Further to my blog on the threat of population control in Australia, an interesting article has appeared on an Australian website called Green Left Online. Simon Butler, the author, starts by arguing that man-made climate change is a great danger. Unlike David Attenborough, however, Mr Butler gives ten reasons why population control is not the answer. Below are the ten reasons, but do read the arguments for them in full. I don't agree with some of the article's points, not least because not all them are pro-life/pro-family, but it is refreshing that some people on the green left are opposed to population control.From "Ten reasons why population control can’t stop climate change", Simon Butler, Green Left Online, 31 May 2009:
1. Population does not cause climate change
2. The world is not 'full'
3. Social justice and women’s equality are the best contraception (JS: though, of course, actual contraception and a contraceptive mentality are, as I've argued before, bad for humanity.)
4. The climate emergency demands immediate, transformative action now
5. Population arguments wrongly downplay the potential to win
6. Population control is an old argument tacked onto a new issue
7. Arguing for tighter migration restrictions in Australia is a dangerous policy
8. Population control has a disturbing history
9. People in the global South are part of the solution, not the problem
10. Who holds political power is the real ‘population’ issue
