The Mushroom Replied: Each Person Should Parent Just 1 Child

I was listening to Terrence McKenna​, and he was saying that he asked the Mushroom what could be done to save the Earth. This was not a question McKenna had for himself, but from a more "earth biscuity" woman who had ask him to ask this. The Mushroom's response was astounding:

Each parent should have only one child.

The implications of this are astounding.

"If you will parent one child, you will have increased leisure time, you will have greater earning power, more expendable income..."

And perhaps an incentive to do this could be tax cuts and college discounts and so forth and so on.

This encouraged me in my decision to have no children.

Facts

• Rich Nations, Poor Nations
• 20% of the people in developed nations consume 86% of the world’s goods.
• 12% of the world's population uses 85 percent of its water.
• Globally, 20% of the world's people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures - the poorest 20% account for a minuscule 1.3%. Specifically, the richest fifth (1/5):
  • Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth consume 5%.
  • Use 58% of the total energy, the poorest fifth use less than 4%.
  • Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth have 1.5%.
  • Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth use 1.1%.
  • Own 87% of the world's vehicle fleet, while the poorest fifth own less than 1%.
• An analysis of past trends shows that the gap between the richest and poorest countries are increasing:
  • In 1820, it was 5 to 1.
  • In 1913, it was 11 to 1.
  • In the 1950s, it was 35 to 1.
  • In 1973, it was 44 to 1.
  • In 1992, it was 72 to 1.
• The cost of providing basic health care and nutrition for all people in the world would be less than the annual cost of pet food in Europe and the United States.

• Poverty, Hunger
• Over 840 million people in the world are malnourished—799 million of them are from the developing world. Sadly, more than 153 million of them are under the age of 5 (half the entire US population).
• Every day, 34,000 children under five die of hunger or other hunger-related diseases. This results in 6 million deaths a year.
• Of 6.2 billion living today, 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day. Nearly 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day.
• 1.2 billion people lack access to clean water; 2.4 billion live without decent sanitation; and 4 billion without wastewater disposal.
• 12 million people die each year from lack of water, including 3 million children from waterborne disease. More than 113 million children in the developing world are without access to basic education; 60 percent of them are girls.

Resources

UN Food and Agriculture Association -
     State of Food Insecurity 2003