What do you think are the two biggest issues facing us.

[hunter]

49. One side of a coin, Global Climate Change, the other side of the coin Consumerism.

In many religions and philosophies "consumerism" is called "materialism" and similar such, philosophies which tell us to take care of our earth and leave it a better place, and to love and respect our neighbors.

Overpopulation is the other issue. Sex education and birth control ought to be a universal human right, but try telling that to the fundamentalists, or people living in societies where the more kids you have increases your status in the community and may insure someone will be around to take care of you when your old body starts to fall apart.

My parents, and my wife's parents had a mess of kids, at least partly because it was expected and celebrated in their communities. My mom's told us she'd been aiming for at least nine kids, maybe a dozen, once she'd decided she wasn't going to be a nun. My artist mom, once she'd met my artist dad, knew she wasn't cut out to be celibate. She liked sex, and she liked having babies.

But as our parents saw the world and their homes becoming more crowded they eventually became religious heretics and advocates of birth control. Not one couple among my siblings or my wife's siblings decided to become baby making machines. From what I see in my Catholic Community, and other Catholic Communities across the U.S.A., many couples are either avoiding sex altogether, or not relying entirely upon "natural" family planning methods. (You do the math...) One of my brothers and his wife tried those "natural" methods and two kids later realized it wasn't going to work for them.

Among my siblings, and my wife's siblings, we are below (and at this point will remain) by average fewer than two biological kids per couple.