Baby decisions - adding to the world's woes?
VIEWPOINT
Joanna Benn

How responsible is it to have children in a world whose environmental health is already under stress? That's the question Joanna Benn poses this week in the Green Room. On the other hand, she wonders, will a couple more hungry mouths make much difference?

I came out of my house last week and got caught up in a fleet of mothers and prams.

They were wearing a middle class yummy mummy uniform combining comfort and fashion - skinny jeans, UGG boots, black tops and large sunglasses.

The prams were all state-of-the-art three wheeled, balanced, air-bagged mini cars that can fold to the size of a postage stamp and carry the week's shopping.

The urban mother tribe looked chic, proud and collectively cool.

It got me thinking. I love kids, I love babies.

I love the idea of the Brady Bunch, of close-knit large families and a stream of brothers and sisters of different heights with crazy hair.

However, perhaps it's my age; suddenly everyone I know has children and it is confusing me.

I don't even know when it all happened. I remember conversations about university, jobs, flats, boyfriends and partners, but I seem to have missed the pre-baby musings.

One minute people were childless - or child-free, depending on your viewpoint.

The next - magic wand, small bang, plume of smoke - it was insta-family, complete with new people-carrier in the drive and more often than not, a house extension.

Two weeks ago, a single childless friend confessed she'd been looking into freezing her eggs. That apparently is not a taboo subject.

Nor are conversations about contraception, fertility patterns, mastitis, post-partum depression and sex, child behaviour problems, sleepless nights, credit crunch worries or redundancy.

However, dare ask how green is it to have kids in a world of dwindling resources, vast global inequality, terrifying climate change scenarios and dying empty seas... then people get uncomfortable and usually defensive.

Ugly truths

I have couched the question a few times: "Why did you want children?"

The answers have usually been - "It seemed the next thing to do, we wanted to, it felt right, I couldn't imagine not..."

Push again - "Have you thought about what kind of world you are bringing them into to? Some climate change scenarios give us a 10 to 15 year window before things get very ugly and scary indeed."

Resounding silence.

Being an environmentalist is, quite frankly, an awkward thing.

When I see babies, not only do I see the beauty, joy and miracle of life, I also see nappies, landfill waste, vast amounts of food and money needed, and a very shaky, unpredictable future.

According to United Nations projections, the world population will nearly stabilise at just above 10 billion people after 2200.

That's a lot of people on one small planet.

When we talk about the environment and available natural resources, we bandy around statistics; yet none of it seems to be about me or you or that guy that everyone talked about during the US election campaign, Joe the Plumber.

Mood swings

Ask any environmental organisation what it thinks about birth control; it'll sidestep the issue, and say it's not their place to comment.

If a commentator says there are too many people on the planet, their words smack of authoritarian dictatorships and human rights violations, and echo traces of unpalatable eugenics.

However, the reality is that every time we eat, switch on a light, get in a car, drink a beer, go on holiday or buy something to wear or use, we are adding to our environmental footprint.

Toddlers - small beings that they are - require almost unlimited nappies, a fair amount of food, and apparently a loungeful of loud, battery-powered plastic toys.

I am not saying we shouldn't have kids. They may well be the leaders of tomorrow, steering humanity into a just, equitable, fair and healthy future.

The new generation may indeed succeed where all others have failed, and learn lessons of the past.

Perhaps it's just my mood.

Or perhaps it's the media's fault that some of us feel as if humanity is sliding from one patch of melting ice to another in a murky sea of financial, environmental and social woes.

I am curious to know if I am the only 30-something woman who has these dilemmas, worrying about the planet's future and what we could and should do to ease the strain.

Am I fretting needlessly? Because in the grand scheme of things, one or two more children in the world really make no difference, do they?

And as for the future - rising sea levels, bare former forests, desertification, empty seas and a few dollar bills floating in the wind - well that'll all take care of itself.

Won't it?

I can't figure out if this is for real or a joke. I sure hope this guy is joking!

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http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=61758

Burlington, MA (OPENPRESS) January 4, 2008 -- Celebrated chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier bring their signature, sophisticated cuisine and sustainable sensibilities to the Boston area with the opening of Summer Winter. The restaurant offers a seasonal, modern American,,themed menu featuring ingredients grown at the on-premise, four-season greenhouse. At Summer Winter, chefs Gaier and Frasier demonstrate the surprising accessibility of eating sustainably with “greenhouse dining,” an approach they helped pioneer since they opened their renowned Arrows and MC Perkins Cove restaurants in Ogunquit, Maine.

Sustainable Living: Try to find your inner SpartacusDecember 23, 2007

I want to talk about "the most crucial challenge facing humanity today," in the words of U.N. Prime Minister Ban Ki-moon. Twenty years from now, when we look back on today, we won't remember the gifts or the family squabbles, but we might wonder just what was so important that we didn't seem to notice that our planet is going to hell in a hand basket.

December Roundtable
Friday, December 07, 2007 at 7:00 AM
All Saints Episcopal Church - Ellis Hall
634 West Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30308

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this is from ran prieur's forum and it's really interesting... cuba went through it's peak oil period already inthe 90's and "bounced back" nicely. the link below will take you to the discussion which includes a couple of resources and video of this transition.

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

brad lancaster stood in the middle of the desert and told his story to about 70 or 80 of us. he had a projector and a terrific sense of humor. he talked about the ecological history of Arizona and how cities in general are designed to get rid of water. he showed pictures of a river in arizona from early 1900's that once was always full, yet shallow, slow moving, and very very curvy and surrounded by a forest as far as the eye could see! amazing to think that such lush diverse eco-systems were part of that land not so long ago. now, that same river is as straight as a ruler and almost never running, but when it is the water rushes through and the forest, is no longer there.

Pre-registration is now closed. We will be taking onsite registration at the conference.

Here's the link to the website: SEED 

There are many excellent groups that deal with a focus issue such as Wellness/Healthy Local Food such as CSA's.. Trees Forever and The Sierra Club are exemplary conservation groups. I-Renew has led the way in Iowa for many years to educate the public and implement renewable energy alternatives. We thus have great "songs" . We actually need an fully functional "Choir" to bring these diverse efforts into a more holistic and integrated "whole systems" approach. We need this whole systems paradigm to make a substantive transformation to Sustainable Living in Iowa. That is the purpose of this history making Conference. At the very least we will build bonds, be the catalyst for a cross-germination of the efforts of these great organizations that are already at work. If our "Choir" really does this work well, the Audience will come to seek out what we offer.