DAWLISH environmentalist Martin Heath gives his take on the big issues:

NOT PC! If we are to look at all the solutions for solving the environmental problems, then we need to be honest and look at everything, including subjects that governments prefer to ignore. I’m talking about the population explosion.

Since I was born the population of the world has about doubled. This obviously can’t continue. Although the rate of increase has slowed since 1950, the current UN projection is by 2100 the world population will be between 9.4 and 12.7bn people.

We need to get our present day consumption down by 40 per cent as it’s calculated we are using at least 1.75 earth’s resources at this time. I

s the world and especially the more affluent countries ready for that sort of cut in consumption? Not likely!

We need to ask ourselves a philosophical and non PC question. ’Why do we need so many more people on Earth, if we have enough already and we can’t cut down on consumption by enough to save our present day ecosystems?’ Surely cutting the population growth is the other side of the equation.

My guess is we just can’t and don’t know how to. You may have a better thought!

This is why heads of governments are not putting this forward as one of the solutions on climate change or environmental breakdown. It seems we are in between a ’rock and a hard place!’

The big fear is that no government wants to try what China did with their one child policy. Funnily enough, it has taught them since it was dropped, that two children is best. Human peak estimators think we will reduce the number of children we have as the Third World catches up with the West. In other words, rich people have fewer children for lots of reasons.

There is one big problem with this theory, we can’t wait until 2100 to see if this all comes together. A final non PC thought, if we need to keep the population at or even a little lower then now, why is the UK still paying people to have more children by giving them child tax allowance and benefits? Is this a hangover from the Second World War, when we needed extra people? There must be a better way of spreading the money around.

As for me, and there are other scientists who would say the same, 10bn people on planet Earth is about the very maximum carrying capacity and that is only if we cut down on all our consumptions by more than 66 per cent right now!

What can you do? If you think that our taxation policies are misguided, then write to the PM and your local MP. Give suggestions like - rewilding and new protected large national eco parks for wildlife and carbon sinks.