The Breeding Obvious

The recently-appointed head of the Science Museum, Chris Rapley, has dared to state a somewhat under-publicised aspect of the bleeding obvious: namely, that if there were fewer people in the world, the human species would be less of a danger to itself and others. The Observer's science editor, Robin McKie, apparently felt obliged to get Rapley to deny that this meant "advocating genocide" and, armed with this denial, summarises Rapley's suggestion as "get rid of a few billion people", much as might that eminent human rights advocate, Cardinal Keith O'Brien. Rapley, "a passionate believer in man's influence on climate" rather than a rational scientist, makes the tactical error of mentioning "contraception, education and healthcare", perhaps the three words least likely to win him any friends in the current political climate; but he notes quite sensibly that a reduction in population "will mean less carbon dioxide is being pumped into the atmosphere because there will be fewer people to drive cars and use electricity. The crucial point is that to achieve this goal you would only have to spend a fraction of the money that will be needed to bring about technological fixes, new nuclear power plants or renewable energy plants. However, everyone has decided, quietly, to ignore the issue." Indeed, I have dropped one or two hints on the matter myself, to deafening silence from both the pro-overpopulators and the Nobel Committee. Even the Optimum Population Trust, which "believes that Earth may not be able to support more than half its present numbers in the next century, and that the UK's sustainable population level in the 22nd century may be as low as 30 million", can only suggest using a nut to crack the sledgehammer: "a voluntary stop-at-two guideline ... for couples in the UK who want to adopt greener lifestyles". The advantage of this approach, of course, is that it would mean those who, later this century, get to watch their children starve, drown, or be killed in food riots and wars will be mostly the kind of fast-breeding idiots who are now helping to bring these blessings upon us; but there are more efficient ways to go about things.