OUR PHILOSOPHY
About Us
OUR HOME BASE
We respectfully acknowledge that the Population Balance home base of St. Paul, Minnesota is located on the sacred and traditional homeland of the Dakhóta Oyáte (Dakota People), unfairly ceded in the Treaties of 1837 & 1851, who stewarded it for millennia. The Ojibwe and other Indigenous nations have cared for this land as well. Minnesota comes from the Dakota name for the area, Mni Sota Makoce — "the land where the waters reflect the skies."
HISTORY
Population Balance, formerly World Population Balance, was founded by David Paxson in 1991 and he was the organization’s president until 2016. David Gardner carried on the organization’s mission as its executive director from 2016-2021. In 2021, under the leadership of executive director Nandita Bajaj, the organization embraced a humane education inspired anti-oppression philosophy that works to advance social, ecological, and intergenerational justice.
OUR VISION
We envision a future where our human footprint is in balance with life on Earth, enabling all species to thrive.
OUR MISSION
We inspire narrative, behavioral, and system change that shrinks our human impact and elevates the rights and wellbeing of people, animals, and the planet.
OUR PILLARS
Beyond Pronatalism Toward Liberated Choices
Pronatalism—the social bias and pressure toward having children—is the fundamental driver of our population growth as well as reproductive and social injustice worldwide. We empower people to make liberated and informed choices for themselves, their families, and the planet, including adopting broader understandings of “family” with our human and nonhuman kin.
Beyond Human Supremacy Toward Ecocentrism
Human supremacy is a widely shared worldview that humans alone possess intrinsic value and that nature and all other beings hold value only in their ability to serve humans. We advocate for a radical shift in our relationship with all animals and with the entire natural world: from one of domination and exploitation, to one of reverence, justice, and care.
Beyond Social Inequities Toward Social Justice
Vast social inequity, in which billions live in poverty while millions enjoy enormous wealth, is an inevitable consequence of the pursuit of unlimited growth on a finite planet. We challenge the unjust and growth-driven socioeconomic systems that exploit and disempower human communities and threaten all life on Earth.
OUR VALUES
Commitment to the Truth: We approach our planetary predicament with empirical and analytic rigor and our interpersonal relationships with openness and honesty.
Justice: In recognition of our deep relationships, interconnectedness, and interdependence with all beings, we are committed to upholding the rights and wellbeing of nature and all its human and non-human inhabitants.
Diversity: We value diversity in human communities and the non-human world as a source of inspiration and beauty. We stand by peaceful coexistence among all beings.
Humility: We seek to be grounded in the wisdom of nature and informed by the appreciation of our own limits of perception and understanding.
Collaboration: We aspire to represent and work with a wide variety of voices to ensure broad perspective-taking and sensitivity to the needs of all.
Resilience and Courage: We remain committed to right action in the face of cascading global crises and cultivate the courage to face our plight with equanimity and compassion.
Joy: We foster a way of being of lightness and gratitude that joyfully embraces the beauty and abundance of everyday life.