We need to talk about … Population and climate change

In this monthly podcast, Guardian supporters ask the questions and a Guardian panel try to provide the answers. This episode focuses on whether people should be having fewer children for the sake of the planet – and if so, how that societal change might happen

Illustration: Eglė Každailytė

If we want to fight climate change should we have fewer children – or should we be focusing more on reducing consumption? Is the answer different depending on where you live in the world? And in any case, how might we make people and politicians engage with this issue?

Those are just some of the questions Guardian supporters asked deputy membership editor Vicky Frost to put to our panel in this edition of We Need to Talk About. She is joined by Damian Carrington, the Guardian’s environment editor; Lucy Lamble, the Guardian’s executive editor for global development; John Vidal, the multi-award winning former Guardian environment editor; and Afua Hirsch, a writer and broadcaster for the Guardian and Sky News among others, who has also worked in international development and the law.

We also hear from Kimberly Nicholas, a senior lecturer at Lund University, Sweden, who was part of a team whose research has attempted to quantify the environmental impact of having a child. (You can read the Guardian’s report on this work here.)

You’ll hear a wide variety of responses and viewpoints as supporters and journalists tussle with these at times tricky and divisive questions – considering why campaigning organisations might have tended not to engage with the issue historically, and whether the decision to live a childfree life is properly understood and respected by society.

And if you enjoy this, and want to catch up with the rest of the series, you can listen to discussions on Brexit and nationalism, among other subjects, here. Guardian supporters can also suggest future topics for discussion by emailing us at weneedtotalkabout@theguardian.com – we welcome your input.

Topics