Make love, not CO2
Go forth but please stop multiplying; at least if you care about global warming, says the Optimum Population Trust (OPT), a group backed by nature expert, Sir David Attenborough.
The Telegraph reports that the group is advocating contraception as the most affordable means to staving off climate change and is asking people to chip in cash for condoms in a bid to bolster family planning.
Doing the math, OPT reckons it costs £56 of investment in hybrid vehicle technology to save a tonne of carbon dioxide emissions, £31 for solar power, £15 for wind power, £8 for tree planting but just a measly £4 for getting would-be eco-warriors to sheath their swords.
OPT says that to reduce carbon dioxide by 34 gigatons - equal to about one year's worth of emissions - replacing one's live rounds with, er, rubberised bullets should only cost about $220 billion, whereas low carbon technologies would cost over a trillion dollars.
With the world's current population teetering over 6.8 billion and a predicted nine billion souls by 2050, what all started out as a big bang could be saved by offsetting one's offspring, says OPT, which aims to cut the projected global population by 500 million.
