I've realised for some years that the degrading state of the planet is directly proportional to the number of humans living on it. Much attention is given to ways of consuming more efficiently while hardly any real media consideration is paid to the rapidly growing population at the root of the problem. I find this fact astounding.
Thank you OFP for making the first structured attempts I’ve seen at addressing the “elephant in the room”.

I’d like to suggest a possible method of population control that struck me when I noticed a large family of girls being driven in what could only be described as a family minibus. I wondered why the parents felt the need to have so many children when it dawned on me that they might have been trying for at least one boy.

If there were an easy medical process that would have enabled the parents to choose the sex of their children then maybe they would have stopped after two. As far as I know such a process does not exists but I also suspect that it wouldn’t take any great advances in medical science to create one. Such an initiative would only need to reduce the birth rate very slightly to take us away from exponential growth and into a slight decline (the ideal situation).

This brings me on to the ethics of such a proposal, our heard earned freedoms are respected with a very pro-choice idea but I’m still troubled with the concept. Some cultures will no doubt predominately opt for male offspring; and while aiding a much faster population decrease; will bring its own problems. However, the idea of a world with 20 billion people also troubles me so I shall put my idea forward.

what makes you think they are trying for a boy? I think that people with people carriers are probably just picking up their and other people's kids...however thankyou for such a detailed and thoughtful proposal.
I think that, using IVF it is now possible to decide what sex you want your child to be but it isn't legal and parents aren't offered that option, though I could be wrong.

Sure, they could have been picking up other peoples kids, they all just looked kind of similar.
It did getting me thinking however as there's a family near me with 10 boys, I wondered how many there would be if their second child had been a girl. Maybe there's been a study done somewhere on the motivations behind such large families. A complex issue I'm sure.