Professor Suggests Fighting Climate Change With Fewer Babies
- 8 years ago
Johns Hopkins University professor Travis Rieder argues that one way for the world to effectively fight climate change would be to have fewer kids.
Climate change is a problem that countries have tried to tackle by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
However, Johns Hopkins University professor Travis Rieder has been vocal about a more controversial approach--having fewer children.
In a recent op-ed on The Guardian, he references an NPR story which described his views that families should be small and fertility rates should go down in order to combat climate change.
He was even quoted as telling a group of college students, “Maybe we should protect our kids by not having them.”
And when one of them asked about reducing carbon dioxide by not eating meat instead, Rieder reportedly referenced research which found that for an individual, all conservation methods combined resulted in 488 metric tons of carbon dioxide saved over 80 years while one less human resulted in a savings around 20 times that amount.
In his op-ed, the father of one emphasizes that he does not, in fact, hate babies, as some have accused. He simply believes, “…that it’s morally better to make people happy than to make happy people.“
As such, he suggests that countries can encourage less reproduction through voluntary education and family planning.
Climate change is a problem that countries have tried to tackle by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
However, Johns Hopkins University professor Travis Rieder has been vocal about a more controversial approach--having fewer children.
In a recent op-ed on The Guardian, he references an NPR story which described his views that families should be small and fertility rates should go down in order to combat climate change.
He was even quoted as telling a group of college students, “Maybe we should protect our kids by not having them.”
And when one of them asked about reducing carbon dioxide by not eating meat instead, Rieder reportedly referenced research which found that for an individual, all conservation methods combined resulted in 488 metric tons of carbon dioxide saved over 80 years while one less human resulted in a savings around 20 times that amount.
In his op-ed, the father of one emphasizes that he does not, in fact, hate babies, as some have accused. He simply believes, “…that it’s morally better to make people happy than to make happy people.“
As such, he suggests that countries can encourage less reproduction through voluntary education and family planning.