baby steps

So in 2007… I know it seems for away but data like this is always a bit delayed.. the United States had more births EVER RECORDED.  Not only that, but 40% of the births happened out of wedlock.  

That was the fact that made the news.  

Everyone was concerned about the immorality of having children out of wedlock.  But what about the ethical matter of having too many children.  Well, some scientists decided to really figure out the footprint of having a baby.  And, here you go:

 

 

• A mother and father are each responsible for one half of the emissions of their offspring and 1/4 the emissions of their grandchildren and so on forever or thereabouts
• Therefore, under current US conditions, each child adds 9,441 metric tons of CO2 to the carbon legacy of the average female
• That’s 5.7 times her lifetime emissions
• Translation: one child costs nearly 6 times your own CO2 emissions
• In the pessimistic scenario, each American child adds 12,730 metric tons to your carbon legacy
• In comparison, under current Bangladeshi conditions, each child adds 56 metric tons of CO2 to the carbon legacy of the average female

 

The bottom line is that absolutely nothing else you can do—driving a more fuel efficient car, driving less, installing energy-efficient windows, replacing lightbulbs, replacing refrigerators, recycling—comes even close to simply not having that child. All those good things still add up to less than 500 metric tons of CO2 savings. Not having the kid saves between 10,000 and 13,000 metric tons of CO2.