Beyond Earth Hour… The Childfree Contribution
Britgirl | March 31, 2008 | 12:30 amSo, yesterday was Earth Hour. There was a lot of build up to switching off the lights across the globe for an hour as part of the drive to look at how live in a more eco-friendly way. Use less of the earth’s resources, reduce carbon emissions etc. And after a while it began to rather irritate me.
I am all for looking at ways of living responsibly so that there’s less pressure on the planet’s resources.
However, as a childfree person, I couldn’t help thinking that many are missing the point or at least a crucial part of the point. While everyone is smugly patting themselves on the back for turning out the lights for an hour, it’s really not going to do a whole lot for the environment – except of course for that one hour… when predictably consumption dropped. Of course, everyone knows that, and it’s supposed to be more about to raising awareness of what people can do.
Which is all well and good.
Except, as I said to my hubs yesterday, everyone’s going to go right back to their usual way of living. And no-one has yet mentioned one of the most effective ways of reducing our footprint… have fewer children. Fewer children means less people, means less need to use resources, means – hey less pressure on the earth’s resources! Fancy that!
I can almost hear the scream of indignation from the pro-natalist (green) corner (yawn) “Whaddya mean have fewer children?? Who’s going to pay for your old age, blah, blah…” “Are you nuts? We NEED more children to… well, to ensure we (and our ways) continue. For ever! We wanna leave our name behind when we go. Besides, we LIKE having kids!
Sure you like having kids. The more the merrier. And I said having fewer, not none at all (although having none at all because of your convictions is a good thing, regardless of what others say). Having kids is mercilessly marketed at everyone from cradle to grave as The Thing To Do To Be Accepted Into Civilized Society. Everyone does it. And if they don’t, life will not be particularly easy for them. Not having kids is Most Definitely Frowned Upon. Ask for a permanent form of contraception and you’ll be sent off to… go have a kid or two first.
So, while Earth Hour is a nice little feel-good blip on the eco-monitor, it’s going to do very little unless people make some big choices in the face of the environmental challenges, and basically put their proverbial money where their mouth is.
Having kid(s) puts pressure on the environment like nothing else. Consumption in all its forms increases exponentially. Getting the kids to school? Well, still have to drive that people carrier, or that SUV, because we can’t let them take transit to school. And, anyway, since most families live out in the ‘burbs (have kids, so got to get a bigger house) there often isn’t much in the way of transit, everything is made for cars.
And then the family owns 2 cars. Thinking about this reminds me that the number of ads for cars and car related products seems to be on the rise. But maybe that’s just me.
When the kids are young, they need diapers – among lots and lots of other things. Diapers don’t degrade biologically as far as I’m aware (or maybe they do) so off to the landfill they go. I’m sure you can think of many more things that result in increased usage of the earth’s scare resources.
Though not confined to childed families, I still see cars commuting into town, with ONE driver. I hear people telling me they’re off to have their 2nd, or third child because they love having babies and love being pregnant and want a big family. And of course, I hear the folk who tell me I should be doing the same, ‘cos I’ll regret it.
Presumably they aren’t among those that took part in earth hour, because if they were there’s more than a wee bit of hypocrisy there. Having kids is directly incompatible with saving the planet… that’s if you really want to conserve resources. And should some believe that doing their little recycling bit cuts it… it doesn’t. You’re using more, so you recycle more.
Apart from giving a nice little “feel good cos I’m doing my bit for the environment” glow, it’s next to nothing. Most of the recycling ends up in the general garbage anyway. And I don’t even want to think about all the resources that families with children use up and will continue to use.
As a childfree family, my hubs and I do not own a car. We take transit, walk or take cabs. We live in a condo and have no need of a three-bedroom house which needs extra resources to maintain. We buy energy-efficient appliances. We still have to pay all the extra “green taxes” that are creeping in from air travel to anything else you care to name. But while we do what we can we’re not eco-warriors. Some of the worst so-called “environmentals” are those who come along with kids in tow, urging us to “save the environment” while in the same breath informing us that we should be parenting, and shouldn’t be “going against nature.”
Meanwhile, they also want to make it even easier for people to have more kids at the expense of those who choose not to do so.
While I am not childfree specifically to save the environment and we do what we can, let’s not forget that there are many who’ve decided to be childfree because of environmental concerns. Concerned about over population, they’ve decided the planet does not need more human beings (who, lest we forget, do nothing but consume). Those who decide not to have kids, even for logical reasons like being eco-friendly are pilloried, as the article below clearly shows.
Earth Hour. Nice idea. Maybe it will make a point. For a while. Everyone’s reminiscing about how wonderful it was by candlelight and patting themselves on the back because they “did their bit for an hour” to save the planet or reduce climate change. Who’s kidding who here? A childed family can never, as has been pointed out, be as eco-friendly as a childfree one.
Having fewer (or no) children is a logical way,perhaps the logical way, to reduce our footprint on the environment. But no-one dares to mention it… except the childfree.
Don’t you think it’s time for “eco-folk” to deal with the great big elephant in the room? Or is it only childfree people that get it?
Kids are more important than being green by Britgirl.
Going green by sterilization by Mel
Babies are not eco-friendly, so we’re not having any
How to make every hour earth hour
Technorati Tags: childfree, childfree
This earth hour, didnt actually work. One of the reasons the 957th reason why i am not having kids. i love nature, i prefer nature to almost all of humanity. and i know if we keep breeding, we will destroy everything.
These graphs – from the National Electricity Market Management Company – seem to indicate an increased Australian power demand (green line) during Earth Hour (commencing at 20:00 in the second sections
http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/sparkage_boosted/
And in Canada: “Earth Hour had practically zero effect on the electricity demand in the Province of Ontario. While electricity use was barely below forecast, it was actually up slightly from the previous hour!”
2-3% of our uk household waste is estimated to be disposable nappies, approximately 400,000 tonnes of waste each year.
detailed from here (its a pdf file) http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/
Called nappies_1072099.pdf
Based on an average use figure of 4.16 nappies per day, 3796 nappies would beconsumed in the first 2.5 years of a child’s life. This usage rate equates to 169.5 kgof nappies to be purchased.
The use of 3796 nappies would result in 537.6 kg of nappy waste and 3.0 kg of nappy packaging waste.
so in essence we are saving, 537.6 KG per child, by not having them.. and that includes the energy used to make them.
While it’s a good effort, it will take more than just turning off lights for an hour to do anything. People (including parents) don’t understand that it’ll take more of a lifestyle rather than one single act. What good is turning off the lights for an hour going to do when you’re still going through disposable diapers at an insane rate and drive a gas-guzzling SUV or minivan? I know that parents always say things like “well, we NEED these things!” Do you really? Sure, cloth diapers aren’t nearly as convenient as Huggies, but they are reusable and are not only more environmentally friendly, but will also save you money. You also DON’T HAVE TO HAVE the latest, greatest breedermobile (read: minivan) with the dvd players, card table, etc. Also, once you calculate the carbon footprint of just one child throughout their expected life…wow.
I posted a video on my blog a while back about children and the destructive effects of their consumerism on the environment.
“Don’t you think it’s time for “eco-folk” to deal with the great big elephant in the room? Or is it only childfree people that get it?”
Haha..good one!
Even if I could afford one, I dont owne a car. Saves both a lot of money and the environment…which is the same I could say about NOT having children..:)
It’s depressing that even people with 1 or 2 kids MUST HAVE an SUV now days because it’s HAAARRRDD to bend over and pull a kid out of a car and SUV’s are so much safer in a crash because most can just drive over a normal sized auto.
In fact, I think one of the main reasons right now that I’m childfree is because nearly everything about breeders depresses me…from the rather pathetic “my child is the essence of my entire being” mentality, to “my child is acting like a child, I must give it drugs, but not discipline it” type of thinking, to the weird competition mothers get into about who’s best – and by best I mean the biggest martyr who gave up the most for their wonderful children.
Insightful stuff as always.
As a CF vegan I do more for the environment than anyone recycling breeder will EVER do.
The big picture – you get it. So many don’t…
Steph
Mel, from my understanding, minivans are actually very fuel efficient. They are designed with families in mind, and cost savings is a factor. I have a CF friend who owns a minivan. She purchased one to be able to have room needed for camp outs, but yet selected a minivan because it got better gas mileage than some cars do. I think that a lot of the breeders who insist on SUVs over minivans are self conscious. They’re trying to be cool over being efficient.
I am, by no means, an environmentalist. Infact, I would probably piss off many environmentalists with some of the actions I take. I am certainly not CF for environmental reasons.
That being said, personally – I believe that little acts like Earth Hour are mostly feel-good activities. If you participate, you can smile and pat yourself on the back and say you did something good for the environment. Once it’s overwith, you can then go back to your rampant consumerism.
I hear so much about how “every little bit helps” that it’s all we’re doing. Little bits. It’s kind of like being on the Titanic and throwing out small cups of water every so often. The ship is still going down because the influx is so much greater than what’s being done to stop it.
I didn’t participate on purpose. The only reason we had our lights off was because we were out celebrating my boyfriend’s father’s birthday. And at his parents’ house, damn near every single light was on, INCLUDING the television.
I just don’t want anyone down my throat because I don’t recycle, I eat meat, and I use chemicals to keep my place CLEAN.
I did not participate since I was not home at the time of this asinine idea called Earth Hour. Since I wasn’t home I guess I could have contributed to the cause, but a single light so my dogs wouldn’t have to spend hours in the dark meant I wasn’t one of the good citizens taking part in this event.
I wish I could say my reasons for being childfree were something as noble as saving the environment. I love animals, I love trees, I love flowers… however I also love air travel, my glowing computer, my big house and my jeep. While not a smug Prius owner using reusable tampons and forgoing makeup I do try to make even a small difference with recycling (which none of the families on my block seem to do), belonging to a CSA, living in a house only 5 miles from work and reducing my contribution to landfills by foregoing diaper usage on my dogs (just kidding really, but there are no diapers being thrown in my trash)!
Although I do have trouble at times really caring… sounds awful but I’ve come to terms with the fact that after I’m gone, I’m gone. I’m leaving behind no progeny so anytime people talk about saving the environment for the children I remind them that they aren’t my children.
A while ago I read a really interesting book called “The World Without Us.” At the end, he discusses the radical idea of every woman of childbearing age only having one child and how this would impact the environment as the population falls to a managable (for the planet) level. I found it fascinating that a mainstream book would expound on such an idea and yet at the same time, he didn’t mention at all the childfree option. Still it was a really good book and I liked how he discussed the idea of population in it.
The human race has become overcrowded. There was never a question about renewable resources or not 10000 years ago.
Lurker said:
Yep. Agreed. Somewhere in the bible it says, “Be fruitful and multiply.”
How do we know God didn’t mean to plant a lot of fruit trees and learn math?
Man, I wish there were more fruit trees and math.
The reason that Earth Hour will have even less effect than what was measured at the power companies is that it saved people money that they can now splurge on other environmentally damaging things once that hour is over. Economists call this the rebound effect which applies anytime an efficiency measure is followed by less than an absolute majority in a free market. What’s worse is that really good effeciency savings can sometimes lead to even more consumption than before — a situation known as Jevons paradox.
This also applies to decisions on whether or not to have a child. Assuming all child raising products are in a global free market, then by you opting out of the bidding process, the price of diapers, baby food, and minivans will fall. This makes it cheaper for another couple to have more children. Resources associate with childrearing are in a sense fungible, so that a childfree policy amongst a minority is really a poor way to save the planet.
Personally, I lean toward being childfree not because I care about the environment, but because so many more people do not. I know that to raise a child in this world requires me to deprive someone’s other child of resourses, either by supporting governments that do this via unfair trade, or by teaching my child to act like an ass, otherwise I’d have to watch him grow up, forever losing out to other children and that would be irresponsible, won’t it?
The reason that Earth Hour will have even less effect than what was measured at the power companies is that it saved people money that they can now splurge on other environmentally damaging things once that hour is over. Economists call this the rebound effect which applies anytime an efficiency measure is followed by less than an absolute majority in a free market. What’s worse is that really good effeciency savings can sometimes lead to even more consumption than before — a situation known as Jevons paradox.
This also applies to decisions on whether or not to have a child. Assuming all child raising products are in a global free market, then by you opting out of the bidding process, the price of diapers, baby food, and minivans will fall. This makes it cheaper for another couple to have more children. Resources associate with childrearing are in a sense fungible, so that a childfree policy amongst a minority is really a poor way to save the planet.
Personally, I lean toward being childfree not because I care about the environment, but because so many more people do not. I know that to raise a child in this world requires me to deprive someone’s other child of resourses, either by supporting governments that do this via unfair trade, or by teaching my child to act like an ass, otherwise I’d have to watch him grow up, forever losing out to other children and that would be irresponsible, won’t it?
Great comments as usual. Thanks everyone. I’m waiting for the next “imperative” from the eco-peeps which will then focus on forcing people to curtail even more stuff. But it will still avoid anything to do with kids. Have people noticed all the “green taxes” that are creeping in? Except they’re not graduated..which means people with several kids would pay the same tax as folk who have no kids!
Oh, and I didn’t take part in earth hour…. although I had no intention of doing so, in the end I was busy doing stuff on my computer – and I forgot. lol. At 9.44pm I looked up and said, “hey, the earth hour’s come and gone!” Of the clips I’d seen on tv the previous day, enthusiasts were warbling on breathlessly about ground breaking it was how even though it was small it was gignificant… and it was as if the lights were going to be forcibly turned of at source! Pissed me off.
Mel – I remember reading a newspaper article about the latest triplets that had been born as a result of IVF. The new father looked bemused, obviously 3 babies weren’t quite expected. But he did say he was very happy. And that they would need AT LEAST 10,000 diapers a year for those kids…
Explosive… I laughed so much… but this is so true. I love my travel, my computer – and I heartily enjoy my food… and I intend to keep it that way.
You’re joking about the re-usable tampons, right? (ugh!)
CFSince6 “Once it’s over with, you can then go back to your rampant consumerism.” Precisisely. It’s business as usual.
Stephr – true… the problem with the “recyle mantra is that most people conveniently leave out the other two componets… reduce and re-use. They don’t reduce, so no matter how much they recycle it’s negligible anyway. B
I was drinking home brew with friends during eco hour, so we did have some lights on, because stumbling drunk in the dark isn’t fun after a certain age. However, the beers came in reused bottles that were not thrown in the trash or recycled, but taken home by the brewers to reuse again.
That said, while it’s good and fine for people to make changes to help preserve the environment, it seems like there is a lot of waste that we have absolutely no control over. I buy a box of cereal weekly, and that cereal comes in a box with a plastic liner. Every week I buy a block of cheese that comes wrapped in more plastic, and pita bread that comes in a plastic bag. Every CFL bulb I’ve seen comes wrapped in plastic packaging, as well as having a plastic base and having to be disposed of in a special manner lest the mercury leach into the groundwater. Hell, even aspirin come in a plastic bottle wrapped in plastic for my safety.
I guess my point is, we’re all consumers, and we’re all forced to use items that contribute to the growing amounts of permanent trash on the planet, and that kind of sucks.
Although I’m not childfree for environmental reasons, it’s probably the biggest eco-friendly thing I do. I need my car but it’s small so it doesn’t use much fuel, I recycle/reuse my plastic grocery bags, and I would cut down on the light usage but I live with someone who never turns lights off…ever.
We need to realize that nothing else we do for the environment is going to amount to jack unless we lower the birth rate. End of story.
Feh: “we’re all forced to use items that contribute to the growing amounts of permanent trash on the planet,”
And even when a few of us reduce our consumption, and we leave the money that we save in a bank, or pay off our debts faster, thanks to the fractional reserve system it ends up creating a whole load of extra cash for other people to use in their purchasing of loads more polluting goods.
Sometimes you just can’t win.
FREEDOM!! Is my primary reason to be CF and what I think is the biggest loss for a parent.
But helping the ennvironment by consuming less is also a bonus of being CF.
I am light-saver and recycler, but I sometimes wonder if there is any use of the recycling because it all seem to be thrown into the same pile in the end.
I believe less people on the planet is the key-issue to solve our problems or at least to make the problems less extensive.
Freedom, a silent home and more disposable income are very nice perks, but the main reason I refuse to pop out a mini-me, is because I want to spare the Earth. For such a dominant species as the human race, there are far too many of us!
I once explained my reasons to a breeder and she started rambling about how it’s no use, because people in Africa pop uit kids like pez dispensers. They conveniently forgot to mention that my European baby would do 60 (!) times more damage to the planet than an African child…
To all eco-breeders out there: don’t glare at me when I take long showers and forget to turn the lights off when I leave the room, when you’re pregnant with your 4th baby consumer! And no, using cloth diapers is not enough to compensate. Not even close.
Great point Sanne,
Great to see another European here!! (I’m from Belgium btw)
Yep, defenitely true that a child (or more) does more to the environement than parents think.
- Using more electricity (swiching on those lamps every night a couple of times)
- Creating noisepollution and with doing that, asking attention from everybody (even childfree persons)
- Using up more resources (spitting food on floors, tabletops, faces … when they don’t like it, so parents have to wipe up everything, and … did I see a tree running for cover there??)
- Using more space (let’s plan to have a baby…. I have to redo my house … no, build an extension…. wait …. a bigger garden … now, only becomming pregnant!) makes me smile … hmm question: Is it a way to show off them that they are capable of having a baby (living in a big house)?
- Using more energy (starting with mothers who have to carry them arround for nine months, giving birth, and then the parents have carry them again to … everywhere)
- …
- And finally using more words, because let’s face it, without them we would not be here in the first place.
Oh BritGirl, I so wish I was kidding when I mentioned reusable tampons.
Warning: TMI Alert:
I just had to pop in to say that I am a Prius owner (the smug part? eh, sometimes…but I’m not nearly as smug about my Prius as I am about using my bicycle for transportation) as well as a fan of the Diva Cup (what you refer to as a “reusable tampon.”) It doesn’t just help alleviate the landfill problem (albeit by a very small amount – but every little bit helps), it also saves ME money (not to mention last minute trips to the store when I realize that supplies are desperately low). Oddly, since I’ve been using it, I’ve also noticed a decrease in the occurrence and severity of menstrual cramps.
There’s something here I’ve noticed which has not yet been mentioned : as someone in the medical field, I cannot stress ENOUGH just how much SHIT is used in the birth of ONE baby!! The plastic plastic plastic would blow you away!! It’s far too dense for me to even delve into, but everyone here I feel is intelligent enough to put 2 and 2 together.
I won’t even bother to mention the garbage created for the maintenance of a pregnant woman for the 9 months preceding her imminent birthing. This poor earth, thank GOD I will be long gone in another few years (hopefully)
Another European (from Belgium too) chiming in:
This Earth Hour thing was just ridiculous. My husband works in a bank and the week before it, they all received an email saying that the company would participate and turn out the lights of the building for an hour to show its concern for the environment. He snorted in disgust because this same bank thinks nothing of leaving those same lights on all night, all year.
Have you heard of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement? The basic premise is that the only way we can save the planet is to let the race die out progressively by not reproducing!
You know, I was thinking about the reports that electricity use actually spiked during Earth Hour and thought it made sense; there are probably more spiteful people who don’t buy into the “green thing” and turned on every item in their house for an your than people willing to shut everything off for an hour.