laughingboy
pfm Member
Number of kids is not very meaningful without considering generational gap and lifestyle.Quick poll:
How many children do you have?
Generational Gap
Let's say I have 4 children. I had them all in my forties. My children also waited until they were 40 until they had kids. By the time I am 75, there are 4 more people on the planet.
If I had 2 kids by the age of twenty, and my kids also had two kids by the age of twenty, by the time I am 75, there are 14 more people on the planet.
(If my maths is right) when I'm 90, the figures are 40 and 30 respectively. When I'm 100, the figures are 40 and 64 respectively.
Number of kids is not very meaningful, without considering generational gap. And we must also consider lifestyle.
Lifestyle
If we are talking only about carbon footprint, and not other resource issues, just 15% of the UK population takes 70% of flights. Lifestyle is key. Just one London-New York return flight emits 986kg CO2 (Guardian). As the article says, there are 56 countries in the world where the average person's annual emissions do not exceed this.