64 Is Parenthood an Entitlement?

<p class="p1">Get married, buy a house, raise a family. For many of us, that’s the expected life trajectory. Are we entitled to meet that expectation? If many follow the typical trajectory, including having two or more children, then we drive human civilization right off a cliff.</p> <p class="p1">On an overpopulated planet, does society have an obligation to make parenthood possible, practical, convenient, and/or affordable to all? Public policy on the table in the U.S. today is designed to make it easier for couples to have children. Ethicist Philip Cafaro joins us to discuss the motivations behind these policies and the moral questions about whether people are “entitled” to have children on an overpopulated planet.</p> <p class="p1">In this episode, we hear some unenlightened statements about U.S. population from U.S. Senator Mitt Romney, including inviting listeners to conclude U.S. population is declining (it is not), and a healthy dose of depopulation panic.</p> <p class="p1">Cafaro is professor of philosophy at Colorado State University and an affiliated faculty member of CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability. He’s also written a couple of books about human overpopulation, and he is co-founder of The Overpopulation Project.</p> <p class="p1"><strong>MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:</strong></p> <p class="p1">The Overpopulation Project<br /> <span class="s1"><a href="https://overpopulation-project.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">https://overpopulation-project.com/</a></span></p> <p class="p1"><em>Just Population Policies for an Overpopulated World -</em> <span class="s2">by Philip Cafaro<br /></span><a href= "http://%C2%A0https//www.ecologicalcitizen.net/pdfs/epub-046.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span class="s3"> <span class= "s1">https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/pdfs/epub-046.pdf</span></span></a></p> <p class="p2"><span class="s2"><em>Climate Ethics and Population Policy</em> - by Philip Cafaro<br /> <a href= "https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264492830_Climate_ethics_and_pop