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footnote in the guide to the galaxy..
We must limit human population growth, says David Attenborough. 'It’s not an inhuman thing to say'
NATURALIST David Attenborough has described the human race as a "plague on the Earth" and warned that our actions "will come home to roost" over the next 50 years unless we limit population growth.
The veteran TV presenter told Radio Times that famines in Africa were caused by too many mouths to feed. "Too many people there," he said. "They can't support themselves - and it's not an inhuman thing to say."
He told the magazine: "It's not just climate change; it's sheer space, places to grow food for this enormous horde. Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now."
- By Gus Leonisky at 23 Jan 2013 - 4:30pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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planet in peril...
Radical depopulation of the kind for which Attenborough and Population Matters (formerly Optimum Population Trust) yearn, isn’t going to come about via sex education, birth control, or other “non coercive” methods. Heck, look at China’s brutally tyrannical one child policy, which has only slowed the rate of population growth, not actually reduced the numbers.
To really get the job done would require genocidal means, which I am sure Attenborough would never consider or support. But I worry that less genteel others might not be so hesitant.
http://www.nationalreview.com/human-exceptionalism/338296/attenboroughs-anti-human-radicalism#
The only problem in the Wesley J. Smith's article is that the other side of the ledger is growth growth growth.... At this stage there are 7 billions humans on the planet (when I was born there were less than 2 billions) — by 2050, there will be 9 billions, by 2100 there will be 12 billions and by 2200 there will be either 20,000 survivors or 20 billions... A major choice will have to be made sooner or later.
costello's under the doona mad policy...
One quarter of people said they wanted things to stay the same while 8 per cent wanted the population to shrink.
Only 13 per cent voted for 40 million citizens - the mark likely to be hit by 2050 - and 70 per cent hoped that wouldn't happen. Less than five per cent hoped for 50 million countrymen.
But former Treasurer Peter Costello, who famously urged parents to have a child for Australia, said people weren't considering the makeup of the growing population.
"When I encouraged families to have one for mum, one for dad, and one for the country, what I was drawing attention to was the fact that we are an ageing population," he said.
"To me one question is whether it should be a big Australia or a small Australia.
"A more important question is should it be a young Australia or an old Australia."
He said having a high percentage of retirees meant fewer taxpayers paying crippling tax rates.
The country would not be able to afford all its services like healthcare and welfare and economic growth and living standards would decline, he said.
"Whether the population is 20, 30, 50 or 100 million, what we need to do is we need to get a higher proportion of younger people," he said.
"We've got to keep our birthrates up if we want to have a balanced population of young and old people."
Mr Costello said the problem had been on the Howard Government's agenda but had been forgotten by Labor.
http://www.news.com.au/national/can-there-be-too-many-2
Read comments above... see toon by Gus at top... Note the monkey was "shot" (pictured not gunned down) in Africa, circa 1963... and used twice in the toon... The title was going to be "not the planet of the apes"... but that was voted down by my left brain...