General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you enjoy beef? You're directly contributing to climate change. Beef is the new SUV. [View all]Shoulders of Giants
(370 posts)However, the world's population has gone from about 1 to 7 billion in about 200 years. Overpopulation is without question the biggest threat to the environment by human made causes. Every single other human made environmental problem is exponential worsened by overpopulation.
However, the media never talks about it. I will fully admit I am wasteful in my life. I use plastic bags (I try not to, but I sometimes forget to bring the reusable bags to the store) I don't have the ability to make myself stop eating meat (actually I do, but I have little willpower). I don't drive a hybrid because they are too expensive. I sometimes drive to places I could sometimes walk. I many times choose convenience over environmental friendliness.
However, I realize the most environmentally conscience thing I did in my entire life was having a vasectomy and not having children. That makes my impact on the environment much much lessor than anyone who does everything perfectly (and even doesn't eat meat) but has children, because when I die, my impact stops. When other people (even environmentally conscience vegans) have kids, they do much more to destroy the planet than me. They could teach their kids to be vegan and environmentally friendly, but will they teach their grand kids, great grandkids... etc? Eventually they will stop being environmentally friendly somewhere down the line and they have done significant harm to the environment (and animals when their meat eating great-great grand children eat them) that will last millenniums just by having kids.
I'm not saying I'm perfect. Ultimately, humans are pests on the planet, and I am part of the problem. And someone who is vegan and environmentally conscience, while not having kids is doing even less harm than me. They are people we should try to live up to. However, I know articles like the CNN article in the original post are meant to make meat eaters feel terrible, by calling it the new SUV. I'm just trying to put everything in its proper perspective.
Obviously far fewer people need to be having children. Obvious as well is that the humanity will die off as well if every single person stops having children. However, extinction is not a treat. An individual can assume that the population will continue to grow and the best choice an individual can make is to not have children, because that best solves the current problems (which do not include threat of extinction).