But all those attempts to reduce your carbon footprint might be for naught if you decide to have kids.


A 2009 University of Oregon study found that having children obliterates any emission reductions from altered behavior, like driving less and using energy-efficient light bulbs. The average American is responsible for 20 tons of carbon dioxide per year. MIT researchers discovered that even the lowest-consuming Americans (young children and homeless people, according to researchers) generated an average of 8.5 tons of CO2 per year, more than double the global average.


Population specialists agree that just a half-child-per-woman decrease in the global fertility rate could bring global population back to 6 billion by the end of the century (we’re at 7 billion, hurtling toward 9 billion at current fertility rates). And half a child in the other direction could take us to 16 billion in the same time frame, which would be catastrophic, according to many. As Alan Weisman puts it in his bestseller, Countdown, “We would never get there, because we would collapse over multiple thresholds first, possibly never to crawl back.”

Liberals confirmed for Verbatim. GG NO RE.

This is good news. Hopefully it encourages people to have less kids.