Showing posts with label overpopulation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overpopulation. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Nonprofits & PayPal
* I call on anyone associated with a worthy nonprofit to encourage provision of the convenience that I now insist on.
* Between Christmas and New Year's Eve, I attempt to support almost 60 nonprofits, those working to preserve and enhance aspects of civilization that I care about. In earlier years, I could do it with checks in envelopes. Now, I need the convenience of email and PayPal. Many of my target nonprofits don't provide this convenience, so they don't get my contribution. Instead, they get the note below sent to their CONTACT addresses.
* My Donation-Policy Note:
* In my senility (cataracts, arthritis), I no longer write checks to nonprofits, and I don't use a credit card on line.
* I respond to emails from organizations devoted to family planning and population restraint, provided they don't solicit via regular mail and provided their email solicitations have PayPal buttons. With these same provisions, consideration is also given to organizations that support local culture, help the needy, extend justice or those to which I have an obligation.
* In summary, I use only PayPal to contribute.
* Please, send no solicitations lacking a PayPal button.
* Please, no post-office mailings.
* I try to support more than 50 nonprofits, so I don't have time for paper or for typing my data.
* This year I supported about 23 nonprofits. The following are those that I attempted to support and would have supported if they had the PayPal button: American Indian College Fund, CEDPA, Common Cause, Cumberland River Compact, Davidson College, Engender Health, Fisk University, Friends of Radnor Lake, Friends of UNFPA, Friends of Warner Parks, Girls Inc, Guide Dog Foundation, Heard Library, International Bluegrass Music Museum, Legal Momentum, NARAL, NOW, Nashville Humane Assoc, Nashville Public Television, Nashville Opera, Nashville Rescue Mission, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Zoo, National Women's Law Center, PCI-Media Impact, Pathfinder International, Peabody College, Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee, Population Action International, Population Connection, The Population Council, The Population Institute, Room in the Inn, Second Harvest Food Bank, The Seeing Eye, Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, United Way, Vanderbilt University, W.O. Smith Music School
Friday, January 12, 2007
Reproductive Ethics
* There are several measures that the US should and could take to encourage family planning in overpopulated countries. Our current policies are stupid.
* Fifty years ago, as a naive college student, I wrote an essay examining the ethics of reproductive choices. I was aware that a biological species, having all of its needs well satisfied, will expand exponentially - the needs including water, minerals, essential building blocks (containing carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, etc), energy source, waste separation, space to occupy, access to tolerable temperature, dearth of predators and germs. This prosperous circumstance, in which sentient beings are happy, is rarely found among species living in their historic habitats, for they have already expanded to the point where poor satisfaction of at least one need limits longevity and reproduction. Thus, pain and misery are common among wild sentient species, in the form of thirst, hunger, weakness, crowding, infectious disease, parasites, and fear and injury from competitors and predators.
* My thesis was that, given the contraceptive technologies of our time, human populations suffering resource deprivation can reduce their numbers peacefully, and human populations with all needs well satisfied can avoid expansion to the point of resource limitation and resulting misery, such as war, civil disorder, famine and pestilence. I predicted that political and religious leaders worldwide would soon espouse small families and that contraception would eventually be seen as mankind's most valuable technology. Had they done so over the last half century, today's local conflicts, wars, starving millions, population dislocations and migrations, environmental degradations and resource depletions could have been avoided.
* My generation has witnessed unspeakable atrocities, but none of them worse than the atrocity that we are visiting on future generations for lack of will to address overpopulation and its consequences. It is my generation's biggest ethical failure, bigger than our mindless waste and unjust wars. I recently read Lester R Brown's book, "Plan B 2.0", which documents the degradation of the natural support systems upon which populations depend as well as numerous policies and technologies that could restore those systems to support our 6 billion people comfortably, even an anticipated 9 billion. But that relief will be temporary without restraint of population expansion.
* With this agenda in mind, I tell people that world peace will be possible only when all religions and nations embrace gender equality, as that might provide the needed restraint. It would help if we could all learn to distrust and examine our tribal and chauvinistic instincts, but that's too much to hope for.
* Fifty years ago, as a naive college student, I wrote an essay examining the ethics of reproductive choices. I was aware that a biological species, having all of its needs well satisfied, will expand exponentially - the needs including water, minerals, essential building blocks (containing carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, etc), energy source, waste separation, space to occupy, access to tolerable temperature, dearth of predators and germs. This prosperous circumstance, in which sentient beings are happy, is rarely found among species living in their historic habitats, for they have already expanded to the point where poor satisfaction of at least one need limits longevity and reproduction. Thus, pain and misery are common among wild sentient species, in the form of thirst, hunger, weakness, crowding, infectious disease, parasites, and fear and injury from competitors and predators.
* My thesis was that, given the contraceptive technologies of our time, human populations suffering resource deprivation can reduce their numbers peacefully, and human populations with all needs well satisfied can avoid expansion to the point of resource limitation and resulting misery, such as war, civil disorder, famine and pestilence. I predicted that political and religious leaders worldwide would soon espouse small families and that contraception would eventually be seen as mankind's most valuable technology. Had they done so over the last half century, today's local conflicts, wars, starving millions, population dislocations and migrations, environmental degradations and resource depletions could have been avoided.
* My generation has witnessed unspeakable atrocities, but none of them worse than the atrocity that we are visiting on future generations for lack of will to address overpopulation and its consequences. It is my generation's biggest ethical failure, bigger than our mindless waste and unjust wars. I recently read Lester R Brown's book, "Plan B 2.0", which documents the degradation of the natural support systems upon which populations depend as well as numerous policies and technologies that could restore those systems to support our 6 billion people comfortably, even an anticipated 9 billion. But that relief will be temporary without restraint of population expansion.
* With this agenda in mind, I tell people that world peace will be possible only when all religions and nations embrace gender equality, as that might provide the needed restraint. It would help if we could all learn to distrust and examine our tribal and chauvinistic instincts, but that's too much to hope for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)