We are People for a Population-Free Planet. Our motto: Zero population growth is still too high.
Even economists have come around to the idea that high rates of population growth can inhibit economic development. Dr. Larry Summers of Harvard has estimated that the rate of return to educating a woman in a less-developed country is 26%. A large part of that return is caused by education deferring the age at which a woman has her first child. Thus lower population growth is a result of educating women and allowing them to fully participate in society.
But there’s more. People emit greenhouse gases. According to another blog, an average human emits about 0.9 kg of CO2 per day. 0.9 kg per person x 365.25 days per year x 6.6 billion people = 2,169,585,000,000 kg per year. For non-metric speakers, that’s 493,087,500 English tons of CO2 per year. According to the previously-cited blog that’s about ten percent of annual CO2 emissions.
The conclusion is clear. People cause global warming. The obvious solution is fewer people.