Lancet Follows London School OKing Population Control to Reduce Climate Change
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 18, 2009
London, England (LifeNews.com) — The British medical journal Lancet is following the lead of the London School of Economics in advocating population control as a solution for so-called climate change. The trend is alarming for pro-life advocates who say abortions have already been pushed in nations like China and may be promoted worldwide.
In an editorial, the publishers of Lancet said contraception should be distributed on a worldwide basis — specifically in nations in Africa — to cut back on the population.
They advocate this as a solution to the highly-disputed claim that the environment is being destroyed because of the number of people on the planet. The claims come even as many nations face severe underpopulation and worker shortages that are threatening their economies and causing social problems.
"There is now an emerging debate and interest about the links between population dynamics, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and climate change," the editorial reads.
The editors note that increased access to contraception makes it so the population rates fall in a given nation.
Earlier this month, the London School of Economics targeted people who have children as being responsible for destroying the environment. With a population control agenda in mind, its analysis draws the conclusion that fewer children and more abortions means a better environment.
Although the report, entitled Fewer Emitter, Lower Emissions, Less Cost, focuses on "family planning" and contraception, the idea is that fewer children born means the environment will be better off.
Roger Martin, chairman of the Optimum Population Trust at the LSE, is one of the school officials behind the report.
His research indicates contraception is five times cheaper than conventional green technologies in reducing global CO2 emissions. LSE estimates that, for every $4 (UK) spent on contraception and family planning resulting in a reduction of emissions by one ton equals the same reduction as $19 (UK) spent on green technologies.
Martin says 34 gigatons (billion tons) of CO2 would be saved if nations did more to push population control by promoting contraception and abortion.
Though population control advocates are calling for fewer people, other research shows nations are experiencing a birth dearth that is causing a host of social and economic problems.
"Worldwide, birthrates have declined by 50% in the past half-century," the film Demographic Winter notes. "There are now 59 nations, with 44% of the world’s population, with below replacement birthrates."
A birthrate of 2.1 is needed to replace current population, but the European Union has a birthrate of just 1.3. By 2030, Europe is expected to have a shortfall of 20 million workers.
Barry McLerran, the producer of the film, previously told LifeNews.com that it "shows what happens when countries comprising 80% of the world’s economy have plummeting numbers of workers, consumers and innovators – leading to falling consumer spending, and too few workers to support the elderly."
Meanwhile, in Russia, where abortion has been used for decades as a method of birth control, the nation is expected to lose one- third of its current population by 2050.
Related web sites:
Demographic Winter – https://www.demographicwinter.org
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