are kids bad for the environment?
my short (and long) answer is no … absolutely, NO! parents might be bad for the environment, but that’s not the same thing, in my book.
as someone who buys almost exclusively organic for our home, takes public transit, bike or feet everywhere i go, and who otherwise tries to live as sustainably as possible it can be frustrating to always hear the same types of comments emanating from the mouths of new (or older) parents: “well, wait until you have kids and then you’ll see … you’ll HAVE to have a mini-van” … or … ”you won’t be able to afford organics when you have kids” … or … “when you have kids you won’t have time to worry about things like that” … and more of the like.
first of all: there are many north americans who have kids and ride the bus. the hard part isn’t taking the bus, it’s the poor service most communities have in terms of public transportation. and, the organic food question often concerns me the most, since i intend to be extra vigilant regarding the food we eat when we have kids … if genetically-modified foods do create health issues in humans (which they very well might, although no one is really studying this for some odd reason … ), they will cause these affects most in kids (since kids have cells that are still actively developing). personally, i am not comfortable with our children being the canaries in the coal mine …
but all bickering aside … it is impossible to claim that having kids is bad for the environment. having kids is a completely natural phenomenon (obviously), and arguably the only reason we exist (biologically speaking) … if we live well in our place, having kids should not degrade it. the real problem is that if we live poorly (living in a car culture, supporting industries that harm our societies and environments, wasting water and resources), then yes … having kids in such a situation won’t help. but notice, it’s not the kids that are the problem.
anyway, pointless to argue with a blank page at this early stage of the morning … i just wanted to say hi and post this artist … maybe smith will start your friday off with just the mix of fun, distortion and quirkiness that you were looking for! happy friday!!
: )
c.
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:32 pm
wow, i like this guy a lot! Thanks!
June 26th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
about those kids being bad for our environment… I agree with you completely - but I have one concern: how on earth did this topic come up? Did some one suggest to you that kids are bad for the environment? I find that hard to believe. Maybe they were referring to certain people’s kids who happen to have kids of their own…
maybe smith?
may be good. another gem from the prairies.
June 27th, 2007 at 4:23 am
someone did bring it up, actually. the basis of the argument being: overpopulation is an issue, having kids brings more kids, thus bad for the environment. my take, as mentioned is slightly different, since having kids pretty much comes naturally for most, and so the point is to live well with or without kids, and then all is fine!
maybe smith’s a little saskatoonian genius!
c.