Op-Ed: Woman Sterilizes Herself to Save the Planet

A woman in England had an abortion 10 years ago and has since had herself sterilized in order to prevent any more pregnancies and reduce her carbon footprint. She says that having children is egotistical, selfish and harmful to the planet.

Toni Vernelli is a self proclaimed Eco-warrior who is firmly committed to doing all she can to save the planet. She became an environmentalist at an early age and has been involved with environmental groups for many years. She sees children not as a precious gift from God (or wherever you think they come from) but rather as a pariah to be prevented at all costs. She could not in good conscience, bring another consumer into the world, to place additional strain on the earth’s food supply, use more fossil fuel and generally increase the size of her carbon footprint (Oh the horror!). She is to be commended because...Hey...Everyone knows that if there were fewer of us evil humans, this fragile planet would be so much better off...No really. One question comes to mind though. What if the child that she does have due to abortion or sterilization, is the one that would have grown up to invent the revolutionary technology that leads to a carbon free, earth friendly, alternative energy source, thereby saving the planet? Obviously, we should all do our best to be good stewards of the planet. We should make every effort to keep the air and water clean and we should avoid wasting energy but it seems a little extreme to label human beings the number one enemy of the planet.