Children 'bad for planet' Unrestricted Breeding destroying the world

0 views

Skip to first unread message

Pastor Dale Morgan

unread,

May 7, 2007, 11:27:35 PM5/7/07

to Bible-Pro...@googlegroups.com

*Perilous Times

Children 'bad for planet' Unrestricted Breeding destroying the world
*
By Sarah-Kate Templeton in London

May 07, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Australian

HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental
misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a
big car and failing to reuse plastic bags, says a report to be published
today by a green think tank.

The paper by the Optimum Population Trust will say that if couples had
two children instead of three they could cut their family's carbon
dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between
London and New York.

Enlarge Full coverage: Climate change in-depth

John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family
planning at University College London, said: "The effect on the planet
of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these
other things we might do, such as switching off lights.

"The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the
planet would be to have one less child."

In his latest comments, the academic says that when couples are planning
a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental
consequences.

"The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one
that should take the environment into account," he added.

Professor Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should
produce no more than two offspring.

The world's population is expected to increase by 2.5 billion to 9.2
billion by 2050. Almost all the growth will take place in developing
countries.

The population of developed nations is expected to remain unchanged and
would have declined but for migration.

The British fertility rate is 1.7. The EU average is 1.5. Despite this,
Professor Guillebaud says rich countries should be the most concerned
about family size as their children have higher per capita carbon
dioxide emissions.