Further to Andrea’s post from yesterday, with an even nastier twist. Now we in the West are urged to consider saving the planet from global warming by preventing more poor, non-white babies from being born.
That’s what I call progressive!
Don’t believe me? Read on:
Consumers in the developed world are to be offered a radical method of offsetting their carbon emissions in an ambitious attempt to tackle climate change – by paying for contraception measures in poorer countries to curb the rapidly growing global population.
The scheme – set up by an organisation backed by Sir David Attenborough, the former diplomat Sir Crispin Tickell and green figureheads such as Jonathon Porritt and James Lovelock – argues that family planning is the most effective way to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic global warming.
Optimum Population Trust (Opt) stresses that birth control will be provided only to those who have no access to it, and only unwanted births would be avoided. Opt estimates that 80 million pregnancies each year are unwanted.
This is the picture they used to illustrate the story:
Well. Imagine how relieved environmentalists in the West are going to be when they are able to offset their own carbon emissions that way! “It’s fine, honey, we can fly to Costa Rica eco-guilt-free! I bought enough credits to send three more shipments of condoms to Dakar and cover the cost of four abortions in Nairobi! Woo-hoo, party!”
I think I’m going to go idle the car for no reason.
by 
When are these people going to realize that trees use up the carbon they’re so worried about, as well as producing oxygen, water, and a more stable climate. In Israel there is a national effort to plant trees. One of the results have been an improvement in air quality, less carbon and more oxygen. The climate has improved too. Israel is the only place in the world where the desert is receding, instead of spreading.
Most places on earth the desert spreads because people cut the trees down for fire wood, and then they don’t plant more trees to replace the ones they cut down.
Instead of pressuring people to stop having kids, maybe we could all plant trees. Maybe these people who are so worried about global warming, should be spending government money to put seedlings in our hands and giving us incentives to plant them.
While you’re at it, Brigitte, make sure that vehicle is a huge SUV! I thoroughly enjoy your forth-rightness.
Well, it’s not particularly big and it is very fuel-efficient (the newly redesigned Forester; by far the best vehicle I’ve ever had – ask Andrea how much I can’t shut up about how much I love it, she’ll tell you), but it sure is a fine SUV. I plowed through 6 feet of packed snow (about 2 feet high) to get out of my driveway last night (didn’t want to shovel *before* my karate class) and I hardly felt a thing. I’d love to see Al Gore try that in a Prius.
For the love of the saints, yes, Brigitte does love that car. Who says money can’t buy happiness? 🙂
Unfair! It wasn’t even expensive!
I feel that the argumentation in this article is an incredible red herring fallacy. By linking the issue of birth rates with the environment takes attention away from the fact that lowering birth rates is an integral part of accelerating development in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia accounted for 84 per cent of global maternal deaths (http://www.childinfo.org/maternal_mortality.html) and it just so happens that these regions are predominately non-white. These numbers could change if women had access to better health care services INCLUDING family planning/contraception. This doesn’t mean forcing women to stop having children, it means informing women that they have the right and the possibility to take control of their own reproduction. I consider myself a feminist, and I do not support abortion, but I feel the best way to reduce the number of abortions is to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place. The availability of contraception can reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and ultimately reduce abortions. Therefore, I do not understand why many pro-life activists are against the use of contraception. You need to put the horse before the cart. You cannot deny the fact that a lower birth rate is correlated with higher levels of social and economic progress.