Large families. Are they good or bad for the environment? I’ll be on Huff Post Live this morning at 11:30am Eastern to talk that idea out. Tune in here.
My wife and I wrote about this in a couple of chapters in our latest book, Love Another Child. Here are some nuggets that I hope come up in the online discussion with a professor and another author…
- Many large families actually have a smaller carbon footprint than a typical family with one or two kids.
- It’s not the numbers that count; it’s the lifestyle.
- Two or three kids fit in a bathtub at a time. The oven stays on 350 degrees for 45 minutes, no matter how big the meatloaf.
- Most large families I know don’t live in energy-hogging gigantic mansions.
- We happily trade a second income for another armful of babies. The quick and easy methods of saving the environment that make the news daily are hardly news to cash-strapped families.
- Children of families that are open to life also know something much more important, something that rabidly utilitarian environmentalists still don’t seem to realize: A human soul is more than the sum of how many kilowatts he consumes.
- Grown children of large families tend to be what you might call natural conservationists…A small crowd of perfect environmentalists.
- Love your children, and teach them to love each other; and if you and your brood feel like a sign of contradiction, then that’s a good sign.
- There is no contradiction between loving and caring for the earth and supplying it with inhabitants: We should do both.
Can you think of more? Or do you think large families are harming the earth? Would love to hear from you.