What's an image of Gandhi doing here? Keeping reading... Photo: Ibrahim Areef via flickr.
from TreeHugger.com
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY
In what surely would be a hugely controversial move if had happened in the United States, the Australia's Anglican Church has come out saying that the nation should have fewer children and the government should scrap financial breaks for having bigger families on environmental grounds. They also recommend curbing immigration to reduce environmental pressure. The Church says that current rates of population growth in Australia are unsustainable and are out of step with the eight commandment (thou shall not steal).
''Out of care for the whole of creation, particularly the poorest of humanity and the life forms who cannot speak for themselves ... it is not responsible to stand by and remain silent,''
a discussion paper by the [Anglican Church] commission warns.
''Unless we take account of the needs of future life on Earth, there is a case that we break the eighth commandment - 'Thou shall not steal'.''the paper says. ( The Age)
''In the context of unsustainable global population growth it is inconsistent and arguably irresponsible to provide financial incentives for population increase,''
Taking More Than Your Need Is Stealing
Read the original article (linked above) for the details of Australian government policy. That's not so much the interesting part to me so I won't go into it, but the fact that the Anglican Church of Australia links population growth and resource consumption to stealing is a really important point of eco-philosophy--and one I'm a bit surprised (in a good way) was made.
There's an interesting coincidence of Gandhian philosophy going on: Paraphrasing, think 'there's enough on Earth for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed'...read more story here
