Population Boom

How many people are too many? And who’s one too many? Is this even the right question to ask? One thing is certain: 25 years ago there were five billion of us. Today, there are seven. Dwindling resources, mountains of toxic waste, hunger and climate change - the results of overpopulation? In Population Boom, acclaimed director Werner Boote (Plastic Planet) traverses the globe armed with a World Bank umbrella to examine the myths and facts about overpopulation. Like a contemporary Socrates with a wry sense of humor, Boote questions the conventional wisdom. From Kenya's slums to Dhaka in Bangladesh to New York City, China, Japan and elsewhere, Boote speaks with everyone from demographic researchers to environmental activists, and comes to a surprising conclusion. It isn’t overpopulation that threatens humanity’s existence. Rather, it is the developed world’s patterns of over-consumption and constant pursuit of immediate profit that looms over our future. Is overpopulation a myth with the sole purpose of covering up larger and far more important problems, and making the world's population the scapegoat of a far more complex game? "It is not about how many of us there are, but about how we treat each other," Boote recognizes. Population Boom starts with this as the basis for a debate, and becomes a cinematic journey with the masses between myth, facts and politics.