[OPE] The spectre of Malthus

SOME of America's leading billionaires have met secretly to consider how
their wealth could be used to slow the growth of the world's population and
speed up improvements in health and education. The philanthropists who
attended a summit convened on the initiative of Bill Gates, the Microsoft
co-founder, discussed joining forces to overcome political and religious
obstacles to change. Described as the Good Club by one insider it included
David Rockefeller Jr, the patriarch of America's wealthiest dynasty, Warren
Buffett and George Soros, the financiers, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of
New York, and the media moguls Ted Turner and Oprah Winfrey. These members,
along with Gates, have given away more than 45 billion pounds since 1996 to
causes ranging from health programmes in developing countries to ghetto
schools nearer to home. (...) The issues debated included reforming the
supervision of overseas aid spending to setting up rural schools and water
systems in developing countries. Taking their cue from Gates they agreed
that overpopulation was a priority. This could result in a challenge to some
Third World politicians who believe contraception and female education
weaken traditional values. (...) At a conference in Long Beach, California,
last February, [Bill Gates] had made similar points. "Official projections
say the world's population will peak at 9.3 billion [up from 6.6 billion
today] but with charitable initiatives, such as better reproductive
healthcare, we think we can cap that at 8.3 billion," Gates said then. (...)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6350303.ece

That's amazing, imagine being able to prevent one billion births!

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Received on Sun May 24 09:54:17 2009