David Attenborough wants to lower the global population

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7996230.stm

by sbt • 17 years ago

6 13 17 years ago

news.bbc.co.uk

gaius2• 17 years ago

I'd take him a bit more seriously on this if he flew a little less. But like Al Gore, austerity is for other people.

mhb2• 17 years ago

Is identifying hypocrisy distinct from or a type of what-aboutery?

gaius2• 17 years ago

Also I notice that he has two kids himself. Other people should stop breeding, tho', right? The wrong kind of people, perhaps?

ftse• 17 years ago

We could start with him.

behe2• 17 years ago

We could start with the Chinese. They breed like rabbits.

Edit: Downvote me if you like, but you know it's true.

stewiecat2• 17 years ago

Kind of hard given that their one-kid rule is 30 years old.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy

behe2• 17 years ago

I didn't necessarily mean just in China.

AndrewDucker• 17 years ago

He doesn't seem to have realised that the birth rate in most of the EU is _already_ below replenishment rate.

jballanc• 17 years ago

Uuuugggghhhh... not more of this...

Look, people, global over-population is probably one of the easiest, most straight-forward problems to solve, and the solution is really, really easy:

EDUCATE WOMEN

I'm sort on time, but I can dig up the references later today if anyone wants. The strongest correlating factor with fertility rate is the education level of a population's women. When women are educated, fertility rate settles just above 2 children per women, which is right where you'd need it to keep global population static.

stewiecat2• 17 years ago

Along these lines is educating couples that having a family isn't a necessity in order to be considered 'normal'.

My girlfriend (pseudo-wife at this point) and I get shocked looks from people when we tell them that we aren't having children, as if we need to have children in order to be considered a Normal American Family (tm).

anamax• 17 years ago

> EDUCATE WOMEN

Actually, TVs are enough. I don't recall whether it's more effective to give them to men or women.

vixen99• 17 years ago

First step is to determine how many world births are currently unwelcome. Do we know this? If the number is small then coercion to achieve this aim is unavoidable. That's a bit euphemistic. Better say, explicit or implicit (chemical treatment of the water?) implementation by force. Serious proposals to say the least. Shouldn't Attenborough tell us what he has in mind before throwing out such a suggestion?

mhb2• 17 years ago

Given the disparity in birthrates between immigrants and native Britains this is going to be politically impossible to advocate in any meaningful way.

David Attenborough wants to lower the global population

Related Stories