30 people came to hear Eric Rimmer and Hughie Russell, campaigners for ‘Population Matters’, talk about population issues. The global population is now over 7 billion and is forecast to grow by 1 billion every 12 years. The reasons include the desire to procreate, people living longer and the false belief that the Earth can sustain perpetual population growth. The UN is at the forefront of trying to address the consequences of human misery, poverty and environmental degradation. Much more is required to raise peoples’ understanding of the issue and to promote birthrate reduction, e.g. by contraception.