The more people who live on Earth, the higher the demand for our planet’s limited resources. We need to consider what we can do to lighten the load — without violating people’s rights in the process.
Laurie Mazur | Population & Environment: a Progressive, Feminist Approach
Laurie Mazur, On the Issues Magazine: “In ‘The ‘New’ Population Control Craze: Retro, Racist, Wrong Way to Go”, Betsy Hartmann implies that everyone working on population-environment issues is part of a misogynistic plot to bring back ‘population control.’ I’m here to tell you she is wrong. I am a lifelong, card-carrying feminist and political progressive. I am passionately committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights, to environmental sustainability, and to closing the inequitable divide between men and women, rich and poor.”
Three Questions
1) Who do you believe should make the decisions about a woman’s sexual reproduction: the woman herself, or anyone else? Why?
2) What are some ways that lowering our population could help the Earth?
3) If we seek to lower population, what steps could we take to make that a positive rather than negative experience for people?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Dr Horrible 11.25.09 at 7:28 pm
1] D’uh.. the woman of course.
2]Dying would lower the population
3] Two words; Zombie. Apocalypse.
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Dr Horrible 11.25.09 at 7:30 pm
[Just joking.]
Reply
Carla 11.29.09 at 12:56 am
1) Who do you believe should make the decisions about a woman’s sexual reproduction: the woman herself, or anyone else? Why?
I think the woman should make the decision of course. The only situation I would think otherwise is if she’s at risk of harming her children. But that’s even a can of worms I dont want to get into right now.
2) What are some ways that lowering our population could help the Earth?
I honestly don’t know how to answer that question. Once you leave the cities, there is an abundance of space everywhere. We live like pack rats and get into the mindset that the whole planet is jam packed. We need to find ways to live more sustainable, so that we’re not dependent on living packed together in a city.
3) If we seek to lower population, what steps could we take to make that a positive rather than negative experience for people?
My answer is: don’t.
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