4 ms·

For the environmentally conscious couple, a dog or cat is an excellent replacement for the exceptionally wasteful human baby. From that perspective, re-directin

For the environmentally conscious couple, a dog or cat is an excellent replacement for the exceptionally wasteful human baby. From that perspective, re-directing your baby instincts into a dog instead of another human is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

joaomacp 9y ago
This line seems straight from a dystopian sci-fi novel. A world where humans preferred caring for other animal species instead of reproducing. Seriously though, I think middle-class white families are already too hesitant about raising children, even without thinking about the environment. They think it's too expensive, and would rather have other luxuries. The irony is that immigrants and people in developing countries, which already have low resources, don't care that much about status or 'living standards', and are happily generating a lot of offspring. My theory is that this is natural selection regulating for too much brain size / intelligence: If you believe in the several studies that mention IQ and brain size differences for races, right now the races with lowest brain size / IQ are having the most babies. I think mother nature is preferring - sorry for the language - 'dumb and strong' over 'smart and feeble'. Actually, many people have a reproduction strategy that involves lowering cognitive ability - getting drunk [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778038/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778038/ and others]
frozenport 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Human_Extinction_Movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Human_Extinction_Mov...
bamboozled 9y ago
One can also just enjoy the company of friends and relatives kids and once they "hit the wall", you can just go home and enjoy some peace and quiet :)
freeloop2 9y ago
The problem with this attitude is the next generation will then only have only have the offspring of non environmentally conscious people. You shouldn't trade the chance to shape the culture of the next generation to be more environmentally conscious for the short term quick fix of reducing your environmental impact right now.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
soggypopsicle 9y ago
A vegan kid seems like a preferable replacement.
- riot504 9y ago
  Except kids can't be raised on a vegan diet, particularly young kids.
  - soggypopsicle 9y ago
    Yes they can: "regarded as appropriate for all stages of the life by the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics"(in the context of veganism). source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism
    - jriot 9y ago
      I've seen kids on a vegan diet and they aren't nearly as healthy or strong as kids who eat a non-vegan diet.
      - soggypopsicle 9y ago
        Well I'm convinced, too bad we wasted all that money on science.
bisRepetita 9y ago
Whoaaa... i never thought about comparing a human being and an animal on the sole scale of carbon footprint. I guess it's fair in a way.. but what a difference on how much they bring to the world.

joaomacp 9y ago

This line seems straight from a dystopian sci-fi novel. A world where humans preferred caring for other animal species instead of reproducing. Seriously though, I think middle-class white families are already too hesitant about raising children, even without thinking about the environment. They think it's too expensive, and would rather have other luxuries. The irony is that immigrants and people in developing countries, which already have low resources, don't care that much about status or 'living standards', and are happily generating a lot of offspring. My theory is that this is natural selection regulating for too much brain size / intelligence: If you believe in the several studies that mention IQ and brain size differences for races, right now the races with lowest brain size / IQ are having the most babies. I think mother nature is preferring - sorry for the language - 'dumb and strong' over 'smart and feeble'. Actually, many people have a reproduction strategy that involves lowering cognitive ability - getting drunk [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778038/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2778038/ and others]

frozenport 9y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Human_Extinction_Movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Human_Extinction_Mov...

bamboozled 9y ago

One can also just enjoy the company of friends and relatives kids and once they "hit the wall", you can just go home and enjoy some peace and quiet :)

freeloop2 9y ago

The problem with this attitude is the next generation will then only have only have the offspring of non environmentally conscious people. You shouldn't trade the chance to shape the culture of the next generation to be more environmentally conscious for the short term quick fix of reducing your environmental impact right now.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

soggypopsicle 9y ago

A vegan kid seems like a preferable replacement.

riot504 9y ago
Except kids can't be raised on a vegan diet, particularly young kids.
- soggypopsicle 9y ago
  Yes they can: "regarded as appropriate for all stages of the life by the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics"(in the context of veganism). source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism
  - jriot 9y ago
    I've seen kids on a vegan diet and they aren't nearly as healthy or strong as kids who eat a non-vegan diet.
    - soggypopsicle 9y ago
      Well I'm convinced, too bad we wasted all that money on science.

bisRepetita 9y ago

Whoaaa... i never thought about comparing a human being and an animal on the sole scale of carbon footprint. I guess it's fair in a way.. but what a difference on how much they bring to the world.