Green Guru: Two children should be limit
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| Thu, 02-12-2009 - 9:19am |
He has a good point IMO but I know many will disagree.
UK article:
Two children should be limit, says green guru
COUPLES who have more than two children are being “irresponsible†by creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the government’s green adviser has warned.
Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. He says political leaders and green campaigners should stop dodging the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population.
“I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate,†Porritt said.
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* Go easy on the guilt trip, Jonathon
* Green GP refuses to help women have large families
“I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible. It is the ghost at the table. We have all these big issues that everybody is looking at and then you don’t really hear anyone say the “p†word.â€
The Optimum Population Trust, a campaign group of which Porritt is a patron, says each baby born in Britain will, during his or her lifetime, burn carbon roughly equivalent to 2½ acres of old-growth oak woodland - an area the size of Trafalgar Square.
The British population, now 61m, will pass 70m by 2028, the Office for National Statistics says. The fertility rate for women born outside Britain is estimated to be 2.5, compared with 1.7 for those born here. The global population of 6.7 billion is expected to rise to 9.2 billion by 2050.
“Many organisations think it is not part of their business. My mission with the Friends of the Earth and the Greenpeaces of this world is to say: ‘You are betraying the interests of your members by refusing to address population issues and you are doing it for the wrong reasons because you think it is too controversial,†he said.
Complete article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article5627484.ece
Edited 2/12/2009 9:37 am ET by libraone




I remember when I was a kid there was a lot of talk about how we should limit our families to 2 kids in order to achieve population stability.