This thought-provoking treatise argues that current human fertility rates are fueling a public
health crisis that is at once local and global. Its analysis and data summarize the ecological
costs of having children presenting ethical dilemmas for prospective parents in an era of
competition for scarce resources huge disparities of wealth and poverty and unsustainable
practices putting irreparable stress on the planet. Questions of individual responsibility and
integrity as well as personal moral and procreative issues are examined carefully against
larger and more long-range concerns. The author's assertion that even modest efforts toward
reducing global fertility rates would help curb carbon emissions slow rising global
temperatures and forestall large-scale climate disaster is well reasoned and more than
plausible. Among the topics covered: · The multiplier effect: food water energy and climate.
· The role of population in mitigating climate change. · The carbon legacy of procreation. ·
Obligations to our possible children. · Rights what is right and the right to do wrong. · The
moral burden to have small families. Toward a Small Family Ethic sounds a clarion call for
bioethics students and working bioethicists. This brief thought-rich volume steers readers
toward challenges that need to be met and consequences that will need to be addressed if they
are not.
