kristen510’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  I agree with anasimeon. We have to accept that our actions affect others, including future generations we'll never know- not just the generation we are producing. I cannot agree with the "baby Einstein" theory  "maybe my kid will discover the cure for cancer". I know many well meaning, and well-off, people whose children were seemingly born obsessed with muscle cars, drugs, and consumerism. No one intentionally raises a child to love Hummers. Yet, SUVs are all over the place.

  Regarding delusion, I have to say, most of my friends have kids and having kids makes people crazy. It makes them do things no normal person would do. One of my friends wants his kid to ride his bike everywhere, but because the streets are too "dangerous" for his kid to ride the bike by himself, my friend ends up biking to school with the kid, dropping the kid off, biking to work, and having his wife drive around picking up bikes and people at the end of the day with the minivan. Lunacy, right? And this is in the Bay Area, where sustainability is a household word.

  Our personal choices are our own. But we have to think of how our decisions affect other people. I think the entire human race is in a crisis of misunderstanding and lack of respect for others. This is evident in pretty much everything we do. We become so wrapped up in our lives that we forget others' lives matter. Somewhere along the line, human reproduction became a sacred act rather than the simple biological process of perpetuating the species. If we really do consider ourselves to be above monkeys, we should not simply respond to the impulse to reproduce. If we consider this process to be such a life-changing miracle, we should consider its ramifications equally.

  On Ask Umbra on big families posted 2 months, 1 week ago 48 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Funny, I don't recall doing any name-calling either. If you want to feel put upon and attacked by a wacko eco-extremist, go for it, but using the phrase "selfish and anthropocentric thinking" is hardly name-calling. Speaking of extreme, recall the original topic of this article, which is big families. I did not say no one should reproduce. I said that people should not delude themselves into thinking that producing children is good for the planet, and that those who produce children are going to have to deal with the fact that there may not be enough natural or economic resources to sustain those children. It's happening right now, an alarming amount of our young people cannot get a job because there are not enough resources and people all over the world are starving to death. That's not an opinion. It's a fact.

  Regarding the loss of environmental values, it's pretty well known that societal patterns do not perpetuate solely on the basis of familial teachings. There are many worthy organizations that educate children (especially disadvantaged children, whose parents largely don't teach sustainability) about environmental topics through schools, field trips, and summer camps. I work for one and work with many others. I think this is a far more effective approach than dedicating one's life to educating only one's own children. How about hundreds of kids a year- thousands of kids over a lifetime? This is the scale that will get us where we need to go.

   

  On Ask Umbra on big families posted 2 months, 1 week ago 48 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Oh come on now, let's not be drama queens here. I do not recall mentioning mass suicide in my comment, Mr. or Ms. "Moderate". My point is that the people already placed here upon the earth should make the most of our time here by doing everything we can to reverse the damage our species is doing to the planet that we all need to survive. What's the point of preserving the mighty human race if the planet it depends on is unable to sustain it? A lifetime of an individual's attempts at sustainability are undone by a person's choice to have a single child. Someone has to be accountable eventually, and we are reaching the end of the time when everyone can have kids just because they feel like it. As for working harder for a better world because of your kids, that's great. I just wanted to point out that it's possible to work to better the world without reproducing. Finally, the concept that those who live sustainably should be reproducing in an attempt to outnumber those who do not is absurd. We're all on the same ark no matter who we are or what we believe, and sooner or later we're going to sink it. We are all going to be forced to live sustainably whether we like it or not. For those who have not managed to miss the news about the current water/climate change/economic crises, I am sure you agree.

  On Ask Umbra on big families posted 2 months, 1 week ago 48 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Parenting isn't a vocation. It's obviously a life-consuming hobby for some, but no reasonable person could ever believe that having children makes the world a better place. Anyone who does so is delusional, probably because they think the sun wouldn't rise tomorrow without their own little angels treading upon the Earth. The truth is we're all just people and we're taking over the planet. It makes no difference who you are, if you have children you are just adding to the burden that others, like me, have to compensate for by having no children at all.  Besides this basic fact, a lot of parents in the US are now welcoming their grown, jobless children back into the house because there are no jobs for any of them. The more people we have the more competition for any resource-- be it water, food, land, or jobs-- will increase. Prospestive parents must think of things like this before they say, "I am a good parent and I can have as many children as I want." This is the kind of selfish and anthropocentric thinking that got us into this mess.

   

  On Ask Umbra on big families posted 2 months, 1 week ago 48 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  The perfect lawn is no lawn at all. That expanse of green has so many drawbacks:

  -Excessive water use.

  -Necessity of herbicides and fertilizers which poison our streams and groundwater.

  -ZERO habitat and food value for birds, bugs, and wildlife.

  -Boring. Not even the most imaginative kid can have as much fun on a bare lawn as in a tree or other secret garden hiding place.

  Urban gardens with the proper plants can make a huge difference to native wildlife, especially pollinators like native bees. In terms of beauty, function and resource conservation, a yard filled with native drought-tolerant plants is the solution.

  On The perfect lawn doesn't require a gas-powered mower posted 4 months, 1 week ago 10 Responses