Colin Gallagher: Couples should limit themselves to a maximum of two children

Yesterday I was a member of a small group who lobbied our MSPs outside of Holyrood about the frightening growth of world population.

We are concerned about the future for our children and grandchildren. In my view the two main issues are: what quality of life do we feel is important in the future for all humans in the world? Second, do we accept any responsibility for other life on the planet?

At one level, having children is a very personal private family matter. But at another level it has a huge impact on all of us. Some economists erroneously believe that population growth is an essential contributor to economic growth. They ignore, that more people inevitably lead to the need for more housing, more roads, more hospitals, more social services, more energy need, and more pollution.

This increase is putting huge pressure on the planet’s environment and making attempts to address other important issues ever more difficult: climate change, energy and resource depletion, the inexorable increase in global pollution, and major biodiversity loss (the sixth global species extinction is now happening, and is entirely human-made).

Of course, it would be repellent to coerce people about family size. But it is not unreasonable to ask them to think carefully about the future of life on our planet, and their contribution to the extinction of many other species.

The child that you have is a gift to yourself. The child that you don’t have is a gift to society.

• Emeritus Professor Colin Gallagher is a trustee of campaign group Population Matters