Kitty Says Moo

Around 25 years ago the Chinese government started putting strict limits on how many children a couple could have. Couples- particularly in poorer regions- reacted by doing more sex determination tests and aborting females, since they wouldn’t be able to contribute as much financially to the family as would male children. And so, as you might expect, China now has a shortage of women, with perhaps 30 million more men than women of marriageable age. This in turn has led to increased social instability and an great rise in the kidnapping of women to be wives- more than 42,000 kidnapped women and young girls have been freed by Chinese police, and they’re probably only scratching the surface.

You would think that the rest of the world would have learned from this example. But then,. you probably didn’t account for all those utopian thinkers now being employed by Western governments, as the Times notes:

COUPLES who have more than two children are being “irresponsible” by creating an unbearable burden on the environment, the government’s green adviser has warned.

Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. He says political leaders and green campaigners should stop dodging the issue of environmental harm caused by an expanding population.

A report by the commission, to be published next month, will say that governments must reduce population growth through better family planning.

Yet another academic who didn’t read Brave New World. Or perhaps he did, in which case I expect a lot worse coming down the pike soon.