Comments Andrée Zaleska has made

If I saw my child engaged in any activity to the exclusion of all others, it would set off a warning bell.  Certainly there have always been kids who read constantly, and they are often disguising shyness or social difficulties. I agree that doesn't bother people as much as the obsessive-gaming, but I think it probably should.

I'm in agreement with you that there is nothing wrong with gaming, inherently.  You could also say there nothing wrong with alcohol or drugs, inherently, in moderation. It's the pattern of the behavior that warrants scrutiny.

Something an old friend said always comes to mind when I consider family size: "If you can parent well, then you should have as many children as you want."  While I do think we should all consider keeping our families small and enlarging our sense of community to compensate, I think that those of us whose true vocation is parenting can only bring more good into the world.

I am with you, absolutely. You allude to my greatest source of motivation: the need to do the work of activism, protest and simple-living for the development of our own souls, as well as those of all other living beings. We don't know what the future holds. There may be more... (I teach my sons this as an antidote to their fear and despair, as well as my own.)

Good work! Come visit us in Boston at the JP Green House and we'll find you some youngsters to talk to.

Good to see you here on Grist, Adam. While I quite agree with your analysis, and I believe in telling the truth as it is laid out by Hansen and his colleagues (Ken is the son of a chemist and I am the daughter of a molecular-biologist; science is our bottom line), I cannot, as a parent, wholeheartedly espouse your approach. Despair is paralysing, it's a bitter pill I will not feed to my children. 

The great activists of the world have held firmly to hope as a strategy and a spiritual discipline. We must offer something more than the grimmest version of "the truth", and humble ourselves with the reminder that we can never really know the future. I currently admire two trends in the world of climate-realists: one is the Transition movement (www.transitionus.org) to create sustainable local communities; the other is the growing number of people ready for action--see the new Beyond Talk initiative (www.beyondtalk.net) for civil disobedience around climate change.

Here's Ken's unofficial motto:  "It is not necessary to hope in order to persevere." We know what we have to do.

See you jail, my friend!

I would definitely want to learn how to kill rabbits properly, if we did this. I have a really hard time boiling lobsters, for example--even though I know they are not endangered and are a good seafood choice--because I think they have a horrible death.

This is all pretty much theoretical--I don't think we will be raising rabbits, because our children and our neighbors find it so reprehensible to kill anything that cute. I was just riffing on the irony of us all keeping dogs and cats and feeding them inhumanely raised and slaughtered meat, and eating such meat ourselves, and then being horrified at the thought of eating a bunny rabbit.

It's so hard to weed out every last bit of hypocrisy from your life, and then when you do, you're a crank and nobody wants to listen to you.

Activist CEO--

Our household is blended, and there are 3 children with 4 parents. That's one less, right?

That being said, I found the decision to have children was totally unaffected by any sort of reason at all. And once they're here, you can't beat yourself up with thoughts of all the damage you did by having them without going crazy, or inflicting some kind of subtle abuse on them. Honoring creation means us too.

I find myself more susceptible to the argument that one shouldn't bring any more children into this world because we cannot guarantee them a safe future. Ken and I faced that difficult decision last year, with an accidental pregnancy. Painful choice.

Well, wasn't that fun! I'm Kuba's mom, weighing in here with a few extra details.

First of all, let me assure you all that Kuba is as green as super-green algae. He's the oldest of our three, and the one most aware of our emperilled eath. He's the one with the perfectionist, judgemental personality that needs to make life "right". He even fought himself on the whole dog thing, once we explained that pets do contribute to the problem of global warming and resource overuse.

But he's an animal lover, fond of running and wrestling and games with balls, so the fact that Kuba seems to be a perfect fit for a dog was hard to deny.

There will, of course, be no puppy. It will be a shelter dog and a mutt. These are some of the compromises we've made, with Kuba's input.

And this blog is all about the compromises we make between doing the right thing for us, and for the rest of the planet. A reductionist logic takes us quickly to "we never should have had kids", and then to "we should just hang ourselves". I've found that people quickly stop listening to anyone who goes that far.

Expect some cute dog-and-boy photos around X-mas!

Andrée

Katmainomad,

You are right -- the invasives get a foothold in the parts of our environment already disrupted by humans.  The problem is--and you allude to this--that there is less and less pristine nature to hold ground against them. 

I also agree that the earth itself does not care what form the future takes.  Life's only clear intent is to further itself, and weeds have as much "right" to do so as any other plant, animal or human.  They are evolution's victors, after all.

I also do not believe that God cares what form the future takes--or cares whether humans survive as a species.  One of our great self-delusions is to think that God protects us.  But I do believe in the Divine.  But that's a post for another day.

And oh yes--breaking news! -- WE HAVE A FOUNDATION!  It was finished last week and looks great.  All things now seem possible.

Hang in there Katma in Anchorage!  It's not supposed to be easy.  Embrace the mess.  Remember that you are doing the right thing in a time of moral inertia.  Keep us posted on your project.

Andrée