As sort of a post script, I want to make one more observation regarding children. (Note: this has nothing to do with the degree to which Marion may or may not be a prostitute.)
I am not an environmentalist. I drive an SUV. I don’t recycle. I don’t care too much about global warming, regardless of whether its man-made or part of the Earth’s weather cycle, or some combination of both. You get the picture. Although I do support that subset of EPA regulations that attempts to get corporations to pollute less. I’m somewhat sympathetic to the whole “tragedy of the commons” idea.
Having said all that, one thing of which I’m virtually certain is that having a child is one of the single most destructive things that a person (or, “couple,” I suppose I should say) can do to the planet. Having two is geometrically worse, three geometrically worse than that, etc. If you think in financial terms about the “present value” – so to speak – of the pollution and destruction that each child and their children and their children’s children, etc. etc. causes to the environment, it’s unbelievable. Just think about the cumulative effect of the pollution (cars, smog, plastics consumed, etc.) of all of that child’s descendants. It’s amazing really.
Anyhow, I have nothing against people having kids. I actually like some of my friends’ kids. I don’t have to take care of them, after all. And I don’t care if people’s desire to procreate ultimately plays a big role in rendering the Earth unfit for human habitation. (Wouldn’t that be ironic?) The species at the top of the food chain during a random epoch on a distant planet in the Milky Way galaxy isn’t really all that important in the whole scheme of things, after all. (Granted, our evolutionary biology often betrays this simple observation.) Nevertheless, if you do care one iota about the environment, one thing you can do is not have children. It would be a small service to the rest of us.
I read somewhere recently that if every family on the planet limited themselves to one child, then the population of the world would fall to around 3 billion (or so) by the end of this century and most of our environmental issues, including global warming (assuming it’s man-made) would dissipate. I haven’t worked through the math, I’m just repeating what I read. But the general idea seems plausible.
Again, I ain’t no tree hugger. But if you have those tendencies, then you sure as hell shouldn’t be having children (or one at the most). Otherwise, you’re one hell of a hypocrite. Just something to think about.
(Note: Al and Tipper Gore have four kids. And fly around in private planes. And… you get the picture. Talk about an inconvenient truth. Shit, without even trying, the environmental damage I’ve done to the Earth is just a teeny tiny fraction of those two jibberjabbering asshats.)
Now, I gotta go find some chemicals to dump in the sewer.
