2008 Woodie Awards
Adopt: It is ethically right
Erika Prins, Staff Writer
Issue date: 10/17/06
Last Updated: 12/26/07
Before my best friend even got married, people were asking her and her beau when they planned to have children. Images from the Discovery Channel immediately flooded my mind each time I heard the question posed. The zebra drives the mare away from the herd. After a few minutes of small talk, they get to it and procreate.
Having babies is obviously necessary for the propagation of a species and humans are no exception to this rule. Given that we are separated from our zebra friends by the ability to reason, though, let us take a look at how beneficial having children is for the human race.
As my parents tell me in nostalgic moments, having kids is one of the most meaningful experiences a person can have in their life. I am not immune to the natural human desire for such an experience, but knowing the impact of having babies, I cannot justify fulfilling that desire. Overpopulation and the fact that millions of orphaned children already exist, turn the beautiful wonder of child-bearing into an ethically questionable act.
"The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine," the CIA World Factbook says.
If you are not feeling that the world is very populated, it's because you live in a developed country. Most of the world's population experiences the effects of overpopulation daily and people in developing nations will suffer more as population continues to rise.
Living in the United States, your hypothetical child will contribute to problems caused by overpopulation far more than a child born in a developing nation by consuming more resources and creating more pollution. M. Wackernagel's report "Ecological Footprint of Nations" measures our impact is to by "Ecological Footprints," a measurement of the area (in acres) required to sustain our impact on the Earth. The average American requires 24.0 global acres, compared with the world average of 5.6 global acres.
Having babies is obviously necessary for the propagation of a species and humans are no exception to this rule. Given that we are separated from our zebra friends by the ability to reason, though, let us take a look at how beneficial having children is for the human race.
As my parents tell me in nostalgic moments, having kids is one of the most meaningful experiences a person can have in their life. I am not immune to the natural human desire for such an experience, but knowing the impact of having babies, I cannot justify fulfilling that desire. Overpopulation and the fact that millions of orphaned children already exist, turn the beautiful wonder of child-bearing into an ethically questionable act.
"The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine," the CIA World Factbook says.
If you are not feeling that the world is very populated, it's because you live in a developed country. Most of the world's population experiences the effects of overpopulation daily and people in developing nations will suffer more as population continues to rise.
Living in the United States, your hypothetical child will contribute to problems caused by overpopulation far more than a child born in a developing nation by consuming more resources and creating more pollution. M. Wackernagel's report "Ecological Footprint of Nations" measures our impact is to by "Ecological Footprints," a measurement of the area (in acres) required to sustain our impact on the Earth. The average American requires 24.0 global acres, compared with the world average of 5.6 global acres.
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