Population control is a controversial issue, and it’s one that many people have really strong opinions on.  However, population control doesn’t have to be a hot button issue.  It’s relatively simple - if you’re not sure you want to be a parent, or the reasons you’re planning on having children are due mostly to social pressure, maybe you should reconsider.  Kids are very important, and it’s important for their parents to know they want them and know they can take care of them.  After all, raising another human being is resource intensive!

A single child in the United States is responsible for a lot of carbon emissions, power usage, food consumption and other influences on our world.  Every one of us has a big impact, and the larger our families, the more we add to the strain of our global ecosystem.  It’s true for many other countries, too.  The average Australian will generate nearly nine hundred tons of carbon in his or her lifetime, and to offset the amount of CO2 generated by a child watching three hours of television daily until the age of eighteen, more than two hundred tress would need to be planted.

The waste generated by our children has a large influence, as well.  More than thirty thousand pounds of diapers and nearly seventy thousand pounds of discarded toys were found on beaches by volunteers on cleanup duty.  The average student throws away almost a hundred pounds of packaging and leftovers a year from lunch alone.  Many of these things can be avoided to one degree or another, by making sure that you raise your children to be responsible and paying attention to where the waste comes from.  However, children aren’t for everyone - there’s no reason to consider them the default, and by not having children, you’re making sure there’s a little more to go around.

Many people say that developing countries, where families are larger, should curb population first.  However, it should be noted that these countries use far less per capita than citizens of the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia or other developed countries.  In addition, the ability to choose is less common there, with birth control availability patchy and good information hard to get.  In wealthier countries, it’s easier for us to choose the size and timing of our families.  Children are expensive and require a great deal of emotional care - we should be ready to provide all of it if we want to have them.  If we aren’t ready to do so, we shouldn’t have kids.

Infinite expansion isn’t a realistic possibility, and many of the reasons people give for having children fall down when examined closely.  For instance, there are far better ways to spread your values than by indoctrinating a child.  Many people believe that it’s their right or duty to spread their genes, but it’s not possible for everyone’s genes to be superior.  Family expectations, aging, and other reasons are similarly suspect when it comes to creating a new life that will be totally dependent on you, and taking up space in this crowded world.  All children should be wanted and planned, not brought into the world because it seemed like a good idea at the time.

It’s also important to remember that there are options for parenthood other than giving birth to a child.  Fostering or adopting children who aren’t biologically related to you is a viable option, and many kids go without parents every year.  It’s a sad fact that the only group there’s a shortage of on adoption lists is white infants.  Children from other ethnic backgrounds and older children can spend years, or even their whole childhood in a foster system without ever having parents of their own.  Adoption is a rewarding choice for many people.

Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone should or would stop having children right away.  However, it is time to stop and think before taking the step to enlarge our families.  Deciding that you’d rather not add one more person to the world is one of the ultimate green choices, and it may make you happier in the long run.