64 Is Parenthood an Entitlement‪?‬ GrowthBusters

Get married, buy a house, raise a family. For many of us, that’s the expected life trajectory. Are we entitled to meet that expectation? If many follow the typical trajectory, including having two or more children, then we drive human civilization right off a cliff.
On an overpopulated planet, does society have an obligation to make parenthood possible, practical, convenient, and/or affordable to all? Public policy on the table in the U.S. today is designed to make it easier for couples to have children. Ethicist Philip Cafaro joins us to discuss the motivations behind these policies and the moral questions about whether people are “entitled” to have children on an overpopulated planet.
In this episode, we hear some unenlightened statements about U.S. population from U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, including inviting listeners to conclude U.S. population is declining (it is not), and a healthy dose of depopulation panic.
Cafaro is professor of philosophy at Colorado State University and an affiliated faculty member of CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability. He’s also written a couple of books about human overpopulation, and he is co-founder of The Overpopulation Project.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
The Overpopulation Project
https://overpopulation-project.com/
Just Population Policies for an Overpopulated World - by Philip Cafaro
 https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/pdfs/epub-046.pdf
Climate Ethics and Population Policy - by Philip Cafaro
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264492830_Climate_ethics_and_population_policy
Climate Ethics and Population Policy: A Review of Recent Philosophical Work - by Philip Cafaro
 https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wcc.748
Toward a Small Family Ethic: How Overpopulation and Climate Change Are Affecting the Morality of Procreation – by Travis Rieder
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29846041-toward-a-small-family-ethic
Moral Basis for Small Families: Travis Rieder - Episode #206 of Conversation Earth
http://www.conversationearth.org/moral-basis-small-families-travis-rieder-206/
Public Policy Brakes on Procreation? Travis Rieder - Episode #207 of Conversation Earth
http://www.conversationearth.org/public-policy-brakes-procreation-travis-rieder-207/
One Child: Do We Have a Right to More – by Sarah Conly
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26308950-one-child
Stuck in Traffic? Head to Mars - Episode 63 of GrowthBusters podcast
https://www.growthbusters.org/stuck-in-traffic-head-to-mars/
8 Billion Angels – documentary film
https://8billionangels.org/
Earth Overshoot
https://www.earthovershoot.org/
Sustainable Population Australia
https://population.org.au/
Time’s 2021 Person of the Year Elon Musk Is So Wrong – by Simon Cole
https://equanimity.blog/2021/12/29/times-2021-person-of-the-year-elon-musk-is-so-wrong/
Power: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival – by Richard Heinberg
https://power.postcarbon.org/
Ice Shelf Holding Back Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’, Is Fracturing And ‘Won’t Last Long’, Scientists Warn
https://au.yahoo.com/news/ice-shelf-holding-back-antarctica-184346587.html
Human Consciousness – by Robert Bolman
https://robertbolman.com/human-consciousness/
This Sustainable Life podcast – by Joshua Spodek
https://joshuaspodek.com/podcast
Don't Call Doof Food: Systemic Change Begins with Personal Change – Joshua Spodek TEDx Talk
https://youtu.be/L4OAaI_uXgY
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube
https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
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