http://www.population-awareness.net/consumption.html
Is the Planet Full Yet?.
Of the top 50 things to save the planet, to
have fewer people is only Number 18. The
current population of 6.6 billion people is
predicted to rocket to 9.7 billion in the next
40 years. Yet there is a conspicuous silence
about the topic of sustainable family planning.
Population growth is one of the factors which
determines our impact on the Earth's eco-
system and therefore we should talk frankly
about it. Population growth could wipe out
any gains we make reducing the amount
we consume. It has to be a part of the
discussion and not ignored as some form
of sacred taboo. Friends of the Earth do
not campaign on the matter of population,
claiming the big issue is resource use.
But Green Party Caroline Lucas MEP
disagrees. "There's a direct relation
between the emissions we produce and
how many of us there are." The idea of
controlling the population may be distasteful
but on a planet with finite resources and an
exponentially growing number of people
something, has to give. At present we
are not able to feed the world's population
adequately, yet we produce enough food
to do so. That is a failure of our current
structures. With the world's population
set to rise significantly over the next
century, if we can't cope now, how are
we going to cope then? By encouraging
high levels of immigration we are fuelling
the problem because when people come
here they are, going to start living our
unsustainable lifestyle, too." The South
East Plan proposes a further 11,000
homes should be built in Brighton and
Hove by 2026, the result is likely to be
severe pressure on our natural resources,
such as water. Can a city hemmed in by
the sea and South Downs accommodate
any more without compromising quality
of life and the future of the South Downs
National Park? According to the UN, there
are 78 million people added to the world
every year, yet there are 200 million women
who want to control their fertility but have
no safe and effective access to contra-
ceptive services. We need a major invest-
ment in family planning so women can
choose their family size. In the Sixties
and Seventies, population was a key
issue for all the major campaign groups.
Oxfam published a paper entitled World
Population: The Biggest Problem Of All.
But in '07, to call for such frank discussion
runs too great a risk of upsetting the other
values environmentalists identify with:
human rights, gender equality, race, immi-
gration and, above all, individual choice.
We've got to stop being paralysed by the
sensitivities the population question
naturally taps into and recognise there
are actually valid ways to address it which
could bring great benefits. The decisions
we make relating to family issues, must
be left up to individuals, but devoting
resources to reproductive health and
family planning services brings genuine
win-wins in terms of community develop-
ment and women's rights, as well as
smaller populations. Scratch the surface
of any environmental problem and it
reveals population growth, and the way
we live our lives, as the root cause. The
need for a population policy has never
been more urgent. While governments
see big populations as an indicator of
economic strength, the population
problem will lead to environmental
catastrophe.
Nov. 26, 2007 The Argus website
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