Just ask the Italians.

Aren't they the European country with the smallest birthrate (less than 2)? I know Germany's birthrate is quite small also. But it has more to do with income level, women's education and opportunity in the workplace, and widely available low-cost contraception.

Give women (and men) access to a good job, a comfortable income, and easy contraception, and people will take care of this on their own.

I have the ultimate in commute-free jobs--I work at home, and commute upstairs in my socks. Gotta work hard not to trip over the dog who likes to snooze on the landing.

However, I occasionally need to go downtown in the middle of the day to see a client. I'd love to take public transit, except for two factors.

First, all the park and ride lots in the burbs fill up by 8:00 a.m. at the latest, so that option is out.

Second, the suburban midday buses run so infrequently that they're nearly useless. I could literally waste half a day waiting for buses when I could be working.

So instead I'm stuck with my car in the downtown core in the middle of the workday, hunting for an overpriced parking place in a lot or a building.

In most cities I know of, public transit is great if you work in the urban core, you live out some distance from it, and you work traditional 8-5 hours. Anyone else is pretty much on their own or wasting hours waiting for buses.

Just curious, do you have kids?

It depends on the situation, and the kid. I have one kid with more energy than a pack of squirrels, who learned to climb out of the stroller at the age of 2. I have another kid who is the slowest moving child on the planet. Have you ever tried shopping with two kids, one who runs amok and the other who won't move? I had a four year old in a stroller, just to get through the grocery store in less than an hour, and keep up with her brother. My daughter isn't spoiled. She's just damn slow and it's a hell of a lot easier to put her in a stroller than to try to make her move. Unless, of course, you'd like to accompany me to the store, and YOU can drag her around.

Please don't assume. Until you know a child's disposition and the parent's situation, you just don't know. That's all you can say. Assuming that a four year old in a stroller is some indication of American decadence is just silly.

I saw "older" children in strollers all over Europe, because a stroller there doubles as a shopping cart in a pedestrian-centered society. If a parent has to walk half a mile to shops, and haul a day's worth of groceries (plus one or two small children) back home again, a stroller is worth its weight in gold.

As always, you make me think.

I wonder when we'll get to the place where our environmental impact decisions will be based on importance, and not on price. OK, I'm a dreamer, but what if there was some way to deem "important" uses of a mineral or resource, vs. stupid ones? If that titanium dioxide was being used for sunscreen, or medical equipment, or some kind of socially important use, I might be able to justify in my mind some kind of environmental degradation to get it. Anything we do on this planet has a price, and to pretend otherwise is shortsighted.

But if we're destroying wildlife habitat and a beautiful place to have oreo cookie filling, magazine pages (which will be thrown out anyway), bathroom fixtures, an iPod, or a Happy Meal toy, is that really a price we should pay?

But then... who gets to decide what's an important use?

And no, human power, Earl isn't just talk. He's seen it working here in Portland, where something like 4% of commuters to the downtown core go by bike. It doesn't sound like much, until you come to downtown Portland during rush hour and watch the cyclists. There are a ton of them, and they are ordinary people (not Lance Armstrong), riding to or from work. Also, it rains a lot here, and people ride anyway.

Portland has done an amazing amount of infrastructure work--creating "bike boulevards," re-engineering traffic signals, creating advocacy groups, and generally making bicycling part of the city.

http://www.bta4bikes.org/

Unfortunately, the level of enlightenment about bikes is a bit slower moving out into the suburbs, but it's coming.

No, it's not perfect. It's not like Germany or The Netherlands. But it is pretty cool compared to most American cities. Blumenauer isn't just a dreamer.

I know I have trouble lifting my grade-school kids, who are 60 and 70 pounds. When I imagine doing that, many times per day, year after year on into my "Golden Years," I can understand the "Ashley Treatment."

The most common injury for nurses is back injuries from moving disabled patients in/out of bed, into baths, etc.

I've read the interviews, I've read the controversy. And while I don't have a disabled child, I think they did what was right for their family. If Ashley is small, they can take her out easily, get her in and out of the car, include her in family life. I think until one has walked a mile in the proverbial shoes, one can't comment.

I'm blessed that my children are healthy, can walk, and will some day grow up and move out. These parents will be caregivers until they die. I can't judge them.