First and foremost: This is literally the rationale behind the one child policy. A policy that caused incalculable pain and suffering in China and continues to haunt the populace.
Second: Because it is just a bad “solution”. It only works on the order of generations (and since we may not even have decades at this point) and it is inherently just piggy backing off ACTUAL solutions.
And third: Because it isn’t even a solution to begin with. All the actions that it allegedly is so much better then are actually the actions being taken. Just not in any meaningful timespan because it is your hypothetical child 20 years down the line taking one less flight to DC.
For example: You can choose to have fewer children and when they grow up and that will reduce the amount of fuel you spent driving to the store repeatedly, driving them to school every day, catching a short flight one state over, etc. Or… you can just prioritize riding bicycles and using public transportation for day to day. And if the time it would take to drive to your destination versus fly are about the same (common on the East Coast)… just drive (it is also generally cheaper).
The former accomplishes nothing in the short term. The latter accomplishes all of what the former did, and then some because you are actually lowering YOUR emissions too, while having immediate benefits.
It is a bad study built on faulty premises. And it is being used in a misleading manner to push a narrative that justifies people not changing anything.
Because:
Food: If only there were more sustainable diets. Like eating less meat and more vegan protein sources and the like.
Shelter: Multi-family housing and mixed zoning allow for MUCH more efficient construction and reduce the need for cars. Also, existing housing can be retrofitted with more efficient insulation and the like
Energy: if only there were some form of clean energy…
And the best part? You can do that. Your kids can do that. And the entirety of the cast of The L-Word can do that. So even people who might not be planning on having children can do their part to maybe prevent humanity from being wiped out before those hypothetical kids even get their learner’s permits.
You’re latching on to what China did as an example and it forms the majority of your argument. I dont see anyone here suggesting we adopt a one child policy like they did, only reduce the amount of children being born.
Yes one could arguably bike everywhere and it would reduce your stress on the environment than if you drove everywhere. One could also argue having fewer people also reduces stress on the environment as well. Both will do the same thing, one to a greater degree.
It honestly sounds like you have children and are trying to justify your behavior despite knowing the negative impacts.
No, I don’t have children. In large part because I don’t think my generation has a future, let alone the next.
But one last time (maybe you’ll read it this time rather than just intentionally plugging your ears to be smug over whatever you are on): Even if we ignore that every single benefit associated with “have fewer kids” is something that can and should be done right now. Those metrics are based on lifetime CO2 production by the child. So you MAYBE are making a difference in 20 or 40 years. But you are doing jack all in the timeframe where… we probably still can’t stop the upcoming disaster. But we can at least try.
First and foremost: This is literally the rationale behind the one child policy. A policy that caused incalculable pain and suffering in China and continues to haunt the populace.
Second: Because it is just a bad “solution”. It only works on the order of generations (and since we may not even have decades at this point) and it is inherently just piggy backing off ACTUAL solutions.
And third: Because it isn’t even a solution to begin with. All the actions that it allegedly is so much better then are actually the actions being taken. Just not in any meaningful timespan because it is your hypothetical child 20 years down the line taking one less flight to DC.
For example: You can choose to have fewer children and when they grow up and that will reduce the amount of fuel you spent driving to the store repeatedly, driving them to school every day, catching a short flight one state over, etc. Or… you can just prioritize riding bicycles and using public transportation for day to day. And if the time it would take to drive to your destination versus fly are about the same (common on the East Coast)… just drive (it is also generally cheaper).
The former accomplishes nothing in the short term. The latter accomplishes all of what the former did, and then some because you are actually lowering YOUR emissions too, while having immediate benefits.
It is a bad study built on faulty premises. And it is being used in a misleading manner to push a narrative that justifies people not changing anything.
Because:
And the best part? You can do that. Your kids can do that. And the entirety of the cast of The L-Word can do that. So even people who might not be planning on having children can do their part to maybe prevent humanity from being wiped out before those hypothetical kids even get their learner’s permits.
You’re latching on to what China did as an example and it forms the majority of your argument. I dont see anyone here suggesting we adopt a one child policy like they did, only reduce the amount of children being born.
Yes one could arguably bike everywhere and it would reduce your stress on the environment than if you drove everywhere. One could also argue having fewer people also reduces stress on the environment as well. Both will do the same thing, one to a greater degree.
It honestly sounds like you have children and are trying to justify your behavior despite knowing the negative impacts.
Jesus wept.
No, I don’t have children. In large part because I don’t think my generation has a future, let alone the next.
But one last time (maybe you’ll read it this time rather than just intentionally plugging your ears to be smug over whatever you are on): Even if we ignore that every single benefit associated with “have fewer kids” is something that can and should be done right now. Those metrics are based on lifetime CO2 production by the child. So you MAYBE are making a difference in 20 or 40 years. But you are doing jack all in the timeframe where… we probably still can’t stop the upcoming disaster. But we can at least try.