Fair Start Movement

Author: Fair Start Movement

  • WaPo and the Population v. Consumption Debate: Three Questions to Move Forward on What Is Destroying Our Environment

    WaPo and the Population v. Consumption Debate: Three Questions to Move Forward on What Is Destroying Our Environment

    Kudos to Sarah Kaplan for covering the ongoing debate over whether population growth, or things like inequity, technology, and patterns of consumption, are to blame for the climate and other ecological crises.

    Is it wrong to blame overpopulation for the climate crisis? Perhaps it’s better to reframe the question: Is it wrong to blame overpopulation alone for the climate crisis?

    Of course.

    There are always multiple factors at play, from the growth that fundamentally creates demand to the inequity that’s driving overconsumption and the colonization of nature. The key to success is not to take any of the relevant factors out of our policy reforms, including the fundamental source of the Anthropocene: Treating the planet as a human resource in the design of our systems, from the economy to family planning. Doing so would replicate the mistakes that lead to the crisis. Instead let’s work together to give all kids a #fairstart in life.

    Here are three questions to help tie all of the relevant factors together, and move forward.

    Infographic showing ways to reduce carbon emissions: reducing fertility rates, doubling car fuel efficiency, increasing wind energy 50-fold, and tripling nuclear energy. Includes icons of a car, windmill, and nuclear symbol.

  • Alexandra Paul is Speaking Truth to the Power of Unsustainable Growth

    Alexandra Paul is Speaking Truth to the Power of Unsustainable Growth

    Kudos to Alexandra Paul for pushing back against the constant media messaging – often promoted by their advertisers – that falling fertility rates are a bad thing. Her recent letter, published in the LA Times, points out what should be obvious: Growth is not sustainable. She is speaking that truth to the powerful – media and corporate conglomerates – who would exploit future generations as cheap labor, and the Earth with them, to continue growth-fueled profits.

    The move towards better planned families is 1) the product of decades of intentional interventions to stave off disaster, 2) emblematic of the liberation of women, and 3) the most effective tool – on a scale of 20x the impact – we have to fight the climate crisis.

     

    Infographic showing ways to reduce carbon emissions: reducing fertility rates, doubling car fuel efficiency, increasing wind energy 50-fold, and tripling nuclear energy. Includes icons of a car, windmill, and nuclear symbol.

    But the fight is hardly over. Fair Start is one such approach to implement this.

     

  • Joyce Tischler: Protecting Animals Starts With A Better Population Policy

    Joyce Tischler: Protecting Animals Starts With A Better Population Policy

    Joyce Tischler is widely considered to be one of the founders of modern animal law and a leader in the field of animal protection. She is affectionately known to the many who admire and follow her as the “mother of animal law.” She has inspired generations of animal law attorneys.

    What few know about Joyce is that she is also mother to her wonderful daughter Margeve, and understands the crucial connection between family planning and protecting nonhumans. Nothing has a greater impact.

    Let’s learn more from Joyce, on a topic few are willing to even discuss, and please share the video and graphic beneath the video if you want people to know how to have the biggest impact on animals.

    We can do better. Take other actions here.

    Infographic showing humans impact on global warming, wildlife extinction, and habitat loss. Highlights overpopulation, animal farming, emissions, and advocates for smaller families and green energy as solutions. Hand-drawn charts and illustrations.
  • Six Best Places To Visit in Southern California With Kids During the Pandemic

    Six Best Places To Visit in Southern California With Kids During the Pandemic

    By Bea Krasner

    Sure, a once-in-a-century virus crash-landed onto Earth — but never fear! We’ve got a list of pandemic-friendly activities for kids in Southern California.

    San Diego Beaches

    San Diego is one of the most scenic places in southern California, and the area beaches are picturesque. So why not plan a sun-and-sand weekend in “America’s Finest City”? If you’re searching for things to do with kids in San Diego, Mission Bay Beach and the neighboring Playa Pacifica Park are great spots for families. Plus, it’s a bucket list item for anyone interested in Americana, as Mission Bay is the largest man-made park in the country. Moonlight Beach, with its gigantic playground, is also a good time.

    Want to wash the sand off your car before returning home? Hit up a drive-through car wash and pop on the Star Wars theme while going through. The kiddos will love it!

    Leo Carrillo State Park

    Going to the Leo Carrillo State Park in Santa Monica, which includes a beach, is a fun day out with the kids. Windsurfing, beachcombing, and fishing are all on tap. Plus, it has tide pools, sea caves, and reefs teeming with natural wonders.

    Malibu Canyon

    With its lurking paparazzo, Runyon Canyon is where celebrities, influencers, and aspiring fame-seekers head for a hike. But if you’re looking to explore with the wee ones, Malibu Canyon is the better choice. Part of Malibu Creek State Park, it’s got hikes for all levels and incredible views. Located about 25 miles from downtown Los Angeles, Malibu Canyon is part of the Agoura Hills in Calabasas.

    Fans of vintage television shows may recognize the area since it was used in many a M.A.S.H. episode.

    Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt

    Staying outside is preferable during the pandemic — so why not do a neighborhood scavenger hunt?

    Parents, we’re not going to sugarcoat it: this option will take a bit of prep on your end. But we think it’s worth it.

    Step One: Stake out a neighborhood. Make a note of both exciting and commonplace things around the town, like benches, statues, murals, and store names.

    Step Two: Make a scavenger hunt card. It can be a list or something resembling a bingo card. You can find examples here, here, and here.

    Step Three: Slap on some sunscreen, make sure the camera phone is charged, and head out the door with materials in hand! Don’t forget to bring pens, pencils, or markers to tick off found items.

    Step Four: Complete the hunt. As a bonus, take pictures of each found object and turn them into a craft or digital art project at home

    This DIY activity is a great way to expose children to people from different walks of life. It can also serve as a teaching tool that introduces children to the realities of systemic inequities and environmental challenges. It’s never too early to bring awareness to the alarming rates of inequality, particularly child inequality, to your young ones. We’ve compiled a fantastic list of child inequality facts that you can share with your kids. 

    Parents interested in solving institutional inequalities should check out the fair start family planning model and movement. 

    Drive-In Movies

    Maybe it’s the gigantic screens or the novelty of watching a film from the car, but for kids, there’s something magical about drive-in movie theaters — and Southern California has lots.

    Options include:

    • Mission Tiki Drive-In Theater — Montclair
    • Paramount Drive-In Theater — Paramount
    • Vineland Drive-In Theater — City of Industry
    • The Roadium — Torrance
    • We Drive-Ins — Santa Monica
    • West Wind Drive-In Theater — Santa Barbara
    • Rubidoux Drive-In — Inland Empire

    Long Beach Aquarium

    Some people call it Long Beach Aquarium, but its official name is Aquarium of the Pacific — and it’s a super Southern California spot to spend a pandemic day with the kids. They have a whopping 11,000 aquatic animals under their care!

    The aquarium is now fully open, but if you want to play it safe, stick to the outside, socially distanced exhibits.

    If you live closer to Monterey, that city’s aquarium is also a treat.

    Things may be a bit different for now, but they’re getting back to normal. In the meantime, play it safe and pick pandemic-friendly activities for a day out with the family.

    Disclaimer: Neither myself nor fairstartmovement.org received compensation for this guest article.

  • Is There A ‘Best’ Way To Parent?

    Is There A ‘Best’ Way To Parent?

    By Jennifer Dawson

    When it comes to the many choices parents must make when they decide to have a child, ‘parenting style’ is one of them. Because parents tend to adopt a blend of styles or strategies, it perhaps befits the topic to do as scientists at Kobe University did in a study, and talk about ‘methods’ instead of ‘styles’. In the study, scientists found that parents tend to use one or more of the following methods when raising children: supportive, strict, indulgent, easy going, harsh, and average (the latter involves having average levels for all other key factors). Although it is impossible to define one specific combination of these factors as ideal, factors certainly emerge that are either positive or detrimental to positive growth and happiness in children.

    Giving Children a Fair Start

    Before discussing parental styles, it is important to clarify that one’s chosen style very much depends on the model of family one chooses to adopt. Having Kids’ Fair Start model aims to help parents make wise choices so that their children can have all their needs met (both material and affective). By planning families better and waiting until they are ready to have children, parents can work on issues that are important to them and their future family – including education and career stability. These, in turn, set up better outcomes for children and increase their chances of a good future. Inequality is something that society as a whole should work to eliminate to give all children a fair start. Currently, around 14.8 million children in the U.S. do not have enough food to eat and around 41% of them live in or near poverty.

    Classic Parental Style Definitions

    In other research (for instance, one study published by the Society for Consumer Psychology), researchers divide parenting into four defined ‘styles’ – authoritative (parents tell children what to do but give reasons for this), warm (parents relate well with children while expecting them to act maturely and follow set rules at the same time as enjoying independence), neglecting (parents offer little guidance and monitoring of a child’s life and activities), and indulgent (parents give children adults’ privileges but do not set responsibilities). In this study, some clear results did emerge. Children who were taught to have responsibilities and follow rules made safer choices, interacted positively with the world around them, and chose healthier diets. The researchers stated, “We found a lot of evidence that demonstrated that it is okay to be restrictive with kids…It’s also important to explain to kids why the restrictions are important.”

    Close-up of an adult holding a child’s hand while crossing a rope bridge. The child, wearing a blue dress, reaches forward for support, and the background is blurred.

    An Example Of Rule Setting: Making Healthy Choices In Life

    Diet is one area which authoritative and warm parents tend to prioritize, as are areas like restrictive use of technology, and an emphasis on the importance of doing homework. This type of parent may take things further, teaching children how to avoid harmful products like BPA – a substance found in a plethora of modern products, including plastic food holders. BPA is known to disrupt the endocrine system and potentially cause or trigger asthma, infertility, early puberty, obesity, and even resistance to chemotherapy. Authoritative and supportive parents may avoid BPA-containing plastics, then, while being honest about the reasons why children have to take glass or BPA-free containers to school. The aim is to interest children in health and to explain why some choices need to be made, even if it means spending time researching healthier alternatives to commonly sourced products.

    Understanding Dos And Don’t In Terms Of Methods

    The Kobe study came to similar findings as the Society for Consumer Psychology research did. Children who had been reared with plenty of support and positive attention earned more money, enjoyed greater academic success, and were happy. Those who were reared very strictly had high levels of achievement but greater stress and lower happiness levels. Attention, interest, and a commitment to helping children understand why specific rules are set up are key. Perhaps, then, the idea isn’t to choose one parenting style, but rather, to give children time, attention and responsibilities, while also explaining reasons for rules and giving children the independence they need to grow into their own person.

    It is difficult (and most probably unfruitful) to strictly define one parenting style that results in success, happiness, health and wellbeing for children. However, studies do show that investing quality time, care and attention in children does make for happier, well adjusted adults in the future. Neglect and strictness with no rhyme or reason do a child little good, and indeed this can be easy to understand for any adult who has ever worked for authoritarian management that left little room for ideas, innovation and independence. In the end, children are not that different from adults after all.

    *Neither the author nor Having Kids received compensation for this piece.

  • A Short History of How We Ruined Our Planet and Became Vastly Unequal, and Who to Target for the Fix

    A Short History of How We Ruined Our Planet and Became Vastly Unequal, and Who to Target for the Fix

    In the 20th Century world population growth exploded. That growth is continuing, and fundamentally driving massive inequity of wealth and power between the rich and poor as the conditions of our birth hang upon us throughout our lives.

    We are getting more crowded and more divided in an environment that is less hospitable to our species. And yet, family planning reforms can have twenty times the long-term climate impact over other measures, and ten or more times impact on inequity. Why do we rarely discuss them? Below we will examine who benefits from that silence, and how to take them down.

    Line graph showing global population (in billions) and CO2 (relative) from 1800 to 2050. Both lines rise slowly at first, then sharply increase around 1950, with population slightly above CO2 in recent decades.

     

    A line graph compares median family wealth by age for White and Black Americans born 1943–51. White wealth is consistently much higher, peaking at 7,500 in their 60s, while Black wealth peaks at ,800.

    As the growth explosion began to unfold world leaders scrambled for solutions to the catastrophic social and ecological problems the growth was causing. At the time, in the wake of World War II, human rights had emerged as a fundamental framework for universal policy making and world leaders used it to intervene. While the interventions did set a pathway to reverse the growth, world leaders (mostly men operating under a paradigm of religiosity and ongoing colonization) intentionally misinterpreted the fundamental right to have children in an isolationist way, ignoring the collective obligations around family planning policies and in a way that ensured a certain level of growth. All of this was based on a patriarchal and parent-focused right to have children that ignored the interests of future generations, communities, and the nonhuman world. They intentionally treated family planning as if people lived in caves, isolated from one another.

    That move accomplished several things.

    • First, it ensured continued male control of the family by establishing familial autonomy from justice systems, despite massive power differentials between men and women.
    • Second, it enabled continued population growth, which by creating an ongoing supply of consumers, cheap future labor, and lots of taxpayers, increased economic growth and ensured greater wealth and power for those at the top of the population pyramid. It’s crucial to keep in mind that this was not just about growth in numbers of people, but the model enabled massive inequity, evaded minimum provisions for children, and treated nature as a human resource. The system of exploitation that created the population and wealth pyramid one Nobel Laureate recently noted actually involved four aspects of injustice that, in effect, replaced democracy with marketplaces. And all aspects were hidden behind the veil of familial privacy and autonomy. The things that fundamentally degraded the opportunity for self-rule and equity – family planning and early childhood development – were treated as nobody’s business. This process intentionally replaced citizens who might have voices in their governance with consumers whose choices were limited to markets.
    An infographic compares two options: on the left, gray figures under “People without real say over their government,” and on the right, colorful families with “Smaller & better democracies.” Text promotes smaller families for fairer representation.

    That growth, and our division into cycles of rich and poor families, ensured the ecological and social crises we face today.

    Facts: Those that designed the the isolationist family planning model took risks with relatively unknown factors, like climate emissions, and enabled growth that multiplied – exponentially – their impact. The risks and the harms that resulted and will result would have been avoided through alternative modeling that actually complied with human rights, like Fair Start zero baseline modeling. The modeling moves the world from organizing societies based on coercion, or even self-interest and incentives, towards self-actualization, and maximizing freedom by aligning values in a way that can make us truly self-determining. Look back at theories of social organization, like those based on self-interest, and you will find the proponents hiding the role our creation plays in the process.

    Infographic titled Better Family Planning, Simply Put with icons and three points: Delaying parenthood, smaller families, and community support, each explained with brief text and blue graphics.

    The people responsible for the continued population explosion in the 20th Century fundamentally created conditions that lead to, and will lead to, massive suffering and death, especially when we consider ongoing intergenerational impacts like the climate crisis. Their followers are continuing to promote growth as a means of enriching themselves, despite impacts on children, animals, and the environment. Now the world stands at a crossroads between continued growth, or a move towards an optimal world population.

    Line graph showing world population (billions) from 1950 to 2100. It displays observed values, median projection, 80% and 95% prediction intervals, and scenarios for ±0.5 child, with population rising then diverging in future projections.

    The solution at this crossroads must be to embrace the family planning and reproductive justice systems that are actually compliant with human rights requirements. That means shifting from our current systems focused on what parents want subjectively, to a system focused on what all children need objectively: An eco-social Fair Start in life. Doing that puts justice over power at the fundament of life. That start is the first human right, and the first necessary condition of freedom, or of not being subjected to others power (including subtle things like bad parenting and climate crises) against one’s will.

    At this crossroads there is a division between free people and pre-constitutionally minded people, or precons (whom we can identify through particular modes of discourse), who refuse to prioritize as the first human right every child’s right to an eco-social Fair Start in life. That start, by limiting and decentralizing human power, has the greatest impact on the most numerous and most vulnerable entities – future generations and nonhumans, and is the most effective solution to the crises we face today with ten to twenty times the impact of downstream measures.

    Understand who precons are – they are blocking a state of affairs where the majority of moral entities can relatively self-determine. They are the fundamental threat to freedom.

    A circular infographic titled “Fertility Delay Incentives to Planning” shows a leaf in the center with four benefits: Delayed Parenthood, Better Family Planning, Guaranteed Minimum Income, and Equal Opportunity & Education for all kids.

    Help us at Having Kids identify and hold accountable those who benefitted the most to pay for what has happened, and those alive today making the situation worse. We have a right to redistribute power by taking their resources to fund Fair Start reforms and there is no greater act of justice that would liberate me, or more vulnerable, entities.

    TAKE ACTION:

    Take a first step action: Urge the United Nations to change course, and adopt Fair Start family planning as the universal standard for reproductive justice. Joe Biden and Congress should do the same and promote Fair Star Bonds as the most effective solution to the interconnected ecosocial crises we face.

    Take a next step action: The children of those most responsible for the climate crisis owe us all – in the form of Fair Start public funding – the wealth their parents took from future generations. Not only did they exploit birth inequity, but they used unsustainable population growth to create their own demand without accounting for the ecosocial costs. Find and legally and politely urge these people to pay what they owe, then share your stories with us so we can publicize them.

    Take a next step action: Engage any group or individual claiming to promote social justice to answer three questions.

    Infographic explaining the Having Kids Model: communities invest in children’s futures, parents plan smaller families, and all children benefit from increased resources and a supportive environment. Includes illustrations and text.

     

  • Earth Day 2021 Video: Be Effective. Support Fair Start.

    Earth Day 2021 Video: Be Effective. Support Fair Start.

    What’s the most effective way to protect the planet and fight the climate crisis? Fair Start reproductive justice policies, which have ten to twenty times the impact of less fundamental changes. We are only in this ecological mess because world leaders failed to make sure family planning policies worked.

    Smaller families working together to give every child a Fair Start in life = being effective.

    Learn more:

    TAKE ACTION: And take action to ensure Fair Start becomes the universal standard for family planning.

    Infographic showing ways to reduce carbon emissions: reducing fertility rates, doubling car fuel efficiency, increasing wind energy 50-fold, and tripling nuclear energy. Includes icons of a car, windmill, and nuclear symbol.
  • Biden Should Declare a Climate Emergency to Ensure the First Human Right

    Biden Should Declare a Climate Emergency to Ensure the First Human Right

    Members of Congress are urging President Biden to declare a climate emergency and use his presidential powers to take immediate action to address the crisis, which is quickly accelerating. Having Kids is urging Biden to do the same. Here’s why:

    The climate crisis fundamentally arose from our global prioritization of economies over human rights. Because of this, we have failed to guarantee that all children have an eco-social fair start in life. But the right to a fair start in an equitable and habitable environment is the first and overriding human right. Ensuring that right does the most good for the most vulnerable.

    Given that, President Biden has a constitutional obligation to protect the right to a fair start. Declaring a climate emergency is part of that obligation. It would also enable him to fulfill universal obligations to advance reproductive justice, promote a restorative environmental baseline pegged to things like a 300ppm climate emissions target, revise tax incentives to instead promote eco-centric, antiracist, and egalitarian family planning policies, and secure adequate funding for the approval, marketing and subsidization of the male pill.

    Fair Start is the genesis of social justice, and the beginning of actually constituting democracies through the limitation and decentralization of human power. It was and is wrong to put population-driven economic growth over that right, or over smaller and more functional democracies where each voice is influential.

    Biden acting to declare an emergency now, and to take immediate next steps for any or all the reasons given above, would start to right this wrong.

    We’re asking organizations to add their name to our letter. Sign on here.

    A comparison chart showing Fair Start family planning with a diverse family and city background on the left, and Economic growth-based family planning with a large monochrome crowd and cityscape on the right. Key points are listed under each type.
  • The New York Times Pushes Women to Have Kids. Take Action.

    The New York Times Pushes Women to Have Kids. Take Action.

    Every crisis we face, from the climate to Covid-19, is a function of family planning laws and policies that actually do nothing to ensure planning. They do nothing to give children minimum levels of welfare, or birth equity, and nothing to promote sustainable environments, or functional democracies where each voice matters. All of these problems, social and ecological, root in the people that comprise them.

    The reasonable reaction to this situation would be to reform these systems to address the problems, especially given the massive impact changes in family planning systems make on things like climate emissions. Any discussion of family planning is an opportunity to do so. So why is the New York Times publishing empty pieces that celebrate thoughtlessly having children and simply hoping for the best? The most recent piece does nothing to address whether a more collective model of planning could mitigate the crises, sets up a false dichotomy of anti/pro-natalism, and spends the rest of the piece dressing the former up as nihilistic and the latter as a glorious leap of faith that even Kant would endorse. The author manages to ignore that if we followed Kant, we would in fact find a universal norm for family planning that did not simply exacerbate the problems and injustice we see today but address them as a collective action problem, a norm like Fair Start.

    Infographic titled Better Family Planning, Simply Put with icons and three points: Delaying parenthood, smaller families, and community support, each explained with brief text and blue graphics.

    The New York Times can do better than push people to have kids with babies = hope messaging. It can address the problem one Nobel Laureate laid bare: Those in power like Times editor Dean Baquet sit atop a population pyramid, the growth of which they are incentivized to promote as a means of expanding their wealth and influence. Baquet and the Times benefit from the growth, but don’t pay its costs. The costs of that expansion, including the inequity that floats Baquet and his son Ari above the masses, are leveled on others, especially on future generations who will suffer in the climate crisis. Family planning is the first border of justice – address that issue, Dean and Ari, and let People Magazine publish thoughtless pieces on hopeful baby making as a solution to the crises causes by the same.

    Take Action: Urge @deanbaquet, or his son Ari, to explain how they intend to promote the reform family planning laws and policies to address the crises we see today, and account for the social and ecological benefits they enjoy, but others will not.