saving the environment and making babies

toospooky

After the deal with the Duggars and most recently, the woman who had octuplets in addition to her previous children, I started thinking about the role humans play in the environment and how to be responsible in our actions.

Anyway, my pondering led me to this. Environmentally speaking, where is the problem at - is it our population, or is it the manner in which we consume our planet's resources, or does it lie within the resources itself? While I wouldn't chain myself naked to a redwood tree, I do think it's important to take care of our environment and preserve what we can. Pursuing different forms of energy gets a huge thumbs up in my view, as do recycling and organic foods.

However, I don't think it's detrimental to the planet to have a large family. Our responsibilty to our planet is not to limit our population, but to rethink, reorganize, and reinvent our use of energy and other ways that impact the planet's ecology. Populations wax and wane on their own accord - nature takes care of that - but if we found another source of energy other than fossil fuels, for example, then perhaps our planet's situation wouldn't seem so bleak.

Does any of this make sense?

shipian

I agree with you, though the Duggar's deserve credit in this area. Have you seen all the environmentally friendly options they have in their home?

evhamm

Yes it makes sense and I agree with you.  If you are environmentally conscious and doing your best to decrease the carbon footprint you leave on the earth by being careful of your purchases and what you use. A family with one child can make more of a footprint than a family with 5 if they try hard.  I always hope that more people would grow food in their own gardens and would provide for their own needs instead of always going out to buy stuff.  Reusing and recycling is very important, as is composting IMHO.

 

WaitingForMyMiracle

One of the problems with society in general is that now, women are having babies for the wrong reasons! There are so many scenarios in which having a baby would benefit someone regardless if they're emotionally/financially mature enough to. IMO.

madonnadouwanna

It makes sense.  I think it also depends on a person's carbon footprint.  I do what I can to help the environment, but like you, I'm not chaining myself to a tree.  I think if more states implemented recycling programs and people took advantage of farmer's markets, and little things like that, it would help immensely.  I'm not saying give up gasoline powered cars, but why can't exxon put some of those billion dollar additional profits towards research?  I'm sure it would be a tax write off for them!

I do work in an architecture firm and there are more and more regulations coming out for buildings, as those and cars produce the most toxins.  It's (slowly) moving foward...

andreametz

oh blah blah blah.

ksayles

My husband is an enviromental studies teacher, my little tree hugger as I call him.

I am a firm believer that if you do a little every day, you are doing your part. You would be surprised how many people don't do something as simple as throw a pop can in their recycling bin. 

I think people who raise greedy children that have no reguard for the world around them is where we are going wrong. I am not saying that all people are raising earth hating babies, but you would not believe how wasteful the kids I teach are. They litter, they completely ignore our recycling bins, and they want as much as they can get.

We need to teach our kids to want less. DH and I struggle w/this everyday for ourselves, no one is immune... except maybe monks. We want to buy what is the best for our money, but we have to remember not to just buy things b/c we want them. We should only be buying things b/c we need them.