Mother: Caring for Seven Billion

Alternative title

Mother: Caring for 7 Billion

Synopsis

Since the 1960s world population has nearly doubled and now tops seven billion. Population growth, though little discussed, is putting an unprecedented burden on the planet’s life systems. This film brings to light the connection between overpopulation and the most pressing environmental and humanitarian problems, as well as the solutions.

It begins with an animated timeline of population growth over the last 500,000 years with key historical references, then looks at the how the population issue first arrived on the public agenda in the 1960s, and reviews the various ways in which population impacts the global environment.

The second part of the film follows Beth, an American mother and child rights advocate, who grew up in a large family of twelve. She travels to Africa to witness first-hand the impact of population growth in the developing world and its role in exacerbating poverty. While there, she meets a young Ethiopian woman, Zinet, who comes from a poor family of twelve, but has found the courage to break free from long-held cultural barriers holding back women. Beth learns from Zinet and others that a primary solution to the population issue is raising the status of women worldwide through education and empowerment, an essential step to ease population growth and reduce poverty worldwide.

The final section features a broader discussion of the solutions to overpopulation in both the developed and developing world.

The film features commentary from many world-renowned experts and scientists, including Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich, author of ‘The Population Bomb’.

Language

English

Country

United States

Year of release

2011

Subjects

Development studies; Environmental science; Geography

Keywords

developing countries; environmental issues; population dynamics; poverty; Third World; women’s issues

Credits

Director

Christophe Fauchere

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£39.50

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

60 minutes

Year

2013

Distributor

Name

Concord Media

Email

sales@concordmedia.org.uk

Web

http://www.concordmedia.org.uk/ External site opens in new window

Phone

01473 726 012

Address

Rosehill Centre
22 Hines Road
Ipswich
IP3 9BG

Notes

A long-established, not-for-profit organisation with a large collection DVDs, specialising in the sectors of general and mental health, child care, race relations, war and peace, addictions, the third world, ecology, civil rights, personal relationships, educational issues, and social work training. Concord also handles titles made for the Graves Medical Audio-visual Library. Sale on DVD. Formerly known as Concord Video and Film Council. In 2014 Concord began to offer selected films as Video on Demand, via Vimeo.