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I never had any, and never wanted any. I like my freedom. I am an ecologist. I may sound mean, but, I would have to disinherit them if they became mall rats, and conspicuous consumers in a wasteful way.(despite my teachings) Nature would have to teach them thrift, at that point. I would tell them "good luck, and try to rid yourselves of "affluenza".
It would bother me to have spent decades raising them only to find out that daddy dear was feeding them fast food slop, and letting them shop for "landfill" at Wal Mart. Call me heartless. I don't mind. But just think : I am not passing on my genes. That equals fewer consumers with too many "mall hours" under their cheap designer belts.
A while back, I read this on a website (am looking for the link) that one of the top 10 ways to be green is to have fewer kids, better yet, to choose to not have kids! I don't know what to think. I see the point of less waste, etc. It sounds nice and practical on the surface. But in reality, having a child is an emotional decision. Isn't it?
I'd love to hear what you all think. Would you choose to have fewer children, or not have any just because it is GREEN thing to do?
Sorry, I'm new to this particular forum but I have to add that I have four children (not necessarily planned this way ,however!) and I can say that our family uses less energy, resources etc. than many families w/ only two kids. We have ONE bag (occasionally two bags of trash a week) We recycle everything including composting our food scraps. We grow some of our own produce, shop at our local farmer's market every week and try to be as "sustainable" as possible.
I've seen plenty of smaller families that still buy water in bottles, only to throw them out. Keep old refrigerators in their garages going for "extras" and drive around all the time in huge gas guzzling SUVs. (We walk when possible and consolidate our grocery trips). I don't use plastic anything unless it can be washed or recycled or donated.
I used to live in Ireland and belonged to a organization where the entire town was working on sustainability. People generally had more kids there yet they used far fewer resources than the families here in the US. So, my feelings are that having a larger family is not necessarily worse for our planet if you care enough to leave a small footprint!
Nope. I imagine that raising a kid is fun and exciting to see someone grow.
I think what will happen is there will be population decrease in our grandchildrens' generation but then as technology advances allow yet more amazing things (continuing rapid pace of computer advancement, nanotech, biotech, and semi-conscious machines), it will allow more people to live with greater abundance. Then we'll likely see another child explosion.
I find it kind of amusing that some people think you CANNOT have kids and still live an environmentally-responsible life.
One of my sons' former teachers is SO proud of her uber-green lifestyle, including not marrying her boyfriend or ever having kids. Oddly enough, the (literally) fly and drive all over the world to go hiking, mountain-climbing, and do other outdoorsy things.
Sometimes it's "why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye and ignore the plank in your own?" sort of situation.
Genesis 33:5 Children are a gracious gift from God.
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