Families of Two: the childfree a decade later

Staying on the theme from the last post that the greenest thing a person can do is to not have kids….ok I realize it’s not realistic to think that more people than not will decide to have no children, so what about the idea of couples only having one  child?  Author Bill McKibben takes this on with his book Maybe  One. 

McKibben writes if we averaged 1.5 children per woman,  not just about 2 which is what it is now, and we reduce immigration somewhat, in 2050 the U.S. population would be 230 million, which is what it was when Ronald Reagan was elected.  He argues that it would make a difference in reducing environmental damage if more people would stop at one child.

But it’s best for a child to have a sibling, right? McKibben says wrong. (more…)

In the fall of 2007, two 23 year olds, Emma Bernstein and Nona Willis Aronowitz set out on a road trip across the U.S. to ask 20 somethings what feminism means to them. They interviewed about 250 women in 25 cities, and their story is told in the new book, Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism. Reading about their story made me think of one of my feminist heroes, and wonder if they or those they interviewed knew about her: Estelle Griswold. She was a dogged, driving force behind overturning laws that banned the use of contraceptives.

In 1965, she was the Executive Director of Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut. She and Dr. C. Lee Buxton, a physician and professor at the Yale School of Medicine, decided to test the constitutionality of the Connecticut law banning contraception (in place since 1879), by …

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One thing I hear a lot from childfree singles and couples is the challenge of finding like minds to befriend and socialize with.  No Kidding!’s annual convention is one place to do just that.  No Kidding! is a non-profit social and activity group for childfree and childless singles and couples. It has over 40 chapters in 5 countries, and once a year they gather to have all sorts of fun.

This year it is April 22-25 in Houston, and on the morning of Saturday April 24th, I will be speaking at the conference.  Here is what else will be happening — the conference schedule includes:

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