Those rascally royals are making headlines again, but not with engagements, weddings or childbearing the next heir. No, Prince William has grabbed the headlines recently by advocating for population control to conserve the world’s natural animal habitats, and the tabloids went bonkers.
Speaking at the Tusk Trust wildlife preservation gala, the prince cautioned that global wildlife populations have been reduced by 50% in his lifetime (since 1982) and that Africa’s population alone will double in 25 years—which is roughly 3.5 million newborns a month. As the Trust’s Royal Patron, he charmingly warned:
“We are going to have to work much harder, and think much deeper, if we are to ensure that human beings and the other species of animal with which we share this planet can continue to co-exist.
There is no question that this puts wildlife and habitat under enormous pressure. Urbanisation, infrastructure development, cultivation — all good things in themselves, but they will have a terrible impact unless we take measures now.”
Baby Bust
The young Duke of Cambridge is to be commended for his zeal to protect the world’s wildlife. Population booms in industrialized nations have pushed animal habitats to the brink of extinction. Don’t we all shake our heads at the newest resident of the newest McMansion neighborhood? But I digress. Back to the Royals.
Unfortunately for the Prince’s public relations, not everyone was gung-ho for the baby bust. One London newspaper was quick to calm the stampeding global population desperately attempting to procreate, and refer to him as “a population control nutcase like his daddy.”
“The world’s population is increasing fast,” Charles said in 2010. It goes up by the equivalent of the entire population of the United Kingdom every year. Which means that this poor planet of ours, which already struggles to sustain 6.8 billion people, will somehow have to support over 9 billion people within 50 years.”
A bit of a harsh comparison, although correct. Prince Philip and Prince Charles have decried the population boom in countries other than their own, with the latter going so far to call for “voluntary family limitations” to stave off the impending people plague.
Is it Just a Myth?
But many experts have debunked world overpopulation as myth — one propagated by the world’s elite — and point to Britain as a first-class example:
“According to data from the World Bank, the U.K. and the rest of Europe is currently reproducing at below replacement-level fertility, which means that there’s no chance that the continent is going to be overpopulated at any point in the near or distant future.”
Well, maybe that harbinger of doom is why the randy royal youngsters are having yet another imperial infant to take his or her place in line to the throne. God save the Queen, and all her generations to follow. But so much for leading by example. Let’s wish Camilla and Charles luck as they will surely be busy with the grandchildren while the stylish young couple jet around to Africa, China, and possibly India, to tamp down the baby boom, chanting “do as we say, not as we do!” Carry on.
