I wish I didn't have to cry with gratitude every time a publication actually mentions population growth, and that it might be a little problematic. This issue is the last big taboo of our times, it seems. Even outspoken, environmentally aware liberals seemingly won't talk about the big white elephant - or should that be baby? - in the room. And that makes them about as guilty as the megabreeding fundie wingnuts who apparently think we aren't wrecking the planet fast enough, since Gawd is just itchin' to give the Righteous Ones a new one to play with. Each offspring you teach to recycle is doing far more harm by their very presence on Earth for an entire lifetime than anything you can ever do to reduce your own footprint.

And for the doubters, let's put it this way: Brazil's rainforests are burning, which emits enormous amounts of carbon dioxoide, while also killing the trees that actually absorb this same gas, and doing enormous harm to this irreplaceable ecosystem. Why do they do this? Profit..and survival. Brazil has close to 200 million people, many desperately poor, who have large families and need to make a living. Why are their families so large? Hel-lo Mr. Pope. Who by the way took the time on his recent visit there to berate Brazilians and Latin America in general for using BC and abortion (which is mostly illegal there). Good thing old, white, possibly closeted gay guys can focus on the important stuff, eh.

Meanwhile, I myself am militantly childfree, and vehemently pro-abortion/sterilization/birth control and whetever else it takes to put an end to this madness.

That's exactly how I feel about (west) LA too...unfortunately, I have to go home to Oslo on Sunday. I so envy those who get to live here though. Sigh.

It annoys we that liberated female singers like Gwen Stefani will work with this creep, who has a slew of misogynistic statements on record - song lyrics not included - and who has indeed denied the state of affairs in the brutal diamond mining industry. I can't stand the guy, and I don't think Verizon whould have signed him in the first place. I smell greed and bad research on their part.

Can we curb the stereotypes here please? Yes, I for one am a liberal; I'd be a Democrat if I lived in the US; I'm childfree, adamantly pro-choice, and personally I don't like babies at all. That doesn't mean that I won't bring up this topic out of fear of having the right wing fundies jump me and my ilk, however. Over-population IS an issue that concerns everyone.

Of course the insane growth in third world countries is devastating - not least to the people who live there, and the women who must push out 8.7 kids each and have no say in it. So this must be addressed to a much, much larger degree than now (hear that, Shrub?). Education and empowerment of females are indeed key factors in accomplishing declining birth rates, yes. I hate the Vatican with a passion for the endless misery they have caused in poor countries where "Catholics for free choice" are unheard of.

But let's not forget that your average Westerner consumes something like the equivalent of 100 Ugandans *each*, and that having "big families" is supposedly in vogue both in the US and here in Scandinavia (where reproducing is funded and supported to a ridiculous extent). How anyone who has every means possible to prevent pregnancy can have 4-5 spawn and still live with themselves, is beyond me.

The by far biggest problem we face, and the root cause of most other problems...is overpopulation. And not just in the third world, no. Western megaconsumers desperately need to stop breeding and halt this ride straight into the bowels of hell that our planet is currently on.

The mainstream silence on this issue, and the constant glorification of babies and procreation, is morally corrupt and frankly quite sickening.

Personally, I cannot fathom why there is a market for egg donation in the first place: The kid won't be the incubator mother's bio child anyhow, so why not just adopt, which is morally superior in every way (if legal etc of course), AND saves you the horrors of childbirth and pregnancy? But I'm childfree and hugely concerned about overpopulation, and I take it that the LW here isn't. I'm not sure she knows exactly how massively unpleasant the harvesting process is though. Yikes.

IVF should be outlawed, if they can't stop freaklitters like this from being created. And the parents, as well as the doctors involved should be ashamed of themselves. Funny how disdain of modern medicine almost never extends to IVF among religious zealots, by the way. I hope they don't get the sea of donations I bet they are expecting.

In a world bursting at the seams and drowning rapidly from overpopulation and overconsumption, rich countries should be paying people to NOT breed, if anything. How narcissistic and short-sighted is it possible to get? In many countries, the birthrate is still astronomical, i.e. 7-8 spawn per woman. A lot of those people are going to head somewhere else for work and a better life...mainly to the countries who think their population stagnation is a problem. Just look at the number of Africans drowning on their way to the Canary islands every week.

Saving social security is rather pointless if you country is flooded from a melted Arctic, people.

As long as gyno exams are as undignified and humiliating as they are today, I'll still refuse to have one. Pap smears be damned. Oh, and I adore George Clooney, but that just ain't enough...