Of course it is selfish, for the majority of the population it is extremely selfish. However, it is something that we are basically programed to do. It is just too frikin hard to fight biology unless you wanna go tell your parents off for having you too... don't know bout you but I am just to chronicly lazy for that LOL!

As humans we do owe our planet our life just as any other creature and thus should take care of it as best we can by living in harmony with nature where ever possible. However, we also have this horrid thing called emotional consciousness which plays these philosophical tricks on our brains and causes us to question our own existence and purpose. Regardless if you believe in a divine plan for us, or are more scientific in your approach to these questions, there is no escape of the underlying "primal" urges. These include those reproductive urges and basically anything that will result in the continuation and strengthening of the species.

All creatures on this planet fight an uphill battle of survival including us. Ponder this, perhaps our emotional conciousness will one day surpass the primal parts of the brain (through evolution or otherwise) as a method of rectifying the situation. I believe that the human species is on the verge of this realisation, thus your's and many others questions regarding these matters; and that the problems you have stated will diminish with time and education. It is that hope of the better world that allows me to embrace my conciousness accept these questions and do all i can to solve them whislt still being a good parent, (ie. accpting the urges) take a look at your question from a different perspective and you will see what i am rambling about. cheers from becca!

We are designed to have children, sometimes we even have them without planning them.  Doing what we were designed to do is not selfish

"A baby is a blank cheque, made payable to the human race"

If we don't have hope, what do we have left?

Of course having children is a selfish act.  But, without having children, there is no future for our world.  All we can do is raise our children with the values that are positive and will contribute to improve our world.

I know there are days when I wish I'd never had  children, because I feel as though I'm failing them, but I know that they are our future and that I am contributing positively to society.  I just hope my girls all turn out ok.

I have to say that if everyone stops having children, the human race will die out and the only creatures left on the planet will be wildlife. And while there are some very intelligent animal species out there, we are the only species that ponders our existence. We are the only species that seeks meaning in life. Therefore, without us, while the planet may eventually be a cleaner place, it will lack meaning. Certainly we can have too many children and fail to teach them to care for the planet carefully and that would be selfish. But I don't think the act of having children is in itself selfish.

Honestly... What a stupid question! do you have any children? If you do why? If you think it is selfish to have kids stop and think what the world would be like.... um... thats right their wouldnt be one would their. I think Samantha said it all very well said samantha! I couldnt agree more with her.  Sorry if I seem to sound rude but I am honest and I will give my opinion, this is a question where their would be alot of agree and disagree, children are the most preciouse beautiful things that a person could have, and also a wonderful gift experencing child birth, I also think with technology these days is getting pretty advanced so who know in 20 years time their might be a cure for aids, cancer and perhaps peace you just never know.

I could not imagine my life without my 4 beautiful kids that I adore so much they make me laugh and they are so bright, clever,and they come out with the most unexpected things!!!

Take care xxx

nice try 'considering' - you can not honestly use this as an excuse for not having children. it is actually the most unselfish act you can do, as you then have to care for this child selflessly for quite a while.

the reason the planet is in trouble is due to greed, and stupidity, not the sort you are talking bout (haveing children is not greedy, as a matter of a fact its the opposite, and if you were an intelligent person you would not have asked such a question). the ones that are makeing all the billions of dollars buying and makeing all the polution when we could all have renuable sources of energy, are the ones to blame. dosn't matter how many children you have the ones that are useing the most power and makeing the most polution are the ones jetting round and makeing more power plants and makeing more cars. if we all stopped driveing round all the time, jetting round all the time, if we all put solar panels on our homes, if we all had rain water tanks attached to our homes and so on there would not be a problem, but because of greed there is a big problem. we all need to do our bit but i am afraid that may not be enough. there are still so many people in denial over the whole thing.

No I don't think it is a selfish act. Who knows what our children will be or grow up to do. My son could be the one who can find a cure for HIV that really works. Someone could have a child that will unite the world in peace.

If nobody had any more children, and we all died, what good would the planet be then? There have been many instances through the years of diseases that have spread and killed thousands. But did we stop producing...no someone was born who found a cure for a disease.

It is only in teaching our children what is happening and hopefully get them thinking about ways to change, as has been done for centuries, that we are helping the planet.

So in all no I don't think we are selfish.

I think this is a very interesting question but of course one that will never have a right or wrong answer. I guess in a way, yes we are being selfish having kids when the planet is in such bad shape. How bad will things be in another 50, 100 years? We will be gone but what about our kids and their kids? On another side tho, what if we didnt have kids..the planet would continue to get even worse. We continue to wreck it as we age but there would be no younger generation to think of new ideas to clean up our mess. Having kids full stop could be looked upon as being selfish...did this child ask to be born? We chose for it to happen really...just another way to look at it..Good question tho..certainly one to ponder!!

I don't think so.  If we don't raise children responsibly then maybe yes, but I hope that my children will be some that take the situation seriously and can do something about it one day.

The way the world is now,if we teach our children the way we can hekp the world the world would be a much better place to be in. they can learn from our mistakes  and make it a better planet.

but it all falls on what we teach our children and they say that children learn from us so in retrospect it makes us better aswell  because we want to set a good example for our kids we are doing less damage to earth and so its safe to say we are molding our children in to people that respect and know how to look after the earth.

love stace

I feel that the next generation will learn from and do a better job than the last, our children are our gift to the earth...

very interesting point.

yes, i think we are selfish, but i also recognise that  in every person is the need to procreate, its one of our basic instincts that from day dot were instilled upon every human at the time of their creation.

therefore, i dont think we really realise just how much damage we are doing with our selfish wants and desires, its more a subconcious selfishness than anything.

"...Now you must have many children and repopulate the earth.  Yes, multiply and fill the Earth." - Genesis 9:7

Of course this was written to Noah after the flood has destroyed the entire population of the Earth except for Noah and his family.  However God wants humans to have children so that he may be glorified.  To deliberately choose not to...THAT would be selfish!