Carbon Offsets via provision birth control

ally

Sun, Dec 29 2013, 2:28 am

I'm interested in hearing peoples thoughts on this proposal

http://www.popoffsets.com/what_we_do.php

I believe that everyone has the right to freely available birth control.
But I find the concept of people in 1st world countries offsetting their carbon consumption by encouraging people in 3rd world countries to restrict family size a little disturbing...

DrMom

Sun, Dec 29 2013, 2:54 am

How offensive.

I have no issues with giving people in 1st or 3rd world countries birth control information and access.

But if you live in a 1st world country and want to offset your carbon emissions, take public transportation, stop buying cr@p you don't need, and plant some trees; don't tell people in other countries to not have kids.

m in Israel

Sun, Dec 29 2013, 2:59 am

Without even getting into the moral or philosophical issues here, I've just read their first two paragraphs and they seem extremely illogical. Basically, they say that those in undeveloped countries create less carbon emissions than those in more developed countries. In addition they state that slower population growth leads to faster development of said countries. So individuals in more developed countries can "offset" their carbon emissions by supporting birth control in undeveloped countries, thereby enabling these countries to develop faster and . . . .emit more carbon!!

Here's the quote from the article

Quote:

We acknowledge that the carbon emission per capita in less developed countries is relatively low in comparison to that of the industrialised nations. People in the developing world will not continue to live in relative poverty indefinitely, however, and their growing economies will, inevitably, lead to greater emission per capita.

The evidence is now conclusive that the lower the rate of population growth, the faster a nation will develop.

Sounds like someone's goals is population control and they are trying to package it as carbon offsets to attract a larger donor base -- see their "by the way" at the end of explaining why their carbon offsets are better than, for example, supporting the building of a hydroelectric dam:

Quote:

PopOffsets is unique — we help you to offset your carbon footprint by helping others to avoid unplanned pregnancies and, incidentally, sending a strong message to decision-makers that it's time to address the population issue — wisely, democratically and compassionately!

Whether or not population growth needs to be addressed is a whole different discussion, but the way it is presented seems extremely dishonest.