Limiting reproduction is perhaps the most important step towards sustainability
In the world we live in today, people try to do small, small good things to conveniently escape the fact that there is something incredibly evil that they are doing.
Most people are used to consuming, but the problem is not consumption itself. Consuming things blindly like crazy won’t do you any good anyway. That’s the problem. Therefore, wisdom or spiritual wisdom is not about completely abandoning consumption. There are clear indications of the impact of various activities on climate change. For example, stop driving and avoid transatlantic flights. Choose green energy. Switching from electric cars to carless cars. Choose a vegan diet. Replace regular cars with hybrid cars. Wash clothes in cold water instead of hot water. Recycle; Hang dry clothes. Upgrade to energy efficient light bulbs. And the figure’s title is “Tons of carbon dioxide equivalent saved per year by each action per person” (Wynes & Nicholas, 2017; Environmental Research Letters, Volume 12, Issue 7). But these are the popular 10 activities, and every doer of good is busy doing all his 10 activities, walking around with great missionary zeal and even greater missionary pride.
And that giant bar is equivalent to about 60 tons of CO2 produced by just one action: having one child. We don’t talk about the biggest cause of climate change. Because that’s where our ego lives, that’s where our physical tendencies live. You’re probably wondering why I talk about this about childbirth and having children. Because this is the most important issue facing you and me and the planet and millions of species today. This is the only thing humanity needs to address immediately at this time. There is no greater challenge before humanity – not World War III, not nuclear proliferation. This is the biggest challenge. Could you please stop or limit childbearing? This is the one issue that no one wants to talk about. If you can deal with this, everything will be resolved.
For every impulse towards development, we will see an association with bodily identification, consumption, procreation, and the ensuing devastation. If the Earth’s temperature rises by 3 degrees or 4 degrees, all these baby flowers will wilt. In any case, there are not many types of flowers that can be planted. How responsible is climate change? At least 10,967 species on the IUCN Red List will be affected, and if global temperatures rise by 2°C by 2100, approximately 18% of all terrestrial species will disappear. Some predict that it faces a high risk of extinction.
And this problem cannot be resolved through litigation alone. You need mental movement. It takes deep spiritual awareness to understand what I’m saying and to act on what I’m pointing out. You cannot limit the number of children you have without first ceasing to identify with this body. As long as your physical body is there, you will continue to consume, and you must consume. We see no connection between identification, consumption, procreation, and destruction of the body. We see them as different things. This urge to develop has nothing to do with the devastation of this planet, but what do you think? What exactly is the definition of development? Something that brings you joy. It’s something that brings you comfort and convenience, right? That is the definition of development. We have come to a point in human history where no problem can be addressed without addressing its fundamental problems. And if we don’t address the fundamental problems now, there will be no tomorrow.
(The author is a Vedanta teacher, author, and founder of Prashant Advait Foundation. Views are personal)
