5 ms·

Don’t have children is probably the single biggest thing you can do to reduce your future impact on the Earth

by louthy 8y ago

User23 8y ago
Besides killing yourself.
- dang 8y ago
  Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News? Edit: looks like we've had to give you a bunch of warnings already. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the spirit of this site more to heart, we'd really appreciate it.
  - User23 8y ago
    Pardon me? If eliminating potential children reduces environmental impact then eliminating oneself must reduce environmental impact at least as much and in all likelihood more. It's a valid addendum to the original parent. If it seems absurd, well then so is the claim that one should not have children for environmental reasons. That said I will happily review the rules page again, I didn't intentionally violate it.
    - shawn 8y ago
      Don't worry about it. You're not really allowed to express controversial views on HN. It's more of an entertainment site than a quest for the truth.
throwaway_98554 8y ago
No, you are limited the number of children you'd have. You can have a much bigger effect by getting rid of OTHER people. Limiting your own consumption is completely counter-productive, as it leaves the resources to be consumed by those who do not share the same worries. They will simply have more resource available to increase their number and influence. (It's similar to those worrying about overpopulation and deciding to not having children : it's simply making sure the genes of those worrying won't make it to the next generation.) In a non-policed commons situation, the only time it makes sense to try to shame people into consuming less is if they are your competition and you want to get rid of them.
- User23 8y ago
  To be fair to grandparent, he or she did say to reduce one's own impact. Eliminating others will not achieve that. The future belongs to whoever shows up for it. Here are the current likely winners: https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2012_HIGHLIGHTS.pdf https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2012_HIG...

Don’t have children is probably the single biggest thing you can do to reduce your future impact on the Earth

by louthy 8y ago

Don’t have children is probably the single biggest thing you can do to reduce your future impact on the Earth

User23 8y ago

Besides killing yourself.

dang 8y ago
Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News? Edit: looks like we've had to give you a bunch of warnings already. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the spirit of this site more to heart, we'd really appreciate it.
- User23 8y ago
  Pardon me? If eliminating potential children reduces environmental impact then eliminating oneself must reduce environmental impact at least as much and in all likelihood more. It's a valid addendum to the original parent. If it seems absurd, well then so is the claim that one should not have children for environmental reasons. That said I will happily review the rules page again, I didn't intentionally violate it.
  - shawn 8y ago
    Don't worry about it. You're not really allowed to express controversial views on HN. It's more of an entertainment site than a quest for the truth.

throwaway_98554 8y ago

No, you are limited the number of children you'd have. You can have a much bigger effect by getting rid of OTHER people. Limiting your own consumption is completely counter-productive, as it leaves the resources to be consumed by those who do not share the same worries. They will simply have more resource available to increase their number and influence. (It's similar to those worrying about overpopulation and deciding to not having children : it's simply making sure the genes of those worrying won't make it to the next generation.) In a non-policed commons situation, the only time it makes sense to try to shame people into consuming less is if they are your competition and you want to get rid of them.

User23 8y ago
To be fair to grandparent, he or she did say to reduce one's own impact. Eliminating others will not achieve that. The future belongs to whoever shows up for it. Here are the current likely winners: https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2012_HIGHLIGHTS.pdf https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2012_HIG...