A diverse statewide panel will debate the impact of rising human populations at 9 p.m. on Thursday, May 20 on Rogers State University Public Television, and rebroadcast at 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 23.
The hour-long public affairs program, “Population Disaster,” produced by RSU Public TV, presents the case that the burden of 7 billion people depletes both the quality of life and the Earth’s natural resources. Program participants also will consider the conflicting opinions among some demographers that birth rates are actually too low.
Jeff Gentry professor and head of RSU’s Department of Communications is the producer and host. On the program’s panel is professor Craig St. John, who heads the Sociology Department at the University of Oklahoma in Norman; environmentalist Kristen McCormick, president of Shikoba Recycling in Tulsa; Lanny Endicott an Oral Roberts University social work professor; and family ministry advocate Jennifer Dunford of Enid, who the mother of eight children.
According to Gentry, panelists were selected “for their special expertise on the impact of today’s demographic trends. The viewing audience will be shocked by the simple facts concerning human population, and we will debate the enormous social impact of these facts.”
“Some experts fear world population is out of control, with every new child devouring more of our air, water, and land. Other scholars warn that birth rates are plummeting into the danger zone, fearing that humanity could become scattered, impoverished, and endangered,” Gentry said. “This program will examine the population issue from several angles.”
Last year Gentry produced and hosted the programs “Are All Politicians Liars?” and “America the Ignorant?” also on RSU Public TV.
RSU Public Television is licensed to Rogers State University and is the only public TV station operated by a university in Oklahoma. The station, based on the RSU campus in Claremore, reaches more than one million people within a 75-mile radius of the campus.
RSU Public TV broadcasts on digital channel 35.1 and 35.2, Tulsa and Claremore cable channel 19, Cable Channel 4 in Bartlesville and satellite channel 35 across northeastern Oklahoma.
More information is available by visiting www.rsupublictv.org.