“Green” Reproduction, Resource Conservation, and Ecological Responsibility
In: Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and EcologySearch for other papers by Cristina Richie in
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This paper will draw on Catholic resources to examine the impact of population and consumption vis-à-vis reproduction in the developed world as it relates to theological/ moral obligations to the earth. By examining both natural and artificial means of procreation, an assessment of “green” reproduction can be made. I will explore contraception as an option for limiting natural procreation, and the avoidance of assisted reproductive technologies [ARTs] as a way of preventive artificial reproduction. However, both family size and carbon footprint must be scrutinized for ecologically sound consumer practices in accordance with biblical principles to ensure the global magnitude of the ecological crisis is examined; therefore the role of consumption that stems from procreation will also be discussed. The paper will conclude by envisioning alternative parenting options as they relate to ecological practices, and I will assert that all things considered, on the continuum of ecologically oriented reproductive choices, non-biological parenting and thereby a reduction in procreation and consumerist practices is the most ethical and ecological solution to the environmental crisis that surely escalates with each birth.
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Also in the Protestant tradition (Barth 1961: 240–249). “Barth argues from a survey of biblical parenthood that the meaning of lineage does not come from biological kinship. Rather God commands human parenthood as a symbol of God’s fatherhood over human beings. This means concretely that while biological parenthood has weight and honor, the meaning of parenthood can be fulfilled outside of it” (McKenny 1997: 248–249). We are therefore not morally obligated to procreate, even within marriage. This echoes Augustine “Would that all men had this wish [to restrain themselves from all intercourse]” and thereby procreation (Augustine 1997: 9, section 9). For Augustine Christians are no longer under the mandate of Genesis to procreation, as the end of time is near. Augustine is likely taking 1Corinthians 7:7 as an authority.
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“Green” Reproduction, Resource Conservation, and Ecological Responsibility
In: Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and EcologySearch for other papers by Cristina Richie in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
This paper will draw on Catholic resources to examine the impact of population and consumption vis-à-vis reproduction in the developed world as it relates to theological/ moral obligations to the earth. By examining both natural and artificial means of procreation, an assessment of “green” reproduction can be made. I will explore contraception as an option for limiting natural procreation, and the avoidance of assisted reproductive technologies [ARTs] as a way of preventive artificial reproduction. However, both family size and carbon footprint must be scrutinized for ecologically sound consumer practices in accordance with biblical principles to ensure the global magnitude of the ecological crisis is examined; therefore the role of consumption that stems from procreation will also be discussed. The paper will conclude by envisioning alternative parenting options as they relate to ecological practices, and I will assert that all things considered, on the continuum of ecologically oriented reproductive choices, non-biological parenting and thereby a reduction in procreation and consumerist practices is the most ethical and ecological solution to the environmental crisis that surely escalates with each birth.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 371 | 59 | 1 |
| Full Text Views | 257 | 7 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 111 | 14 | 0 |