Opinion: Telling people not to have children for the sake of the environment is cruel and baseless
Was anyone else appalled by a report last week by the Optimum Population Trust, which argued that families should restrict themselves to two children because it is no longer responsible, or environmentally friendly, to bring three, four or more into the world? The thinktank, dedicated to reducing population growth and its effects on the world, would seem to most to be a little off the planet rather than saving it. The fact is, as the Guardian who publicised the report pointed out, immigration is now the main reason for population growth in the UK, and according to the National Statistics Online births are no longer the main cause of population increase. With such an overwhelming fact, it seems outrageous for the Optimum Population Trust to suggest that we should have less children for the sake of the environment. Their report seems baseless on that fact alone.
But there is another, perhaps stronger and more humane, reason for not curtailing bringing children into the world…
Related stories: Too many children is bad for the environment | The Green Parent Magazine
Bringing children into the world is one of the most beautiful things a person can do, for those, of course, who want to. We live in a free-society, and whilst all societies must realise their limits in order to maintain a healthy existence, curbing people who want to have children has to be one of the last things to go. The fact is that it appears to me the argument is flawed. We are well aware that we can cut our CO2 emissions to almost zero by mere human will and the clever technology that already exists, without curtailing bringing new life into the world. Are we really that selfish that we would rather deny people the chance of life rather than change our own lifestyles a little bit? I personally would rather be a vegetarian, spend a little more on organic vegetables, walk to work, and spend a few thousand pounds on green technology than not have the most basic and powerful human pleasure and honour of bringing new people into our beautiful world - and that's from a non-vegetarian. I’m sorry for my outspokenness here, but on this one I couldn’t keep silent.
Nice ideas, but in reality the world population is increasing at an unsustainable rate and as the amount of land available to live on gets smaller due to rising sea levels, water shortages and desertification, all those exta people are going to be crammed into an ever smaller amount of space leading to inevitable conflicts over dwindling resources. So carry on having babies if you want to, but I'm not sure how much of a "beautiful world" there will be to live in in 30 years time when your children are deciding if they themselves want to bring noew people into the world.
Posted by: Martin | July 16, 2007 3:17 PM