Having two
keeps the population on a very slow decline (given accidents, infertility, infant mortality, etc). Resource parasitism is not restricted only to kids - plenty of waste amongst adults who should know better and a massive amount through business, which only cares that you have kids to keep up demand.
Generally, the younger generations are also more environmentally aware (or at least responsive) and pass that on to their kids who are less entrenched in older mindsets, thus more likely to do something about useful.

As a disclaimer, I do have two kids, but that's where we plan to stop unless we decide to pick one up by adoption, depending on circumstances. We don't have a car, depend on public transport, eat only a small amount of beef (the source of 1/3 of all greenhouse gases through production of methane), don't have central heating or air conditioning and keep waste to a minimum. All without trying to be annoying ecowarriors. The car, airconditioning and central heating can be rather hard to do without in Sydney, but it's not killing us.
Cheers.
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Wed 22 Jun 2011, 9:13, 2 replies)

Oh yes I agree - the majority of adults can go too, with the exceptions of my mum and dad, Archbishop Tutu, the Dali Llama, Boris Johnson, and all the fit laydeez.
Actually, I may spare Bill Bailey my infinite wrath, too.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 9:42, closed)

While I'm certain this will start a debate that, depending on who gets involved
is likely to end up with sobbing, fat-fingered keyboard mashing and someone being compared to Hitler .... fuck it.

"beef (the source of 1/3 of all greenhouse gases through production of methane)" ... no. Misconstrued perception of global warming/greenhouse effect methodology is, well, misconstrued. Short vs Long-term carbon cycles and net carbon load is the issue here.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 11:35, closed)

Methane's a damn' sight better at absorbing light and radiating it as heat than CO2
Despite its relatively short residency time, it's constantly being replaced and on decomposition, provides 1 mole of CO2 per mole of CH4. It's a big enough problem that CSIRO are spending a lot here on innoculating cows with the bacteria found in kangaroo's stomachs which provide the same fermentation without the methane.
While it's short-term, it's a huge loading.
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Wed 22 Jun 2011, 12:32, closed)

you miss the most important point
which is that beef is fucking great. I'd rather the planet died then go without loads of beef.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 16:16, closed)

There are lots of complications.
Yes, yes methane is better at absorbing light and radiating heat. But it decomposes. To CO2. Which was absorbed by the plant in the first place to give you the food to feed the cow which the cow then belched to make methane to turn to CO2 to be absorbed etc...

The carbon balances. Except the carbon that, of course, doesn't escape from the system and so reduces the concentration. A long term plan of cow breeding and eating over an infinite length of time can only, at worst, keep the amount of "carbon" in the whole system at a constant level so no matter what spurious models and statistics people produce, won't change anything.

Tell me something. If you don't feed the grass/pellets/whatever to cows, where do you think the carbon goes when the grass dies and decomposes?

Oh, and the CSIRO will be spending shit loads on that because science funding is driven by governments not scientists, governments are almost universally retards, and we scientific researchers like to keep our jobs. So, when the choice is "do you want some money to stop cows belching, or ... no money?" then it's "Come here skippy, we need to fiddle with your shit" ... it's cake or death.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:01, closed)

That does slightly paper over the fact that the bulk of beef in the west is raised in massive feed lots
which consume vast quantities of grain which itself requires the extraction of vast quantities of fossil fuels. So cows can't directly increase the carbon from their bottoms, but the beef industry can certainly contribute greatly towards the increase of carbon from squashed dinosaurs.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:10, closed)

totally
but that's true of the whole mass produced food industry in general. If we grow our own veg and rear our own animals then cool, but then we can't live in massively urban conurbations and be tragically cool city dwellers and have stupid facial hair and Starbucks and wifi and that. Sad times, Shambles.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:16, closed)

it also doesn't explain how fucking up cows with kangaroo stomach bacteria
can possibly help in the slighest, really.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:18, closed)

WOOLLY JUMPERS
Wait ... hang on ... wrong ungulate.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 18:27, closed)

"rear our own animals"?
Pervert.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 20:20, closed)

by the way, don't think that I'm making light of global warming
about a quarter of my research group and probably about the same amount of my funding is directed towards CO2 mitigation and biofuels

But the cow/general "vegetarianism is better for global warming" argument is so much horseshit perpetuated by either fools or people with a wider agenda.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:04, closed)

So is horseshit better or worse than bullshit for global warming?
And which one does Alarmist Trillionaire Al Gore use to fuel his fleet of massive multi-storey jet planes?
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:07, closed)

They run on oil extracted from african babies
trans-esterified using only unicorn tears.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:19, closed)

Fuck off Hess

( Light In Chains maker of the ikea sofa, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 12:33, closed)

Well, speak of the devil!

(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 12:38, closed)

goebbels to you, son.

( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Wed 22 Jun 2011, 17:02, closed)