WHY DO ENVIRONMENTALISTS AVOID THE POPULATION ISSUE?

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MADELINE BUNTING, ALTERNET - It's the one issue no environmentalist
organization wants to talk about. Population. Thirty years ago, when
international concern first began to mobilize about the planet's future,
it was the preeminent question, but now you're hard put to get a
straight answer. . .

It's not surprising that environmental organizations fight shy of
getting into this subject. It embroils them in a host of deeply emotive
and difficult debates. Immigration for one. . .

People quickly bristle at the idea of any government telling them how
many children they can have. The whole policy area of population was
given a bad name by India's enthusiasm in the 70s and 80s when
government programs ensnared uncomprehending young men into having
vasectomies. . .

When challenged, environmentalists have coherent arguments to defend
their retreat from the population debate. . .

But there is growing disquiet that it's not an either/or. As the
environment finally gets the prominence it deserves, some
environmentalists are prepared to assert that population management has
to be on the agenda. Christopher Rapley, the director of the Science
Museum, has spoken out on the subject; Jonathon Porritt, chair of the
government's Sustainability Development Commission, admits it is "tough
territory" but argues that "it is intellectually unjustifiable" for the
environmental movement not to address it. . .

http://www.alternet.org/environment/62157/

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