Purpose of this Archive. This website is an archive of works produced by Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP). ASAP was a nonprofit based in Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville in central Virginia from 2002 through 2022. During its existence ASAP produced many works supporting pursuit of a stable, ecologically sustainable community population size. This archive exists to make ASAP's works available to the public after ASAP is gone. We hope readers find these valuable. Contact: Tom Olivier
History of ASAP. Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP) was a nonprofit membership organization incorporated in March 2002. ASAP was formed by residents of the Albemarle-Charlottesville community, led by Jack Marshall, who believed that we must work to stabilize our community's population size. Their goal was to gradually slow and ultimately stop growth before it consumes our environment and further erodes our quality of life. ASAP worked to implement this goal through education, research, policy development and advocacy. In 2022, after existing for twenty years, ASAP dissolved.
Position Statements: During its existence, ASAP took positions on many issues. These positions were presented in oral statements to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and Charlottesville City Council, in letters, at press conferences and in statements posted on the ASAP website. The "Statements" page of this archive provides links to a selection of ASAP position papers.
Optimum Sustainable Population Size Project (OSPS). This page contains links to research reports from ASAP's Optimum Sustainable Population Size project. These studies, completed from 2009 to 2012, were conducted to help identify a finite, sustainable "right size" for the Albemarle-Charlottesville community. The research received generous support from Albemarle County, the City of Charlottesville, the Colcom Foundation and members and friends of ASAP.
Corona Commentaries. During the the coronavirus pandemic, ASAP produced a series of commentaries that examined the condition of the planet and humanity. The goal of the series was to use unusual times to recognize causes of our current multi-crisis condition and investigate paths to a better future. We encourage you to have a look at the series here.
Economics for Spaceship Earth Book Club. ASAP believed that endless economic growth is not only impossible, but that it is also mistakenly perceived as an indispensable prerequisite for widespread prosperity. ASAP created its book club as a means for exploring approaches to economics that recognize limits to growth, and which also envision the economy as the subset of the earth and its environment that it is. Many of book club selections also help frame the discussion ASAP wanted to see move increasingly into the foreground of related political and theoretical debates--centered on the ways in which economic history and the most insightful economic theory drawn upon it, point the way toward full employment and widespread prosperity with a stable or declining population. The book club drew its name from Kenneth Boulding's seminal 1966 essay, "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth."
The "Book Club" page of this archive lists books read and discussed by the ASAP book club. If you are interested in economics for a finite planet, but are new to the subject, you should find some of these selections worth reading!
YouTube Channel. ASAP created a YouTube channel and posted a few videos on it. Here is a link, if you would like to have a look.