Extinction Rebellion Choose to Ignore Overpopulation

Extinction Rebellion are making the news with their direct action protests against climate change in London and other cities. But they are not mentioning overpopulation in their manifesto, anywhere on their website, or on their links to proposed solutions. This is a basic error in aiming for the stability of the planet and should be addressed immediately in order for the full and correct facts to be given to their followers and the general public.

According to Wikipedia, Extinction Rebellion is ‘a socio-political movement which intends to utilise nonviolent resistance to avert climate breakdown, halt biodiversity loss, and minimise the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse’. With these aims, slowing human population growth has to be a primary factor.

Their ‘The Emergency’ page on their website https://rebellion.earth/the-truth/the-emergency/ has the standard list of human-caused environmental crises: Sea level rise, Desertification and soil erosion, Wildfires, Water shortages, Crop failure, Extreme weather, Displaced people, Disease, Increased risk of wars and conflicts, Mass extinction, Insect die-off, Food insecurity, Ocean acidification, Sea-ice melt, Pollution. (Every one would be eased by stopping population growth)

The proposed actions for solutions to the above are listed through six links on the website:

1. The Climate Mobilization https://www.theclimatemobilization.org A website encouraging personal action on the climate
2. Beyond Zero Emissions. https://bze.org.au/ An Australian climate change think tank, encouraging volunteers to take action and collaborate.
3. Rapid Transition Alliance https://www.rapidtransition.org/ An organisation encouraging a rapid transition to sustainable food and energy.
4. The Green New Deal Group https://www.greennewdealgroup.org/ UK based group including Tony Juniper and Caroline Lucas
5. One Million Climate Jobs https://www.campaigncc.org/climatejobs. UK group proposing to create a million secure Government jobs in renewable energy
6. The Breakthrough Institute https://www.breakthroughonline.org.au/ An Australian independent think tank that develops critical thought leadership to influence the national climate debate and policy making.

Not one of the above six groups mention human population growth as a factor which should be addressed. World population is heading towards 8 billion, double what it was only 50 years ago and still growing by over 200,000 per day. Consumption rates are also increasing. Together they spell disaster for the planet and both must be talked about. Overpopulation can easily be addressed. Encouraging small families globally is easy. Providing free access to contraception is easy – and desperately needed in some parts of the world. Why don’t we act?

Extinction Rebellion say they have all of the answers and talk of the imminent and unprecedented global catastrophes the planet faces and yet they fail to even mention one of the primary causes and the actions that could be taken to help both people and the planet.

They might be omitting population because of pure ignorance of its ongoing rise and consequences, in which case they should be made aware of the facts. They may just not consider it worth including, in which case they should think again. Or it may be a deliberate duplicity, turning of a blind eye to population growth due to its perceived past associations with racism, religion, abortion and human rights. Either way, overpopulation should not be omitted as it is a legitimate and crucial factor – not mentioning it is a betrayal to the cause of climate change mitigation. All of the above groups should be urgently persuaded to put their political opinions and ideologies to one side and address the pure and simple environmental benefits of action to provide global free access to family planning, and a personal awareness, especially in high consumption countries, of the impacts of adding more people to the world.