I'll be the first one to say that it's hard to be selfish with a houseful of kids. But..is having kids selfish when considering the "human impact" of climate change? There are those who think that each family should have no more than one child because having children is an environmental problem.
John Guillebaud of the Optimum Population Trust based in London has indicated that he believes that parents that are having lots of kids are guilty of committing "eco-crimes" and is quoted as saying something to the effect that having one less child far exceeds any benefits gained from repeatedly turning off electric lights and other such energy saving efforts. Apparently each baby that is born is the equivalent of one airline flight after the other criss-crossing the planet. This made me wonder who did this reseach and came up with this rather vague comparison but I got the point.
Even Planned Parenthood appears to be on board and is plastering signs all over the place with the message, "The fewer the merrier."
As for me, I'm in the boat with Al Gore who also has three kids over the recommended number. He's taking a little bit of heat from the press who is accusing him of not practicing what he preaches and sending the message: Do as I say, not as I breed.
In his and Tipper's defense, they had their family long before global warming became an issue. But now that whopping, huge house they had....well, if I ever see him in person I will be asking him about that before I ask him whether or not it is selfish to have children. So, what do you think? Is having kids selfish? Does having more than one child make those of us who talk about living green hypocrites?
Monday
IS HAVING KIDS SELFISH?
Posted by Unique Baby Gear Ideas at 11:45 AM
Labels: eco friendly, environmental concerns, environmental issues, environmental problems, going green, green parenting tips
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4 comments:
I don't think having kids is selfish, not into large family tho. For me, at most, 2 kids. Early education is important for our kids on global warming issues.
Hi I'm new follower. I Agree with Connie..nice post!
Sounds like crazy talk to me. Completely over simplifying the issue. There are so many other things to take into account, such as what the economic impacts of reduced reproduction rates would be? who would care for the resultant disproportionately aged population?
Rather than accusing parents in the developed world (where population growth is largely stable)of committing an environmental sin when they have children, we should instead focus our energies addressing poverty (best done through the empowerment of women). All the evidence shows that once poverty vanishes population growth slows and stabilizes anyway.
One or two is OK. Just don't be greedy!
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