Go green: have fewer kids, says environmentalist.

(From Guardian Unlimited)

The environmentalist Jonathon Porritt must be horrified at the behaviour of Nadya Suleman , who has just had octuplets to go with the six children she had already. Porritt, who chairs the government's Sustainable Development Commission, has told the Times that couples who have more than two children are being "irresponsible" by creating an unbearable burden on the environment. He argues that political leaders and green campaigners can no longer duck the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population.

"I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate," Porritt said. "I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible. It is the ghost at the table. We have all these big issues that everybody is looking at and then you don't really hear anyone say the 'p' word."

Porritt is fully aware that he is treading on dangerous ground. Environmental groups have shied away from linking population growth and its possible impact on the environment because it is such an explosive issue.

"Many organisations think it is not part of their business. My mission with the Friends of the Earth and the Greenpeaces of this world is to say: You are betraying the interests of your members by refusing to address population issues and you are doing it for the wrong reasons because you think it is too controversial," he said.

The arguments over the impact of population growth go back to Thomas Malthus , the English economist. In ...