I'll be the first one to say that it's hard to be selfish with a houseful of kids. But..is having kids selfish when considering the "human impact" of climate change? There are those who think that each family should have no more than one child because having children is an environmental problem.
John Guillebaud of the Optimum Population Trust based in London has indicated that he believes that parents that are having lots of kids are guilty of committing "eco-crimes" and is quoted as saying something to the effect that having one less child far exceeds any benefits gained from repeatedly turning off electric lights and other such energy saving efforts. Apparently each baby that is born is the equivalent of one airline flight after the other criss-crossing the planet. This made me wonder who did this reseach and came up with this rather vague comparison but I got the point.
Even Planned Parenthood appears to be on board and is plastering signs all over the place with the message, "The fewer the merrier."
As for me, I'm in the boat with Al Gore who also has three kids over the recommended number. He's taking a little bit of heat from the press who is accusing him of not practicing what he preaches and sending the message: Do as I say, not as I breed.
In his and Tipper's defense, they had their family long before global warming became an issue. But now that whopping, huge house they had....well, if I ever see him in person I will be asking him about that before I ask him whether or not it is selfish to have children. So, what do you think? Is having kids selfish? Does having more than one child make those of us who talk about living green hypocrites?
Showing posts with label eco friendly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eco friendly. Show all posts
ECO FRIENDLY CLOTHES DRYING
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When the weather is just right, laundry day is really not about saving the planet by practicing eco friendly clothes drying. Drying clothes in the sun is about a more easy, relaxed way of taking care of my family’s needs. You just can’t put an Energy Star rating on the anti-depressant benefits of stepping out the back door early in the morning knowing that later in the day you will fill your basket with fresh, sweet smelling clothes. On the rare day when the humidity is low, I can usually gather all three lines and have them folded and hung in the closets by lunch.
The only articles of clothing that I don’t like to line dry are our jeans. When hung on the clothesline to dry they feel too papery and rough and the worst case scenario is that I will have to iron them to remove wrinkles. Not having to heat up and use a steam iron makes the best case imaginable for shopping for the most energy efficient clothes dryer that is manmade!
IS ECO FRIENDLY CLOTHES DRYING FOR EVERYBODY?
Regardless of where you live, you can dry at least part of your laundry in an environmentally friendly fashion. It's true that you have to have a back yard of some size to handle a clothesline. But if you have a postage stamp sized yard, you can get a retractable or an umbrella clothesline. These compact clothes dryers are cheap as can be and may be the best choice for city dwellers. We live in the country and have a big yard so I have the old fashioned kind of clothesline like my grandmother had which was a monster sized eco friendly clothes dryer if one ever existed!
Speaking of my grandmother's clothesline, she had special boards to put under the lines at the halfway mark so that heavy items wouldn’t make the whole load sag to the ground. The vision in my mind of her sheets, towels and granddaddy’s work clothes blowing in the breeze are one of my favorite childhood memories long before the phrase, eco friendly, had ever been coined.
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