Prince Charles on Population & the Environment

Prince Charles has called for greater investments in family planning in order to slow the rate of global environmental destruction, even as he has hailed the success of family planning investments in many developing countries around the world.

Not too big a deal, right?

And yet Martin Beckford, The Daily Telegraph's "Religious Affairs Correspondent" seems to think it is:

[Prince Charles] said more needs to be done because of the “monumental” problems that face the environment as population numbers “rocket” and traditional societies become more consumerist. There needed to be more “honesty” about the fact the “cultural” pressures keep the global birth rate high.

The Prince also said the traditional religious views of the sanctity of life, which are often used to oppose the use of condoms and other contraceptives, must be balanced with the imperative to live within the limits of nature.

His comments, made in an important speech on Islam and the environment, will be seen as controversial within both the green lobby and some religious circles.

Although the heir to the throne is a long-standing champion of ecological causes and the benefits of faith, some believe that Western commentators do not have the right to tell residents of less wealthy nations that they should have fewer children or consume less in order to keep carbon emissions down. Many of the world’s great religions, meanwhile, oppose the widespread use of contraception.

Astute readers will notice that Martin Beckford does not quote a single person from any faith community anywhere in the world, nor does he quote anyone from "the green lobby".

Yes, that's right, he quotes no one.

Zero. Nada. Empty Set.

This is a reporter???

Nope. Not in my book.

Here are the facts:

1. Examples of dramatic fertility decline exist on every continent around the world, regardless of faith or culture.
   
   
2. Roman Catholic countries have the lowest fertility rates in the world. Italy has one of lowest Total Fertility Rates in the world and has had legal abortion since 1978.
   
   
3. Iran, the center of Shia Islam, has a Total Fertility Rate below replacement, and lower than that of the United States. The local condom factories are endorsed by the Imams.
   
   
4. Fertility declines in Asia and Latin America have been jaw-dropping, from China, Chile, Brazil, Japan and Korea (below replacement TFR) to Indonesia, Vietnam, Mexico and Argentina (within striking distance of achieving replacement-level TFR).

In fact, the most important determinant of family planning is not religion, but mandatory public school enrollment combined with expressed and active support of family planning programs by local and national government officials, and widespread access to a full array of modern, low-cost, contraceptive methods.

The good news, as the graph below suggests, is that the world has moved beyond contrived controversy about the population and environment connection.

In a world where forest is falling to field, and field is falling to freeway, the world has come to see family planning as a gift that keeps on giving,

That is as true in South Africa as it is in Spain, as true in China as it is in El Salvador. Too bad The Daily Telegraph did not send a real reporter to spread the news.



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