To mitigate the effects of climate change, one researcher calls for a ‘contraception revolution’
Discussions about mitigating climate change usually involve strategies like cutting back on fossil fuel use or reducing reliance on plastic. But a more controversial and less discussed approach is population control. To that end, one researcher is calling for new and better contraceptives.
In a perspective piece published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, reproductive health researcher Deborah Anderson argues that it’s time for a new “contraception revolution.”
The first revolution in the past century brought the birth control we at last count. “As the global population continues to grow, pressures [on the environment] will increase and become more critical,” Anderson wrote. Some scientists that having one fewer child can lead to roughly 30 times a reduction in carbon emissions than living car-free.
