Pop Goes The News — Environmental activist and TV personality David Suzuki said in an interview published Monday he wouldn’t bring children into today’s world.

“Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t,” the father of five told Nuvo magazine. “Overpopulation is one of the problems.

“I said to my daughters, ‘You know where this is going — why are you having kids?’ They both said that not having children would be giving up. Children guaranteed their investment in the future.”

Suzuki, 79, said he suffers from arthritis but admitted there are benefits to aging.

“Getting old is actually quite liberating,” he explained. “I can say exactly what I think. I don’t have to worry about getting a raise or a promotion.”

But saying what he thinks (he told Nuvo that prime minister Stephen Harper has “committed a crime against future generations”) doesn’t always pay off. Suzuki said when he says something critical of the federal government, the Canada Revenue Agency audits his eponymous foundation.

“That’s why I resigned from the board,” he said. “I’ve cut formal ties, though I still help raise money.

“We’re being audited right now—for the second time. It’s expensive, and it’s psychologically difficult. A dark cloud hangs over the whole office while it’s going on.”

Suzuki also downplayed his role as Canada’s most famous champion of the environment.

“I always thought of myself as a messenger,” he told Nuvo. “To become so closely identified with the message has been a mixed blessing.”

As an example, Suzuki recalled rushing home to babysit his grandson “when someone on the street said, ‘Do you have a minute?’ ‘Actually,’ I said, ‘I don’t.’ He got really angry: ‘I took one of your courses, you asshole!’”