To conceive or not conceive, that is the question
Guest post by Green Christian member, Edward Gildea
I had a very pleasant conversation with a wedding guest while scything in my churchyard this summer. We got chatting about Eco Church and then she said that the problems of the environment were all due to over-population. It is an argument I have often been faced with.
Greenhouse gas emissions are not so much related to population growth as to affluence. In the UK we contribute 7.1 tonnes per year each; in the USA it’s 17 tonnes, while in the Democratic Republic of Congo it’s 0.1 tonnes. That means 170 babies born in the DRC are the equivalent of one baby born in America. If we want to hold populations responsible, let’s start with private jet, swimming pool and multiple SUV owners, frequent fliers and those with palatial air-conditioned homes before we blame the average African!
Of course, people in Africa and India are desperate to rise out of poverty to enjoy a more affluent existence just has we have done over the past 200 years, but we must help them to do that by leap-frogging fossil fuels and building affluence on clean energy.
Secondly, the challenge of population we actually face is of implosion not explosion. Birth rates in all western countries are tumbling. Here in the UK it is now 1.49 babies per couple. In 3 generations that means a population of 100 will be reduced to 41. A 59% reduction by the end of this century! In China, South Korea and Japan birth rates are in catastrophic free-fall. Even in Sub Saharan Africa, birth rates are reducing. There are simply not going to be enough young people to sustain our economy and look after us in our old age.
The picture here is currently being disguised by greater life expectancy and immigration, such that population is rising even while birth rates are falling, but in the second half of this century, developed countries are going to be competing for immigrants to keep their industries and social services functioning.
Who can blame the young? They are struggling to afford homes of their own. Rents are astronomical and house prices are prohibitive. How many of us put off having children until we felt secure about the home we lived in? Coupled with student debts of over £50,000, governments have made the decision to start a family a very difficult one for young people. I met several potential parents over the summer who are also agonizing whether it is still a wise, responsible and loving thing to bring a baby into this world, fraught as it is with political dangers and increasingly extreme weather events.
This is the painfully intimate aspect of the climate and nature existential threat.
Edward Gildea writes magazine articles for his local church, St Mary’s, Saffron Walden in north west Essex, each month. He has kindly given permission to anyone to re-edit for your own parish newsletters. Please credit him and his church website.
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