Here was my recent e-mail exchange with a former DC neighbor:
Hey there Susan, you are quite right, MacArthur, not Ford Foundation--what a terrific memory! MacArthur was actually the award given to my late former husband. Your memory is so much better than mine!
Our e-mail exchange then continued:
With all your wonderful cooking, Susan, and with all of us having to eat, I'm very sorry to no longer live in the neighborhood--and that's not the only reason that I'm sorry. I just wish I could have afforded to stay. My beloved 3-story house built in 1895 simply needed too many repairs and was really too big for me anymore. When I had 4 young kids and a dog, it was just the right size. My son is happy to have me living here with him now in W Va., but I still miss Capitol Hill and my many good neighbors still living there.
Now my biologist daughter, Stephanie, living in Hawaii, has been calling our attention a species of rare birds found only there. Not everyone even knows they exist, as their habitat is quite remote and protected.
Rare wild Hawaiian Honey Creepers come in different sizes and hues: red, yellow, or blue. They all look quite different, but together are considered a single endangered species.
Are humans now possibly also becoming an
endangered species? The global birthrate was 2.3 in 2023, barely above the level of 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population. Many countries are already below that birthrate, including the US, whose fertility level in 2022 was only 1.5. The rate in Western Europe was 1.6, 1.5 in Sweden, and 1.4 in Norway, despite baby bonuses and generous parental leave offered in Scandanavia. Japan's rate was just 1.3 and South Korea had the world's lowest birthrate at .78. Women who delay the first birth end up having fewer children.
In my own family, I have a son with 2 offspring by 2 different marriages, a daughter with one daughter, and another daughter who has no kids at all. I don't know anyone in the US with more than 2 kids. No one is now trying to have 12 children, like my own great-grandmother living years ago in rural Alberta.
However, a few mothers are still making their mark.
A California woman's 4 children were all born on the same date, July 7. What are the odds? (Actually only in the millions)
Another odds-breaker is a German woman age 66, who just gave birth to her 10th child. Few women can even still conceive at that age.
But those fertile women are complete outlyers, as, on average, women the world over are now having fewer babies and many have none at all.
The Atlantic, The Birth-Rate Crisis Isn’t as Bad as You’ve Heard—It’s Worse
Humanity is now predicted to start shrinking several decades ahead of schedule. When facing the option, most American women now chose to have either no children, one child, or a maximum of 2. Taken all together, that means fewer babies and fewer babies means fewer people. Baby bonuses, such as those offered in Norway and Sweden, may have some effect, but it's been quite modest. Two kids often seems to be a maximum preference, as has proven true in my own family and among American couples/women I know. "Our first child now has a sibling, so let's stop," seems to be the reasoning. And many don't even get that far.
Humanity is now predicted to start shrinking several decades ahead of schedule. When facing the option, most American women now chose to have either no children, one child, or a maximum of 2. Taken all together, that means fewer babies and fewer babies means fewer people. Baby bonuses, such as those offered in Norway and Sweden, may have some effect, but it's been quite modest. Two kids often seems to be a maximum preference, as has proven true in my own family and among American couples/women I know. "Our first child now has a sibling, so let's stop," seems to be the reasoning. And many don't even get that far.
Wash. Post, Are we facing a population collapse?
Not yet here in the US, but our birthrate does need start to picking up soon. And immigration must be encouraged, not twarthed. Trump is completely wrong on that.
Niger has the world's highest birthrate, an average of 7 children per woman. The only other countries even coming close are also in Africa.
Exclusive: US diplomats asked if non-whites qualify for Trump refugee program for South Africans | Reuters
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That's quite a consequential question, because if they did qualify, then several millions would seek to apply. South Africa would become almost emptied of population, as would other countries of the global south if offered those same terms.
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A surprise email message just came in from Nicaragua. Readers may have to get out their Google translator, as here was my reply on Yahoo (with no accent marks or special Spanish letters showing up on Yahoo). Of course, the writer is now asking for money to help one of his children, who is reportedly ill. So that's why I am hearing from him only now after so many years. He was still a child in Nicaragua when I last saw him. How to send money safely to Nicaragua is the challenge. Any reader advice on doing that?
Que sorpresa! Saludos a ti y a toda la familia. Cuantos hijos tienes? En que estas trabajando? Donde viven? En Managua?
Ahora, a los 87 anos, estoy viviendo en el campo con my hijo. Ya no vivo en Washington, DC. Estaba haciendo visitas anuales a Honduras despues de pasar 3 1/2 anos y medio alla como voluntaria para salud con el Cuerpo de Paz. Mi ultimo viaje fue en junio de 2024. Siempre llevo una silla de ruedas para regalar. No se si puedes ver mi blog alla en Nicaragua, pero la direccion es https://honduraspeacecorps2.blogspot.com/ Sale en ingles, pero hay muchas fotos.
Parece que Nicaragua va a seguir bajo la presidencia de Ortega hasta la muerte de el. Y despues le va seguir la esposa.
Espero que este mensaje pueda entrar y entonces podremos seguir nuestra conversacion.
Abrazos, Barbara
Thank goodness that some food aid is at last reaching starving Gazans. Israel had intercepted a ship bearing Gaza aid and had been thwarting aid deliveries elsewhere, so this is rare progress. The entire Israeli blockade on Gaza should still be lifted. But anything is better than nothing, Food is still urgently needed to stave off starvation due to a completely unnecessary war. (Aren't most wars unnecessary?) Israel has finally responded to scathing international criticism, accusing a nation formed as the result of a genocide of perpetating its own genocide on another people.
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