Environmental activist Donnachadh McCarthy shocked viewers after he claimed having three children is "selfish."
The broadcaster entered into a heated debate with Nicole Ratcliff on GB News Breakfast this morning and claimed "there is a moral issue" with having too many children.
McCarthy said: "When my dad was born there were 1.6 billion people on the planet. When I was born there were 3 billion.
"Now there are 8 billion and we are heading towards eleven. Women are working now and looking for a quality of life and they don't want to spend their lives pregnant.
Donnachadh McCarthy claimed more that two children is "selfish"
GB News
"We've destroyed 70 per cent of nature. There's a moral issue here.
"How can we pass that on to the next generation? Every child in an industrial country like ours has around 505 hundred tonnes of carbon over their lifetime.
"That's equivalent to 1000 years of electricity for a household. So each child has an impact and we're saying one is great, two is plenty and three is selfish."
Ratcliff, who is a mother of two and parenting coach, did not agree and argued: "I'll be honest, I feel quite angry by that kind of language.
"I am one of four. I'm sorry, We've got a lovely family and the idea of that three is selfish is shocking."
They spoke to GB News
GB News
"I've got friends that don't have children and their lifestyle is very different to our lifestyle. So we have children and we're kind of in the same sort of area.
"We don't go on many holidays. We don't do much. Those who don't tend to have children have more money, so they've got more free money, so they tend to have more holidays and their carbon footprint could be much higher."
McCarthy explained: "One point that I would like to make is that we are not advocating compulsory family planning. What we are saying is that when women have access to family planning, rights to work and a right to education the birth rate falls naturally.
"What I think is tragic is that the UK government have cut funds for girls in the developing world and I think that is sad."
Nicole Ratcliff said she was "offended" by the comments
GB News
GB News host Isabel Webster asked Ratcliff: "There is a risk that people who try and be good citizens end up being eco-zealotry, with all the talks about dogs and children, and turns people off talking about the debate altogether, do you think?"
The parenting coach said: "I think that it is absolutely awful, for me I think if someone is choosing not to have children because of climate change that is not somebody who is driven to have them.
"The need to have children is something that is built within us and if you are somebody that wants to have them then you can't switch that urge off.
"There are people out there spending every single penny that they have got to have a child and if they are made to feel guilty, I feel quite offended by the idea that bringing a much loved child into the world would be a bad thing to do."
