Environment & Energy

muriel_volestrangler

(106,604 posts)

24. Remember your training in science and engineering

Tue Jul 30, 2019, 09:20 AM

Jul 2019

Don't reject the data just because they give you an answer that you don't like.

The point is that your "history shows we have experienced climate change before and survived" is highly misleading. In history, we've never had climate change like this. In archaeology, we find that humans did live through the end of a glacial period, which was rapid climate change. But back then, the world population was perhaps between 1 and 10 million - say one thousandth of what it is today. Everyone was nomadic, and there was room to move. Because of our huge population, we can't do that now.

And that's why rejecting the call to have fewer kids because of your personal joy is shortsighted. If those grandchildren, and everyone else, were to continue the rate of increase you and your children have enjoyed - effectively from 4 grandparents to 10 grandchildren in 2 generations - then by the end of this century, world population would be about 4 times what it is now - 30 billion people. Is that the future you plan for your grandchildren?

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Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children. [View all] Buckeye_Democrat Jul 2019 OP

Bingo! nt The_jackalope Jul 2019 #1

done...gladly... dhill926 Jul 2019 #2

That's a random, unfocused, pointing of the finger. LuvLoogie Jul 2019 #3

Oh, I agree. Buckeye_Democrat Jul 2019 #5

That's the "Idiocracy" syndrome. The_jackalope Jul 2019 #9

You assume that having children is a narcissistic act. LuvLoogie Jul 2019 #11

In a sense it is largely a narcissistic act. The_jackalope Jul 2019 #12

I didn't have my daughter to make the world a better place. When we found out she was coming, LuvLoogie Jul 2019 #13

I try not to lay it on children. They had no choice in the matter. The_jackalope Jul 2019 #18

And this is why we're royally screwed Boomer Jul 2019 #4

Yep. Buckeye_Democrat Jul 2019 #7

Yes! rownesheck Jul 2019 #6

Nope, not doing it Kilgore Jul 2019 #8

And I rest my case. Boomer Jul 2019 #15

It comes down to how you view the world Kilgore Jul 2019 #16

"History shows we have experienced climate change before and survived." The_jackalope Jul 2019 #17

So if I accept this line of thinking... Kilgore Jul 2019 #19

Too bad. The_jackalope Jul 2019 #20

Remember your training in science and engineering muriel_volestrangler Jul 2019 #24

The fewer we have now The_jackalope Jul 2019 #10

One more reason why women deserve reproductive health care with access to birth control. nt littlemissmartypants Jul 2019 #14

I don't think so kat3rinamarquez Jul 2019 #21

Wow, looks like there will have to be a collapse before people voluntarily change Beringia Jul 2019 #22

Not having children is easily the single greatest sacrifice you can make for the environment Calculating Jul 2019 #23