The Octuplets and their Massive Carbon Footprint: 30,400 Disposable Diapers and Counting
When the news of the California octuplets hit the world, the first reaction was awe. When it came out that this single mother living with her parents already had six children, for many, the second reaction was, well, isn't this a tad bit excessive?
Nobody wants the government defining what a family should and shouldn't be, and this includes family size. But there's fate--and then there are fertility drugs. Should you really be allowed to tap fertility science when you already have a Brady Bunch at home?
So, the statistics: According to Mother Jones, one American child generates as much CO2 as 106 Haitian kids. In the first 2.5 years of their lives, these eight babies will generate a massive pile of 30,400 disposable diapers, if their mother doesn't choose cloth (the best option for landfills), safer disposable diapers or diaper hybrids like gDiapers that produce less waste.
Then there's the carbon footprint over a lifetime: According to Jonathon Porritt, chairman of the British government's Sustainable Development Commission, the average British child will burn carbon roughly equivalent to 2.5 acres of old-growth oak woodland over a lifetime. That means the octuplets will burn at least 20 acres, or just over 15 American football fields (and add a bit more for the higher American average).
And how about food? This is one pricey taxation of resources. By the time they are 18, the octuplets will have consumed nearly $270,000 in food (based on the average for an American child in a middle-income family).
These numbers don't address the other six children. Which brings us back to the question: In order to reduce global warming, should we regulate family size just as we regulate carbon emissions?
(Image via Ryan and Brian do the Crossword)
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Octuplets Born In California (And Baby #8 Was A Surprise!)
BELLFLOWER, Calif. — A woman gave birth to eight babies in Southern California on Monday, the world's second live-born set of octuplets. The mother, who...
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Finally someone is seeing the real story of this tragic situation! America's complete denial about a planet in crisis is evidenced by the fact that virtually no one has brought up the issue of overpopulation and the fact that this was wrong mainly because of the obscenity of placing such a stress on an already overburdened planet.
I don't know about making family-size laws but disposable diapers should be illegal ... or their expense should more accurately reflect their expense on the globe (through taxation, not corporate profits). That's pretty much how I feel about all conveniences using up million year old sunlight and leaving million year old garbage.
Another alternative is Elimination Communication
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication
I know people who use this very successfully and in combination with cloth diapers, it's the ultimate in green baby rearing!
What make me furious is that I would LOVE to have a large family and could afford one, but I know in my heart and brain that it is wrong for the planet for humans to keep breeding like rabbits. A sustainable future for my TWO children is not possible if the Sulemon's and Duggar's and Kate&Jon (makes 8) of the world keep overpopulating, assisted by science or not. This problem highlights the difference between individual rights vs. society's rights. In the larger view, these people are criminals and have trod on my rights and those of my children. Plus, I'm often forced to pay for them to do so because, though they are criminals, it would be wrong to punish their innocent children -they truly have society over a barrel!
Democracy is only about the individual in so far as they don't tread on the rights of others. We must face reality in this country, for a change, and have policies to discourage overpopulation.
Hunh. I changed cloth diapers for my four younger siblings.
You can't hold your nose while rinsing them in the toilet, because you need one hand for the diaper, the other for the flush handle.
Then you put it in the hamper with the rest.
Every day, you do a load of laundry -- just for the diapers.
Oh, you forgot, in your calculations, the carbon footprint of the human caregiver.
But don't fret -- after a few years of doing pretty nothing more than changing diapers, the caregiver is on the verge of suicide. All it takes is a few charges of being "SELFISH" in doing this to push the poor professional diaper-changer over the edge.
Is that what you're trying to do? So we can have a pristine environment perfect for yuppy backpackers?
Thought so.
Small families should get health insurance breaks and tax breaks too.
Restrict family size, eh?
The fundy Christians aren't gonna like that idea.
I cannot believe that with all that money she won, the wonderful option of adoption never entered this selfish woman's head.
And, I never thought of how many disposable diapers the babies would use!
The best way to regulate this is to make sure that everyone has to pay their own way in this overcrowded world. If people had to be responsible for all their decisions and not externalize costs then there would be a lot less of this type of crazy behavior. Eliminate public schools and make everyone pay for their own kids education. Pay the true cost of clean water and roads and everything else that is paid for by society at large. Of course, the biggest beneficiaries of our system are the big corporations and the rich so eliminate welfare for business first and eliminate welfare for the poor last. But in the modern world we all pay for everything, everything is held in common, and abuse is easy.
It gets even worse. According to state documents she received $165,000 in state disability payments for an on-the-job back injury that she and a doctor said was worsened by pregnancy.
The w.e.l.f.a.r.e state continues......
OctoMom apparently thinks that it's okay to have a family planning policy of 7 kids per person (KPP). The current average policy in the U.S. is about 1.18 KPP. With the current policy, population would multiply about 6.3 times in the next century (all other factors being equal). That is, if we all pursued this policy (which we are, in fact, doing), U.S. population would grow from about 310 million people to about 2 billion in that time, minus however many are killed off by wars, famine, increased diseases, etc.
If we all followed OctoMom's policy, population would multiply by about 19,600 times. That is, we'd have a little over 6 trillion people in the U.S. It's not hard to imagine what this would mean for the number of diapers, never mind the environment. Of course, our current policy is unsustainable, but getting people to cut down on kids when there are still people defending OctoMom is a big task.
So, find your square foot of land to defend. But pick one on high ground, because you'll have a lot of competition for it.
I agree this is absolutely absurd, selfish and irresponsible! Until government steps in and most importantly stops 'REWARDING' welfare people in this country for having more kids-it will never end! They have it all figured out. KIDS = CASH and keep having them to keep the money flowing in their pockets!
Who cares about the diapers? The outrage should be about the money the taxpayers are going to spend to support the offspring of this irresponsible woman.
No one should have "litters" of babies.
It's not what nature intended and not what society can support.
If half of this nation would stop reproducing carbon footprints and take that same amount of (18+) years of commitment to taking care of what has been neglected, this world would be a better place.
How about instead of all the energy someone would give raising a child, instead go help the children left behind in adoption clinics, state facilities, & the poor? What is wrong with that? How about 18 years of committing to clean up the earth? How about 18 years of helping the elderly? how about 18 years of helping in facilities where autistic, mentally challenged and handicapped children go without human contact because they are no longer wanted? All of these things are in need of attention! They are even worse outside of our borders. If you are looking to fill a void in your life, there are plenty of ways you can help. Making another carbon footprint for this earth to deal with is not one of them!
Gee, if we restrict our population, who's going to fund the Social Security Ponzi scheme?
I don't think family size should be regulated; enforcing a woman's right to choose how many babies she wants? I thought feminists believed in a woman's right to choose ending the life of a fetus or not. Now, this discussion about taking away a woman's right to have as many children as she wants. This sounds like a double-standard. Maybe abortion issue was never about "choice" but about "carbon footprint" all the while.
But building awareness about the implications of over population may help some women understand that having too many children will also ultimately affect the quality of life for those very children. This may help spur different choices(perhaps adoption?).
Well said!
I am totally against fertility drugs for any reason. In a world that is increasingly overpopulated and short on food and clean water for its already over 6 billion inhabitants why are people so self absorbed that they cannot adopt a child instead of risking their life and the life of a baby or eight by spending thousands of dollars to have children they could not have naturally. If you are an anti abortion christian then fertility drugs are contradictory to your beliefs.
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