Earth Day is April 22. I took part in the FIRST Earth Day in 1970 and brought home some literature and at least a couple of buttons I can remember. One button showed a balance on an upside-down V, and the other said "Stop at 2." My son David was interested, so I showed him that the balance had a stick person on one side and a tree on the other, meaning we should balance our human needs with the needs of the planet. The "Stop at 2" button was about population growth and the overpopulation of some parts of the earth. If two parents have only two children, they would not make population growth any worse. After giving it some thought, David said he agreed with the idea. I said, "David, think about it." Suddenly his 6-year-old eyes widened as he realized the personal implications for himself, the third child. Just for the record, I never wore that button.
3 comments:
That's funny!! I was at my Aunt's for Easter dinner yesterday. My cousin Derek was there with his 9 month old son. I asked him when he was planning on adding to the litter. He said one was enough. I told him I thought 2 was enough until I got pregnant with Ana. She is my angel....and I said it took me till 3 to get a good one!! Chad sat there for about 3 minutes....and finally said Mom, what did you mean by that?? I had to laugh...I didn't think he was paying attention to me. I meant one that ACTED good!!
Be careful, Stephanie, because Chad may remember your words forever. He's a bright kid who thinks deep thoughts, so please don't ever, ever say that in front of him again!
Reading your comment made me think of one more thing to add to my story about Earth Day 1970. David may be my third child, but he and his wife chose to "stop at two," one boy now 20 and one girl now 18. So did each of my girls, with one girl and one boy each. When one daughter remarried, she had one more girl because THIS young man had no children. So all of my children kept the population at zero growth for the following generation. Maybe I made a difference.
By the way, I was only pregnant twice. My daughters are identical twins. Does that exonerate me?
I still have my ZPG pin. My older son has twins and then one more. My son only has one so we are still on track. It was so important to me then and now. I loved Paul Erhlich.
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