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2mnyppl's comments:
on As We Are: Child Free
I had a vasectomy in 1977 and have remained child-free. Running out of resources required for life on Earth is not evidence of overpopulation; it's the beginning of depopulation. Overpopulation was our problem fifty years ago when we knew a solution and had a choice.
posted 3 years ago
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on The "P" Word and Climate Change
Agree. A great resource,
PopulationElephant - a frank discussion of overpopulation
http://populationelephant.com/
also look at growthbusters.com
posted 3 years, 5 months ago
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on The "P" Word and Climate Change
When I was a young motorcyclist, I was passed by a station wagon driven by a young mother, about seven children in the passenger seats, and on the rear bumper, a "STOP POLLUTION" sticker was blackened by exhaust and a second sticker said "USE BIRTH CONTROL". I wish I had a digital camera that day.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on The "P" Word and Climate Change
Both made forecast mistakes which everyone points at. Both also said if humans do not contain growth, nature will -- as nature always does whether with Sitka deer on an island or white mice in a cage -- massive die-offs with illness, hunger, and in the case of humans . . . violence. In 1960 a billion people out of three billion were hungry. I remember the promise of farming to feed the hungry. In 2000, after unprecedented agricultural invention, a billion people are still hungry. Without family/city/state/nation population planning, growth defeats the promise of technological achievements. Growth hurts.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on The "P" Word and Climate Change
Being thrilled by the flutter of a hummingbird, green blades of grass, the unsought smile of a stranger, a snow-capped mountain reflected in puddles, while at the same time never looking away from that horrific image of human crowds and scrupulous ignorance is a dance of grace that takes practice.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on The "P" Word and Climate Change
Regarding Population Growth:
If growth ever solved a social problem, the event failed to pass into history. Once extinction is avoided, the value of growth diminishes. Economists argue for growth, but ordinary folk are not their clients. The logic of occupancy limits on a public meeting room is a simple example of social wisdom.
Regarding Global Warming:
"Honey, the world is so vast, it can cope with whatever we little humans do." My sweet mother believed this as did most everyone (except Paul Ehrlich) in 1965. She also believed the hired black help at her parent's southern home were "happy." Her naivete was "common sense" in the 1960s. Today we know differently.
posted 3 years, 6 months ago
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on As We Are: Child Free
I got a vasectomy when I was twenty-seven. I'm 59 now, and that vasectomy is among a handful of really good choices I've made. I wanted to see what life is like without the 20+year-all-consuming demands of raising children. You simply don't get to do both. I believe a person who claims their child is the light of their life; I can't know what that is. Parents can't know the bearable lightness of being without children. My wife and I enjoy your children, and hope you teach them well.
I speak out about, write about, and volunteer for family planning (small). I can't think of one social problem that gets easier or better as we continue to grow. Oh, I know that some economists claim that falling population growth has depressed the economies of Italy, Russia, and France, but please, we blame parents for a lot of things, blaming parents for the failure of a national economy is over the top.
I'd like to see genetic testing be used to match all fatherless children with the birth-father, then put that man on the hook for the child's food, clothing, and every school book.
posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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