We Have Met the Enemy…

…and it’s NOT us!

In a recent interview, Sir David Attenborough told the Radio Times,

We are a plague on the Earth. It’s coming home to roost over the next 50 years or so. It’s not just climate change; it’s sheer space, places to grow food for this enormous horde. Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now.

Whoa! Hold on there Sir David! A plague? Really?

Most of you have surely seen his nature documentaries which, truth be told, are quite good. His presentation of our miraculous planet and the myriads of life that it supports, are really very beautiful. I’m always struck with wonder at God’s providence and creativity. For me, it’s impossible to look at our natural world and doubt the existence of God. But that’s a post for another day.

What is reprehensible in Attenborough’s statement is the notion that we are endangering the planet by the mere fact of our existence! We’ll leave the whole argument about mankind being created in God’s image aside for now, despite the fact that the entire believing world holds this as a fundamental truth. Let’s focus on Sir David’s radical environmentalist dogma only—and yes, it is a dogma.

Attenborough is a supporter and vocal proponent of Population Matters, formerly the Optimum Population Trust. The following is an excerpt from Population Matters’ vision statement:

…Relying on only one solution to address the imbalance between our demand for resources and their limited supplies would be unwise. Instead, we believe that a holistic approach is needed. We should reduce waste of our precious resources wherever we can, and continue to develop technologies that provide the same or better products and services while using fewer resources. We should work to improve the living standards of the poorest groups, while encouraging a moderation in consumption by the wealthy and a reduction in the unproductive use of resources.

Okay, no real problems there—these are reasonable, viable, and commendable ideas. As good custodians of our God-given resources, these are rational actions. But they go on:

…Finally, we should encourage everyone to have a smaller family size, especially as we all live longer. Only by there being fewer of us can we ensure acceptable living standards for all in the long term. [emphasis mine]

And there it is. Couched in the language of conscience and concern, is the most pervasive evil in our culture today: the lack of respect for human life. Do we really need any more lessons in the effects of radical experiments in eugenics, population control, and legalized euthanasia? Does anyone remember the Nazis? Mao? Pol Pot, whose Khmer Rouge party decided that their new Marxist society would only need a couple million persons to function optimally? To the rest, they blithely stated in radio broadcasts at the time that,

To keep you is no benefit; to destroy you is no loss.¹

Now, I’m not equating David Attenborough with Pol Pot, but his words betray the same fundamental lack of concern for his fellow man, even while ostensibly attempting to portray the opposite. He also seems not to be bothered by the logical disconnect between saving the planet for mankind, while denouncing man as the root of all the planet’s ills.

The smugness with which people like Attenborough make such pronouncements is all the more galling. I am worthwhile because I am spreading the word about the coming disaster (never mind that there is no substantial scientific data to support my claims), but you, poor chap, are not. How dare you have more than two children! You’re only adding to the problem!

Taken to its logical extreme we must then determine who is allowed to reproduce, and of those now alive, who is allowed to stay that way. Are the developmentally disabled valued members of the human family or merely unproductive consumers of precious resources? And what about the elderly? The terminally ill? Prisoners? And so on. You see the point.

“Oh, our society will never come to that!” you say. Really? Do you suppose David Attenborough, or the folks at the euphemistically named Population Matters are deranged examples of some lunatic fringe? No, sadly they are not. They are rational, albeit deluded, members of the human family. They have as much right to fresh air and liberty as anyone else, but their twisted ideas are foul lies born in the pit of hell.

 

¹Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields, Worms from Our Skin. Teeda Butt Mam. Memoirs compiled by Dith Pran. 1997, Yale University. ISBN 978-0-300-07873-2.