The opinion of overpopulation and not having kids is not very popular yet most people I know are opposed to it. Well, it always bugged me that people would only rant about Africa, Asia, South America and such third world places having too many people and that a big plague should wipe most of them out, or they should not be allowed to have kids and be subjected to mass sterilization. In India, they celebrated when the population reached 6 billion this year! Millions live in absolute poverty, millions of women are treated like garbage. And they celebrate. China has a one-child policy, but still every couple has a child and they are spoiled and have all the consumer goods they desire. Many countries have a bad record on women's rights and women do not have the same access to education. Women are expected to have as many kids as possible or else they are useless. A man's virility is based on how many kids he has- so he better have a lot! The thing is, many want everything that we have. The hell with tradition or culture, they want tv, SUVs, consumer goods. A big mountain of garbage. North Americans, however, are the biggest consumers and wasters on the planet. Europe is a little better and I think they have more entrenched recycling and such. Canada has a small population, but we consume more energy, heat, water, etc. than anyone. The earth needs a break everywhere. If we have kids in North America , they demand so much and cost so much.
The thing with environmentalists is they tend to be nostalgic for a hippy peace era they never had and want to have babies and dress them in cute Guatemalan clothes, breast-feed them until they are five and try raise them to love the earth. A friend of mine lives sustainably in an intentional community in the bush and while he thinks that a big pestilence should wipe out half the planet, he always wanted kids. However, now he is becoming less and less certain and said to me that unless it just happens, he does not plan on having children. With kids, he feels he would not be able to continue his life work and have to take some job that supports the consumer system to pay for the childrens' needs. Even if you try raise kids sustainably, the kids sometimes suffer because they do not have the right clothes, the right toys, new micro scooters etc. Some are harassed terribly! My parents always instilled sustainability ideas in me and we usually got our clothes used or cheap. I never had the cool designer clothes and was teased for it. Imagine today a kid in hand-me-downs in a world where even kids have their own cell phones! So what can you do, home school them?
Perhaps DNA, instinct and the need to continue the family line are pretty strong urges. But not rational. Very sentimental. People often have kids for the wrong reasons, because they are expected to or are just thoughtless breeders. Many people have voids in their lives and use babies to feed it, or entrap their partners. So many have no passion or hobby outside their humdrum jobs. If people would focus on those babies, what wonderful things could happen! I know a young woman my age who wants to have babies so badly. She's incredibly talented and creative, but to find a man and make babies is her goal. All other adventures would fall by the wayside.
In most indigenous cultures such as First Nations, they have herbs for sterility- even temporary sterility and a whole pile of herbs for abortions. They planned everything out, and if there was a drought, shortage of food or they were on the move, women just accepted and understood that it was not a time to have babies.
There was no stigma, drama or politics in abortion. Whereas in Western cultures, abortion is such a charged thing, rife with christian ballyhoo, sentimentalism and punishment, that even if a woman has an abortion knowing she cannot have a baby at that time can get tortured with guilt and self-hatred.
I have never had a deep desire to have kids and would wonder if I was unnatural. I just think that I have too much to do. Sometimes I think about it-would it be joyous to have a kid, wonderful? Be a mommy to something other than a cat? Maybe with the right partner it could be possible. But it is not my priority.
Humans and Earth are at a crisis point. We have got to change everything immediately. I think if people are trying to live sustainability, are off the grid and waste as little as possible, having kids is great. But, things are not happening. Why are trees cut down for toilet paper? Why are trees cut down at all? We need more stuff and we need it now! Forgive us, lost beautiful forests. May you return and seek justice.
copyright © Heather Smith
If you want to do something about the problem of overpopulation, or are just curious about it, here is a link
to a fascinating site:Voluntary Human Extinction Movement