Resumo: Mi diskutas la problemon de la eksponenciala kreskado de la mondloĝantaro. Mi estis hodiaŭ matene ĉe la kunveno por agado sur klimatŝanĝo.
This morning i went to the Winchester Action on Climate Change meeting. It was really very good; well-attended, with exciting ideas and news about greening projects in Winchester. One idea which particularly intrigued me is the plan to buy a farm in Winchester and get volunteers to help work on the farm, produce food and sell it. It sounds really exciting, especially as it is so difficult to get an allotment around here.
Later on i went to look at the Facebook I Am Green application, and was delighted that i can now tick “I do not commute; I live close to work/school” – hooray! :D
There is an item that has generated a bit of discussion: “I (will) have no more than 1 child, or I will adopt additional children”.
Someone called Júlia Babos made a comment:
What?! Having more than one child would be a green crime? I highly disagree.
Gray Little also disagreed:
Ya I’m with Julia I’d like to think that I’m living a pretty green lifestyle but i want a large family when I’m older, this in contrast I’s basically saying that having more than one child is a crime against the earth, I disagree completely to such a statement, and would appreciate if someone sent me information pertaining to its reasoning.
Well, i happen to know a little bit about this, so i made a comment in reply:
@Júlia – it doesn’t say you can’t have more than one child – but it is asking us to consider adopting children. The world’s population is growing exponentially, unsustainably.
Until the 1800s there were always under a billion people on the planet. It took 130 years to get to 2 billion, 30 years to get to 3 billion in 1960.
1974 (14 years later) 4 billion.
1987 (13 years later) 5 billion.
1999 (12 years later) 6 billion.I believe it’s around about 6.7 billion now, and this massive growth is due to our dependence upon oil to fuel mass production of food. The amount of sunlight that falls on the ground in a typical year is enough to support about 1 billion people. Therefore the impending oil crisis is also going to be a population crisis.
Read “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight” by Thom Hartmann. And to anyone who is thinking about having a child, consider adopting an orphan instead.
I realise that my argument is completely one-sided and i am sure there are many more sides to this debate. I would like to hear more opinions. What are the advantages of having more children and continuing to expand the world’s population? Is the oil argument soon going to be moot because nuclear fusion will provide a clean, limitless source of energy for us? What are your views?
a little place of calm 
I’m not a kid person at all, and don’t plan to have any, but I am totally pro-adoption. One, because it’s kind of freaky to think about a little parasite person living inside of you; and two, because there’s a lot of kids out there already who need homes, it seems wasteful and selfish to generate more. It’s like with pets – would you have a dog or cat specially bred for you, or would you adopt one from a shelter who is already there and needs a home?
Hi Lola. What you say makes a lot of sense and i admire you for it … mostly because i agree with you and it makes me feel good to know that i’m not alone in feeling this way! :)
i don't totally agree with it having more than 1 child is affecting the earth????? the advantages of having more children and continuing to expand the world's population.
it is better to have 1 child and have better family planning rather then have more children and increase population.
I can never get enough of a good thing. And this is no exception. thanks so much.