February Meeting report

Our friend John Davies from Luton gave us a most stimulating illustrated talk on the work of ‘Population Matters’, which analyses and campaigns to draw attention to the impact on the world, present and future, of rapid population growth. Along with climate change, resource depletion, pollution and food shortage, this really is the shadowy Fifth Horseman, because it intensifies all the others, but is rarely publicly addressed. Passionate, amusing and above all well-informed, John led us through the various impacts of unmanaged growth, the reasons – cultural, educational, sometimes religious – why so many of the problems seem so intractable, and what ways forward there might be that are morally, emotionally and politically feasible.
Much food for thought.