Tackling the taboo of population growth

Finally, a rational article in a national newspaper challenging unsustainable growth (Slow the growth, save the world? Why declining birth rates need not mean an end to prosperity, 17 August). Last September, I stepped down as the head of the campaigning charity Population Matters, worn down after seven years futilely seeking to persuade colleagues in the NGO sector, policymakers and the media that we needed to address population growth as well as excessive consumption. But for the left and progressives, who tend to predominate in campaigning charities, any mention of population has been an ideological taboo – vacating public space for debate to the far right, who have no interest in the long-term wellbeing of the planet or people outside their narrow, nasty, dogmatic definitions.
The world is not going to run out of people anytime soon: 50% of those alive today are under 30, and our global population is set to increase by 2 billion over the next 50 or 60 years. Taking less from our planet, especially by those of us in rich, high-consuming countries, and enabling the more than 270 million women worldwide with an unmet need for family planning to choose and have bodily autonomy, go hand in hand when improving the wellbeing of people and planet.Robin MaynardBristol