On Tuesday, scientists eager to combat climate change released an open letter in the journal BioScience in which they insisted that the earth’s population needs to be reduced in order to save the planet. As Bloomberg reports, the scientists wrote, “We declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency,” adding, “Still increasing by roughly 80 million people per year, or more than 200,000 per day, the world population must be stabilized — and, ideally, gradually reduced — within a framework that ensures social integrity.”
The scientists wrote that they had a “moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat and to ‘tell it like it is.’ On the basis of this obligation and the graphical indicators presented below, we declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.”
The scientists blame economically successful countries for the deleterious effects of climate change, writing, “The climate crisis is closely linked to excessive consumption of the wealthy lifestyle. The most affluent countries are mainly responsible for the historical GHG emissions and generally have the greatest per capita emissions.
Interestingly, the scientists claim “annual tree cover loss may be for any reason (e.g., wildfire, harvest within tree plantations, or conversion of forests to agricultural land),” but then admit, “Forest gain is not involved in the calculation of tree cover loss.”
The dangers of growth in various ways, including economic growth, seem to be a persistent claim in the letter, as the scientists posit “Profoundly troubling signs from human activities include sustained increases in both human and ruminant livestock populations, per capita meat production, world gross domestic product …”
Then, the emphasis on discouraging having children: “Encouraging signs include decreases in global fertility (birth) rates …” They seemingly link birth rates with environmental issues, claiming, “ … the decline in human fertility rates has substantially slowed during the last 20 years and the pace of forest loss in Brazil’s Amazon has now started to increase again …”
The scientists warn in apocalyptic terms, “The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity.”
The scientists laud the idea of pulling children out of school to protest the effects of climate change: “We are encouraged by a recent surge of concern. Governmental bodies are making climate emergency declarations. Schoolchildren are striking. Ecocide lawsuits are proceeding in the courts. Grassroots citizen movements are demanding change, and many countries, states and provinces, cities, and businesses are responding.”
The Population Research Institute wrote in 2013:
Since the time of Thomas Malthus in the early 1800s, doomsayers have gloomily predicted that mankind would outbreed its food supply, resulting in catastrophic famines. Yet the world currently produces enough food to feed 10 billion people, and there are only 7 billion of us. That is, with 7 billion human minds at work, we produce enough food for 10 billion human bodies … the world population growth rate has been declining since its peak in the early 1960s. Between 1950 and 2000, the world population grew at a rate of 1.76%. Between 2000 and 2050, it is expected to grow by 0.77 percent
