this new form of earth activism in a venue that includes neuroscience, ecology, love, animals, fungi, plants, intimacy, music, and dance. Find out more with host Stephanie Potter who will be talking with Gabriella Cordova, symposium organizer and Tantra teacher and Bob Czimbal, keynote speaker & author.

From the EcoSex Symposium website: "How do our belief systems and attitudes about human sexuality affect the way we treat each other, other life forms and the ecosystem, and what can be done to better steward the planet and our relationships? Ecosexuality looks at the intersection of ecology and sexuality, two prescient topics in modern society, and asks: How do our belief systems and attitudes about human sexuality affect the way we treat each other, other life forms and the ecosystem, and what can be done to better steward the planet and our relationships?

The term EcoSex is newly coined and growing in popularity among sex positive activists and ardent environmentalists who understand that humans aren’t just part of nature; we are nature. It’s time we apply the ideals of sustainability to our intimate lives and behaviors." (Find out more about the Symposium at www.ecosex.org)

Gabriella Cordova is a Tantra teacher, pleasure facilitator, workshop presenter, and an organizer of events related to sacred sexuality, eroticism, relationship, and female empowerment. She also successfully organized ErosFestNW, Sex Positive Meetup, and the Lotus Heart Center an event space.

Bob Czimbal is well known and well loved in Portland, considered a leader and a wise man, he presides over many of the communities rituals and ceremonies. With his partner, Maggie, he's authored Vitamin T - A Guide to Healthy Touch and Kindred Spirits: The Quest for Love and Friendship, and created the seminar Erotic Spiritual Play.

For the past 19 years Jeanne and Dick Roy have been working tirelessly as full-time volunteers to heal our world,  co-founding the Northwest Earth Institute in 1993 and the Center for Earth Leadership in 2006 . In the face of so much "bad news," what sustains and motivates them? How do they overcome despair and avoid burnout?  With host Stephanie Potter, Jeanne and Dick share their insight and experience in choosing hope over pessimism.  

 They will also be sharing their insights on May 5, in a 3 hour workshop called The Practice of Hope, offered free of charge (with pre-registration). Their intention is to elevate hope among those who seek to create a sustainable future.   They also made a TEDx talk on this topic.  Through the Center for Earth Leadership, the Northwest Earth Institute, and the Oregon Natural Step Network, Dick and Jeanne Roy have inspired thousands to take responsibility and action to care for the earth.  

The Camino de Santiago is an 1100 year old pilgrimage with routes throughout Europe that end at Santiago de Compostela in Northwest Spain.  Thousands of people walk, bicycle or go by horseback every year. Host Stephanie Potter speaks with film maker Lydia Smith, whose first walk on the Camino inspired her to direct her first feature length film, the forthcoming "Camino Documentary;" and with Kathy Kennerly who's recently started the Portland chapter of the American Pilgrims on the Camino.  Kathy volunteers in pilgrim hostels to help others travel the Camino. 

Just like the Camino itself, Lydia expects her Camino Documentary to create "a sense of global community and spark a dialogue about life’s biggest questions. Amidst a time of considerable social malaise, The Camino Documentary will illuminate what enables us to transcend the perceived boundaries of race, language, social status, age, faith and nationality, and remind us of what is best about being human."

Learn more about this ancient tradition that for many brings new perspectives on how to live; and provides inner growth, a rewarding physical challenge, and an opportunity to connect with others from around the world. (Music by Kevin Mcleod)

Join the Portlandia Chapter of American PIlgrims for a Sunday Stroll, Sunday, February 26, 2012, 2:00 p.m.! The meeting point will be the Eastbank Esplanade sign at Southeast Water Avenue at Hawthorne Boulevard.