Lets Talk About Population Baby! By Brian Chrystal

Humanity at present is like lemmings preening there fur coats before going over the cliff, but we are taking many other species with us. David Attenborough has stated that he can think of no environmental problem that would be easier to solve with fewer people. The difference we can make is the difference between 8 billion and 10 billion but we can only do this by facing up to the problem and braking the taboo of talking about it. We do not need coercion, set limits or eugenics but we do need to talk.

population

Brian Chrystal gave this talk in the Edinburgh International Festival on 4th August 2011.  He is concerned about the impact that population growth has on the sustainability of our cultures, the effect on the biosphere, the quality of life and the stock of natural resources.

 

As the evidence of climate change is now turning to the realities of crisis management, and as biodiversity is floundering to a point of dangerous knock on effects, Brian feels that we should be putting our reproductive numbers at the foreground of our thinking.

 

Thinking about issues such as the idea that contraception is the cheapest way of combating climate change, in his talk he goes through some of the facts which should be informing our vision of the future.

 

Improving provision of family planning and sex education, better education and rights for women, and a voluntary code that couples “have two or fewer” children are some of the important considerations for us all to engage with.