Wanted: Fewer People in the U.K. - Breathing Space Blog

"Overpopulation is the main cause of environmental degradation," says Madeleine Bunting, writing in the London Guardian. Common sense tells us that, "if the planet's resources are being grossly depleted, there are just too many of us about." Yet none of the main environmental lobbying groups will mention that obvious fact "because of the unpleasant associations it brings with it."

If we admitted that there were too many of us on this "crowded island" of Great Britain, we'd have to either limit immigration, which would seem racist, or limit family size, which would seem authoritarian. So the Green lobby tries to insist that if we all just recycle more and drive less, we can live together in ever-greater numbers. If only that were true. At the current rate of increase, by 2074 Britain will be the most densely populated country in the world after Bangladesh.

"How many more people can you squeeze into cities that already seem to be choking under the weight of their population density-the buses and trains packed, the streets clogged, and the parks on a Sunday afternoon teeming with people?" The challenge of the next few decades will be to have that debate "while steering well clear of racism."

Jeff's take: such a shame that honest debate about over-population and its enormous negative effects is stifled by the PC police.