There is plenty of evidence that many environmental activists are, at bottom, dangerous extremists who have deluded themselves into believing that the earth's population must be radically reduced if humanity is to survive. There is also growing evidence that this far-out viewpoint is more widely accepted among so-called mainstream environmentalists than the establishment media would have us believe.
Occasionally, these views surface. Ted Turner, father of five, infamously asserted the need to reduce the earth's population to 2 billion about a decade ago. He also expressed a stronger personal preference: "Personally, I think the population should be closer to when we had indigenous populations, back before the advent of farming. Fifteen thousand years ago, there was somewhere between 40 and 100 million people." In the early 1990s, the late Jacques Cousteau suggested that "World population must be stabilized and to do that we must eliminate 350,000 people per day." More recently, though less famously, at a Psychology Today blog, writer Stephen Kotter asserted "we need to lose 4.4 billion people and we need to lose them fast."
But I don't recall seeing an adviser to a government as prominent as the UK's Jonathon Porritt publicly utter such sentiments. But utter them he has. The UK Times Online took note on March 22:
UK population must fall to 30m, says Porritt
JONATHON PORRITT, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society.
Porritt’s call will come at this week’s annual conference of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), of which he is patron.
The trust will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m if the country wants to feed itself sustainably.
..... Porritt is winning scientific backing. Professor Chris Rapley, director of the Science Museum, will use the OPT conference, to be held at the Royal Statistical Society, to warn that population growth could help derail attempts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Rapley, who formerly ran the British Antarctic Survey, said humanity was emitting the equivalent of 50 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.
“We have to cut this by 80%, and population growth is going to make that much harder,” he said.
..... Britain’s population is expected to grow from 61m now to 71m by 2031. Some politicians support a reduction.
The OPT's core belief is on its home page:
The Optimum Population Trust believes that Earth may not be able to support more than half its present numbers before the end of this century, and that the UK's long-term sustainable population level may be lower than 30 million. Research and policy are summarised on this website and available to all members in the OPT Journal.
The UK has created an independent Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), and Porritt is its chairman (the picture aobve is from that page). Yesterday, the SDC released "Prosperity without Growth? - The transition to a sustainable economy" (136-page PDF that can be downloaded at this web page). Porritt calls it the SDC's "magnum opus."
The report opens by telling us that the very idea of economic growth must be rejected:
Every society clings to a myth by which it lives. Ours is the myth of economic growth. For the last five decades the pursuit of growth has been the single most important policy goal across the world. The global economy is almost five times the size it was half a century ago. If it continues to grow at the same rate the economy will be 80 times that size by the year 2100.
This extraordinary ramping up of global economic activity has no historical precedent. It’s totally at odds with our scientific knowledge of the finite resource base and the fragile ecology on which we depend for survival.
..... The myth of growth ..... has failed the two billion people who still live on less than $2 a day. It has failed the fragile ecological systems on which we depend for survival. It has failed, spectacularly, in its own terms, to provide economic stability and secure people’s livelihoods.
That the awfulness of economic growth they so decry has lifted hundreds of millions out of dire poverty in the past 30 years, and that the technological improvements resulting from growth is what enabled them to disseminate their tripe to the rest of the world so quickly, doesn't seem to register with these people.
But there you have it. At bottom, the "sustainability" wing of the environmental movement is about ending economic growth. Despite protestations to the contrary, declaring an end to economic growth would result in some combination of these three consequences:
- Those in poverty would stay there, or die off.
- Governments and/or international bodies would force the well-off to part with some or all of their resources as "the only way" to deal with that poverty (the die-off would occur after all that can be plundered has been plundered).
- Governments and/or international bodies would impose coercive population controls, up to and including mandatory population reduction.
Despite Porritt's worldwide reputation, US media coverage has been scant. A Google News search on Porritt's full name in quotes comes back with only 11 items pegged to the Times Online story. Eight of those are from the US. Fox News excerpts that story. The only other listings inside the US include Rush Limbaugh (story #2 at link); Motley Fool; LifeSite News; Don Surber, who suggests that Porritt "can go first"; Moderate Voice; and two from an odd "news" source, Sustainability Ninja.
Searches on Porritt's full name (not in quotes) at the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times return nothing currently relevant, nothing, and nothing, respectively.
Media coverage of the beliefs of "respectable" enviros like Porritt (he was director of Friends of the Earth from 1984-1990), and of radical yet clearly influential organizations like OPT, would undermine cap and trade and other environmentalist tax, regulatory, and personally oppressive policy agenda items dressed up as "eco-friendly." I would suggest that this is why you don't see very much of it.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
I can think of 54 million or
March 31, 2009 - 10:06 ET by T-Bone MassI can think of 54 million or so Americans that can get the boot.
And another 20M
March 31, 2009 - 10:10 ET by Blondeillegals.
I hope he fails, too.
Adult Abortions
March 31, 2009 - 10:12 ET by Red JeepDoes Jonathon Porritt want adult abortions to reduce populations?
Just enough of me, way too many of you
March 31, 2009 - 10:13 ET by moderncommentaries83That seems to be the mentality. Because the responsibility to "reduce" the population is always put on others. I never see these environmentalists voluntarily off themselves or kill their extended families to help reduce the population.
Not that I want them to, mind you, because I think global warming is a load of hooey, but it's telling that they can say "YOU should die; save the planet for ME and MY chosen ones."
Freakin' hypocrites. It's people like this that make me want to have 20 kids (I'm currently expecting #2). Just to show them that I value life more than I value my selfish inclinations.
Aut viam inveniam aut faciam
Incongruity
March 31, 2009 - 10:14 ET by slickwillie2001To idiots like these, Twelve Monkeys is just a short step away. Yet above all they also want us to believe in their corrupt religion of 'global warming' so that in the chance event that it is scientific fact, not a single person will be inconvenienced. Propagandist Dissonance.
Finally! Someone in the
March 31, 2009 - 10:19 ET by TexasteacherFinally! Someone in the lib world I agree with! The world could always use less liberals! So, if the following people could just "do away" with themselves, it would allow the rest of us who are acutally productive to live nice, peaceful lives:
liberals or "progressives"
illegals
environmentalist nazis
criminals
suicide bombers and those who sympathize with them
homosexuals (how many times can bawny fwank make this list??)
gang members
people on welfare who shouldn't be
All our problems would be solved.
obama's notion of bi-partisanship is telling conservatives to shut up and do what he wants.
They always exempt THEMSELVES...
March 31, 2009 - 10:24 ET by SlyrrIf these genocidal wackos are so hell-bent on the belief that X % of 'the population' needs to 'be eliminated' to save their beloved mother Gaea from global warming, then they should lead by example.
Let these guys who postulate the philosophy of exterminating human beings step up and wipe THEMSELVES out first - so that people can see they're serious and ready to put their money where their big, fat mouths are.
But no - these lunatics always seem to exempt themselves from the mad, crazed philosophies and doctrines that they promulgate. 'Well - I can't kill MYSELF.' they say, 'The brave new world of the future will need ME to lead it so this never happens again...'
If you know any of these people personally - the ones who actually write these crazy articles or the ones who buy into it - it's time to get right in their faces and ask them what KINDS of population they want to exterminate.
Should blacks be the ones to go? How about the chinese? You know, there's billions of asians - they could stand to lose a few billion here and there. Or is it white folks with 'blond hair and blue eyes' who have to go?
Or will it be divided by religious affilation? You know, there's a whole mess of Muslims in the world - they could stand to have their numbers thinned out a bit. Maybe the losers who wrote these articles should go to Iran and have a chat with the Mullahs there. 'Say, you need to tell all your people that they should kill themselves to stop global warming. Besides, your oil is evil - we won't need you to pump it anymore since we're replacing it with hemp. We've got some gas chambers ready to go, you Arabs. What do you say?'
He'd never leave the room alive.
The chosen ones
March 31, 2009 - 10:36 ET by sherylsimsYou know it wouldn't be by RACE. We are beyond all that, didn't you know? It would be by IDEOLOGY. Those who would stand in the way of the beautiful new age that would arise once they were rid of all the dissenters and problem causers.
It would be easy to get rid of the old people of all race because they are just using up valuable medical dollars and they have already contributed all they are able to, also they usually complain alot (and know how things were and how they 'should' be).
The Christians can be done away with because they think they have the only way to heaven and we all know that every path leads to heaven. Also they are so intolerant of different lifestyles (aka~sin)
The conservatives need to go because they keep criticizing our plan, and we all know it would work if only people would quit finding flaws in it.
(Yikes, I fall into all three of those categories... pardon me while I go lock my doors and hide.)
envirofascists
March 31, 2009 - 10:33 ET by east tennessee johnSo, since these elites can't take their own advice,(it's for the rest of us prols, not they the elites), we must move towards a 1, if any, child policy and develop the technology for "soylent green", so we can "save" the world. Sure, "save the world" to be dominated by these morons. Can't wait.
environmentalists
March 31, 2009 - 10:37 ET by GeronLThese people can off themselves if they think the world needs it. But they won't because they think they should decide who lives and dies. They think they are working for God or Gaia or whatever and are the chosen.
I think Tom Clancey wrote a book about people like this...
Rainbow 6
March 31, 2009 - 10:39 ET by sherylsimsThe BEST book I have ever read!!!
Scariest too.
March 31, 2009 - 10:54 ET by MaytagNow that I see the direction this country is heading. It is only a matter of time til one of these insane plots are attempted.Then we will be in the time of Kings The Stand
Scariest too.
March 31, 2009 - 10:57 ET by sherylsimsSo true. Back when I read it (When it first came out... many years ago) it was so impossible that anything like that could ever happen. I am amazed that we have slid so far so fast.
Barrky wasn't bad enuff, now we need The Plague
March 31, 2009 - 10:56 ET by SickofLibsFirst we get stuck with Barrky and now we have envirolunatics calling for a plague?
Hey, that would make a good Clancy-type book, tho - don't we have the plague locked up in a number of biolabs?
(Islamists: don't get any ideas, you crazy guys!)
It's not called adult abortion....
March 31, 2009 - 10:56 ET by wyogatorAs we are quickly learning from the Ministry of Truth, it is all about the choice of words. The correct term would be:
"Retroactive abortions"
Learn about my daughter's Ugandan home for orphans with AIDS at
www.africaourownhome.org
Updated Liberal Policies
March 31, 2009 - 11:25 ET by ThisnThatSeems to me these liberal wackos need to update their policies to promote their "reduced population" positions. To wit:
Gun control - Start supporting gun rights for everyone. Since they believe that we'll be killing ourselves if more people are armed, this would be a great way to start reducing the population.
Support for Israel - Israel keeps stopping it's defense so that "innocent civilians" aren't killed. Well, why not kill innocent civilians? Reduces the population, doesn't it?
Helmit and Seat Belt laws - Repeal everything. The death rate will soar. In fact, don't even make seat belts, crumple zones, or air bags. That will eliminate some excess materials in cars, thus saving the environment, while causing more deaths at the same time. A two-for, you might say.
This is only a start. But just imagine the full range of possibilities, here, if the libs would only put their money where their mouth is.
___________________________________
The challenge is to follow a consistent plan despite inconsistent prices - Sarah Palin, State of the State of Alaska speech
They need to get started by
March 31, 2009 - 12:17 ET by Delsagetting rid of the Muslim population within.
just sayin?
The Happy Days Ahead
March 31, 2009 - 13:20 ET by rexdraconimThe views expressed by Porritt and others of his ilk are nothing new and no surprise. We need not expect a sudden rush by these types to eliminate themselves from the population; that is for the rest of us unenlightened people to do.
The existence of genocidal desires is as long as history itself. Every culture, every faith has attempted at one time or another to exterminate others for their own reasons, some good, some bad.
The history of my own people and our Nation's people is filled with attempts at our extermination. But, simply put, we are still here.
The sheep cannot coerce the wolves. Do you really think that that mush headed leftists can manage to do the job? Do you think that they could really manage to kill us, their enemies? Whether our Nation survives intact, I do not know, but I do know that it is useless for sheep to pass laws in favor of vegetarianism when the wolves are of a different opinion ( I love that quote.)
Can they kill us as individuals? Yes. Will we die as a people? Only if we choose to. Survivors survive. We are talking the Laws of Nature here, not the "pie in the sky" the leftists promise the peasants.
Now, stand back and give me room, y'all ain't gonna like da next part!
Do you know whose fault it is that our Nation is now and has been for a long time a socialist nation? Some of you scoff, as the Constitution is at least minimally intact. It is, really?
So the citizenry is allowed to be as armed as the policing agencies? We have the right to freely practice our chosen faith? We have freedom of speech, press, assembly? How is the tax code working out for you? And yet...
If a person resists an unjust arrest, conservatives and Republicans condemn that individual for breaking the law, regardless of the morality, justice or fairness of the law. If a person protests unfair taxation through not paying, they are a criminal, right? If a person fails to ask the government for a permit to exercise their right to assemble, then it is wrong for them to assemble; they are breaking the law...?
I expect idiotic, despotic nanny-ism from the left, but when conservatives act as the guard dogs, they demonstrate a yammerhead compliance with the oppressors. I have higher standards for the folks who CLAIM to share ideological territory with me. I am tired of conservatives allowing themselves to be USED by the left to enforce their unjust laws.
Why does the left NEED to change the rules when they can reasonably bypass them? Politicians, both sides of the aisle exist to be re-elected. Government exists to perpetuate itself (I KNOW that is not what is is supposed to do, but that IS what it does.) The only government entity that ever gets cut back is the military, which is a mistake (the treatment of our warriors is so terrible that maybe we don't deserve to survive as a Nation.) As a far greater man that I once asked, "when was the last time there was a rational approach to problem solving to come our of D.C?"
What ever happened to "innocent until proven guilty?" The police making an arrest only "proves" guilt in an oppressed nation. Think about this folks! Let it sink in...
So what happened to the Land of the Free? What happened to the conservative voices who would speak for Lady Liberty? There are some out there. Quite a few. But words ain't action. Promises are NOT results.
You say we don't live in a Leftist Nation? Can you think of ONE thing you can do without a permit, tax or PROGRAMMED PUBLIC OPINION against your freedoms? If you can, how long until that one thing is eroded away?
I have seven kids, two grand kids and a third on the way. I paid and pay for my own, my kids for theirs. I could have afforded more, by the sweat of my own labors, in a quality and purpose filled life most can only dream of. How do you think people act (who don't know us) when they see a couple Suburban loads of kids and folks with permanent suntans pull up to the store or park? Do you supposed the assumption is that we are a tax-paying, law-abiding family? (empty laughter)
Leftists assume we are a helpless minority, ripe for the picking, conservatives assume we are on welfare (we are not, never have been, won't ever be, d*mnit!) In fairness to the conservatives, once they discover what we are about, they treat us as good neighbors ought to. The leftists, however, become agitated that we would dare to be different.
But the programming is insidious. We all live separate in our homes. Gone are the days of the front porch, knowing your neighbor, living your life. We condemn without evidence, fight with our allies and disregard the fact that we were, once upon a time, Free People! But everyone is okay with that right?
You have your material comforts. But what quality does life have if you take away your right to choose your path? Better a stone pillow than a slave master.
Conservatives, hear me! The state of the Nation is OUR fault. Not due to action, but due to inaction. It is not the leftists fault; they can no more help being yammerheads than water can cease to obey the Law of Nature and flow downhill...
I know that a lot of you here care deeply for the Nation, and you ARE busting your humps to fix this mess. And this Nation can be fixed, but we have to be hard enough to do it.
For example, some of you ask when the revolution is coming? Yet, if there were an armed uprising, or even civil disobedience in the area of taxes, would you cheer, or would you call the police? Would you say the those involved in the seditious action are Patriots or criminals? Would you support them or condemn them? And by what standards; leftist programming or hard common sense, holding Freedom as the highest ideal?
You cannot stand where the leftists, with your collusion, have taken our great Nation. I understand that.
Are you ready to commit your lives, your fortunes and your sacred honor to see it happen? That price has been paid many times, by many peoples. Or are you willing to settle for the illusion of freedom because YOU personally would pay too much to do other? Is everyone's freedom as dear to you as your own?
Hard times are coming, one way or another. We have had a long run of good times, longer than maybe we should have if this is where we were headed. Great nations fall when people forget who they are and what REALLY matters.People are pissed about their cash flow, but are they pissed about the bigger issue that causes the cash flow issue?
You DO have what it takes to see our Nation free again. Your ancestors tell you that. You KNOW something must change, that our nation will not be if this goes on. Your descendants tell you this. They both demand that your Loyalty, Duty and Honor to and for them is to stand strong, face adversity andfight this fight.
There are Three Boxes of Political Action and Change: the Ballot Box, the Soap Box and the Bullet Box.
The Ballot Box is a joke, as it will always be in a "warm body" democracy. Here comes the bread and circus for the plebes...
The Soap Box exists, but think about the permits to assemble. Think about how the leftists have major control of communications and are always seeking more. Furthermore, think about how careful you are in what you say, so that no one can call you an "-ist". Think about all the legal and financial entanglements that faith organizations, churches, synagogues, temples, etc. have to deal with.
The Bullet Box...that is the doozy, ain't it. The last resort. How bad is "bad enough?" For a Nation of people who have made a couple generations of politics based on "the lesser of two evils" we may have already passed the point where the Laws of Nature have said to our breed that we are too stupid to continue.
Free People will ALWAYS have to be ready to fight that next battle. They must be always vigilant against tyranny, for the enemy will never rest, even if we do. Free People understand that with some people, there is no peace, no security, no compromise.
FAIR laws and their FAIR application are the cornerstone of Liberty. How many laws on the books are superfluous? How many are unnecessary? Why have we allowed the left to promote the idea that laws are a moral and ethical equivalency. We are a law-abiding people. Do you think we would obey "retroactive abortion" laws? If you would, if you willingly obey unjust laws, then you better re-examine your "conservative" values. Perhaps "pusillanimous" is a better word.
If instead, you obey unjust laws because there is a gun to your head, literally and figuratively, then you better think long and hard about WHY you let that gun be put there. That same gun is at you spouse's head, you kid's head, your Momma's head.
I pity the S.O.B. that puts a gun to my loved ones head. I may not be able to do anything at that moment, but I have a LONG memory. The leftists, and others, have had guns at our head a long time. And half the time, we are holding the gun to our own head. Let that sink in.
I have to ask permission to hunt, fish, camp. I have to ask permission to practice my faith. I have to ask permission to educate my kids. I have to ask permission to acquire weapons. I have to ask permission to have a garden or fix my garage door.
There are more rules and regulations than you realize. Some of you may not realize how much of what you do is illegal, somewhere in our Nation. If it is not illegal, it is regulated and taxed. If they don't have the gun to you head on something yet, then they are programming your kids to make sure they win the next election.
Take your Liberty out and dust her off. She sure ain't in too good of shape, huh? What happened? Remember when you loved her, when you swore you would never forsake her? She still loves you and always will, she just needs you to be strong for her and her children.
As long as we continue to be reasonable, our opposition will keep winning. Conservatives understand what it takes to defeat an enemy in combat, but are they strong enough to know and face the fact that the greatest war is here at home and has been for a long time. As our Nation has fallen to the leftists and the oppressors, so has the world. Perhaps we can once again be that light in the dark, giving hope to those whose nations are not yet free.
In the end, Liberty will defeat Tyranny. Will our Nation be there to see it? I don't know. But my people will. I hope yours are, too.
Live Free or Die.
The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of Patriots.
All it takes for Evil to triumph in the world is for Good men to do nothing.
"You can have Peace or you can have Freedom; just don't count on having both at the same time." - R.A.H
"I'll take the harsh reality of liberty over the illusion of security...everytime!"
I ask these
March 31, 2009 - 18:03 ET by misterbee241I ask these enviro/population nuts the same question over and over and it never gets answered: The United States has since 1973 killed some 35 to 50 million Americans in the name of "choice", that is, abortion. Whassa matter - not moving fast enough for ya?
"I dont need to read a newspaper to know the world's been shaved by a drunken barber."
Walter Brennan, The Colonel, Meet John Doe, 1941
35 - 50 million and counting..
March 31, 2009 - 18:07 ET by Sergeant ROCKThey could probably double that number by including welfare recipients... what a conumdrum!
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason