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> If you already have any kids at all (for example), there's nothing you can do to reduce your damage to the earth This is a misanthropic perspective, we shoul

> If you already have any kids at all (for example), there's nothing you can do to reduce your damage to the earth This is a misanthropic perspective, we should have no kids and die out to reduce ‘damage to the earth’. Best environmentalist is a mass murderer. Worst climate criminal is a sperm donor. But if you look at the physical world, Earth already had 6 mass extinction events, asteroids, supervolcanoes, etc. they killed basically everything, and life bounces back. There will be more. Our efforts are unimpressive in comparison. In absolute, it doesn’t matter. From a humanist view, ‘Damage to the earth’ is damage to its ability to support human life. That’s the perspective that makes sense to me. One of the requirements is that civilisation continues. And the best contribution is to bring up a well adjusted, kind and capable individual, and for them to do the same. If lump together environmental impact of children and parents, then if your bloodline continues forever your evrironmental impact is infinite. This creative accounting leads to absurd conclusions

bigstrat2003 2y ago
He didn't say that one shouldn't have kids due to environmental impact, he was just putting it in perspective. The point was that if you have kids, and if you don't worry about the environmental impact they cause, then you shouldn't worry about the much smaller impact of a Raspberry Pi either.
paulcole 2y ago
That's not what I said at all! I said if you have kids don't hand wring over your environmental impact. It's like thinking that if you cry at the beach you're making the ocean saltier. If you have kids you're betting that, "the best contribution is to bring up a well adjusted, kind and capable individual, and for them to do the same." It's a decent bet for sure.
wkat4242 2y ago
There's no need to keep the population growing as it is though. That's unsustainable. It's not all or nothing: make as many kids as possible or go extinct. There's a middle road. It would be great if humanity would shrink to 1 or 2 billion. More than enough. Resources wouldn't be as scarce, housing wouldn't be a problem. Much less need for wars as most of those are driven by resource and land scarcity. It would be much easier to reach an equilibrium with nature. The problem is that a high birth rate is viewed as a virtue due to religious and short-term budget concerns (more people to pay for pensions etc). While it's true that a shrinking humanity would cause temporary issues, it would only be for a while until it stabilises. I for one am really happy with my decision of not having any kids. I don't frown on people with 1 or 2 kids but I do on those with huge families. But that's just me, they are free to do so of course.

bigstrat2003 2y ago

He didn't say that one shouldn't have kids due to environmental impact, he was just putting it in perspective. The point was that if you have kids, and if you don't worry about the environmental impact they cause, then you shouldn't worry about the much smaller impact of a Raspberry Pi either.

paulcole 2y ago

That's not what I said at all! I said if you have kids don't hand wring over your environmental impact. It's like thinking that if you cry at the beach you're making the ocean saltier. If you have kids you're betting that, "the best contribution is to bring up a well adjusted, kind and capable individual, and for them to do the same." It's a decent bet for sure.

wkat4242 2y ago

There's no need to keep the population growing as it is though. That's unsustainable. It's not all or nothing: make as many kids as possible or go extinct. There's a middle road. It would be great if humanity would shrink to 1 or 2 billion. More than enough. Resources wouldn't be as scarce, housing wouldn't be a problem. Much less need for wars as most of those are driven by resource and land scarcity. It would be much easier to reach an equilibrium with nature. The problem is that a high birth rate is viewed as a virtue due to religious and short-term budget concerns (more people to pay for pensions etc). While it's true that a shrinking humanity would cause temporary issues, it would only be for a while until it stabilises. I for one am really happy with my decision of not having any kids. I don't frown on people with 1 or 2 kids but I do on those with huge families. But that's just me, they are free to do so of course.