Material Girl | Population aside, there's plenty we can do for the planet

As the Baby Bonus generation grew up, Mr Costello would have been happy to know there would be a record number of Australians coming of age over the next decade.

According to Deloitte Access Economics, by 2030 there will be 360,000 Australians turning 18 every year - a whopping 20 per cent increase from the level of 300,000 just five years ago.

Now a new report is urging Australians to have fewer kids to slow climate change.

"Have one for mum, one for dad (or perhaps not) and none for the planet!"

The new report released on Monday found that having fewer children did more to slow climate change than any other actions an individual could take.

The lead researcher Professor Ian Lowe warned that continuing population growth in Australia, combined with climate change, would make us vulnerable to food, water and energy scarcity in the future.

Anyone who is raising a teenager or two - or even a tweenager for that matter - will know the food scarcity crisis peaks about 3.40pm on weekdays and boils over on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Don't even get me started on the energy scarcity crisis on Monday mornings.

But I digress.

Back to the new report.

"In a rich country like Australia, having one less child could save more than 20 times as much greenhouse gases as living without a car, or about 70 times as much as switching to a meat-free diet," Professor Lowe said.

"While Australians have recently reduced their per capita emissions a little, the nation's total emissions from energy use have risen 49 per cent since 1990 due entirely to population growth of 8.3 million people."

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In a comment on a post about the report, a Border Mail reader eloquently stated: "Well, I can't exactly return any (kids) now!"

Touche.

However, climate change is without doubt the most pressing issue of our time now and for the generations to come.

While it's too easy to say individual actions won't make much difference to the health of the planet, doing nothing is not an option either.

Among the ideas for what we can do here and now:

The Australian Bureau of Statistics show the nation's population was just a tad over 25.7 million at June 30, 2021.

Among them may be the brilliant scientific and creative minds we need to make a real impact on slowing climate change!

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