Speaker #14: Val Stevens

[adi]

Hi folks, I've managed to arrange an interview with Valerie Stevens, chair of the Optimum Population Trust



The OPT is a leading British think tank concerned with the impact of population growth on the environment.

OPT research covers population in relation to climate change, energy, resources, biodiversity, development impacts, ageing and employment and other environmental and economic issues. It campaigns for stabilisation and gradual population decrease globally and in the UK.

As usual this thread will be open for 7 days, so please post any questions you would like to ask Ms Stevens below

[Andy]

You mentioned that Britain wasn't self sufficient in a recent report. In an era of globalisation, do you think it is neccessary to be self sufficient? If so, what draws you to that conclusion?

[Andrea]

Assuming population reduction is desirable, what is a humane way to achieve it?

[Lady Hoot]

Many European countries such as Russia and Italy already have population reduction. Their governments are encouraging more births. Why do you think that is?

[sparky]

Can population reduction be achieved with the current pension system?

[veetermon]

Life expectancy is growing around the world and things like the Methuselah prize seek to increase life expectancy exponentially. How does this trend fit in with sustainability?

[Wowbagger]

The overall anthropogenic degradation of natural environments has multiple factors. It can be accurately measured by the sum of all individual ecological footprints. The result depends both on the intensity and number of footprints. Reducing the number of footprints has the effect of lowering overall anthropogenic degradation of natural environments, but so does reducing the intensity of footprints

Projections are irrelevant if the average ecological footprint isn't taken as a constant, and the truth is that it's not a constant. It would be possible to change our behaviors in order to consume less resources and allow a very high worldwide population volume.

Imagine for examples high population density urban areas, where little transport is required, but also where transport infrastructures are well integrated to the city infrastructures and are therefor efficient in the amount of resources they consume. Then imagine greenhouses built in the deserts with pumps and desalinization plants working on solar energy that would be vast enough to feed lots of people and reduce land use by habitations and other human infrastructures. The possibilities are numerous.

So what should have prevalence, policies that restrict the amount of people that can consume resources, or policies that restrict the amount of resources a person can consume?

[emz]

Is there a country with a population policy you approve of?

If not, what kind of policy would you like to see implemented?

[forfi]

A recent YouGov poll suggests that 55% of Britons have considered moving abroad and other figures suggest that by 2020 some 6 million Britons will have actually left. How will this affect population growth?

[bruce]

What do you think of Factor Four and other methodologies that suggest that there are significant efficiency improvements that can be had now, even without technological advancement?

Do you think mankind will ever colonise other planets?