The UK has been taking on environmental issues with a refreshing fervor lately. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has instituted numerous initiatives and milestones that treat global warming and all manner of environmental issues with some real respect.

But a recent comment from Jonathon Porritt, one of Brown’s environmental advisers, has left plenty of people scratching their heads. Brown is going to speak at this week’s Optimum Population Trust (OPT) and he will warn that in order for Britain to exist as a sustainable society it would have to cut it’s population in roughly half to 30 million people.

This in itself might not be too shocking if you think of it in terms of illustrating how much food and energy is consumed per capita in Britain. Porritt said: “Population growth, plus economic growth, is putting the world under terrible pressure. Each person in Britain has far more impact on the environment than those in developing countries so cutting our population is one way to reduce that impact.”

At this week’s OPT Porritt is expected to advise that in order for the UK to feed itself it will need to cut it’s population by more than half to 30 million people.

The idea that the UK has to cut it’s population in half seems a touch extreme. Wouldn’t it make more sense to make an urgent call to cut down on waste and invest in renewable energy? Is it such a terrible thing to have a nation that imports food? Is it necessary that every nation be completely self-sustainable? What about the global economy? Is population control even possible?

It’s definitely an interesting topic and we look forward to reporting on what happens at the OPT this week.

Either way, overpopulation is a touchy subject for many and environmental groups tend to shy away from it. So it is refreshing to see someone with influence finally addressing it, but maybe he should have eased people into the idea. The way he said it sounds like next week we’re going to see Soylent Green factories springing up in the English countryside.

Britain’s population, currently at 61 million, is expected to rise to around 71 million by 2031.