Subscribe

Enter your email address to recieve notifications of new posts by email.
Parents with one child and the word "hope."

Hopelessly Having Kids

How paradoxical that this recommended action to show faith in the future will guarantee there IS no future for our species.

Show the World You Have Hope in Tomorrow — Have More Kids

Columnist Cynthia M. Allen has bought into the hand-wringing over declining birth rates. Economists and other priests of the church of growth everlasting have convinced her that a world population of 7.6 billion and climbing is a good – indeed, important – thing.

“…while some progressive thinkers (like those who believe large families are unethical or that slowing population growth means greater sustainability) welcome this news, most observers understand the profound policy consequences of a nation with fewer and fewer babies.”

Concerns about our impact – climate disruption, peak water, energy and food, and species extinction – are just minor annoyances next to the challenge of funding social security, dying without a crowd at your bedside, and having to hire people to run the vacuum and cart your body off to the funeral home.

I’m sorry, Cynthia, but I want the kids we DO have to live decent lives – on a habitable planet with healthy ecosystems; clean, breathable air; water that doesn’t kill most fish; a diversity of species; and fertile soil that renews to grow abundant food year after year. THAT’S why declining birth rates give me hope. That is our only hope.*

*It’s our only hope because all the technology solutions to provide for and clean up after 7.6 billion people just nip at the margins. They will only help if we also scale back the size of the human enterprise. We are daily proving this to ourselves.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Trackback from your site.

Dave Gardner

Producer of the documentary, GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth. Dave writes and speaks regularly on the subject of growth addiction, including the pro-growth media bias that perpetuates prosperity-from-growth mythology.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Get Involved!

GrowthBiasBusted.org is an interactive online community where you can vote, discuss and even submit stories about bias in the media. Get involved today!
Submit a Story

How Can I Help?

This is a donor-supported non-profit project. Your tax-deductible donation allows us to continue pushing the media to improve growth issues coverage.
Donate Now

Wall Of Shame

Reporting & commentary that assume eternal growth is feasible, good, and necessary for prosperity.

Wall Of Fame

Reporting & commentary that recognize growth has limits, costs, and consequences.


User Nominated

Examples of classic pro-growth bias or exceptional acknowledgement of limits to growth, submitted by our readers!.


Top Voted

Every Friday we honor the week’s top-voted story, from the Wall of Shame, Wall of Fame, or User Nominations.

Citizen-Powered Media – 2016