Child cap could be the answer

By Nick Obradovich

On Feb. 2, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that global warming is "unequivocal" and is "very likely" caused by human activity.

In the face of impending global climate chaos, many ask how we can start to slow down the heating of our planet. Options include lowering consumption, shifting to greener technologies, reducing our collective ecological footprint and slowing down our exponential population growth.

I present this modern, "modest proposal" to address this final necessity.

There are, to be frank, too many people on the planet. If we truly care about the environment, we must act on the overpopulation problem immediately.

There are many institutional ways to reduce our population, from draconian methods of mandatory sterilization, enforced abortion and compulsory infanticide, to more pleasant (but less effective) ways, such as education and the propagation of social norms to promote sustainable lifestyles. The draconian methods are a bit distasteful, while voluntary methods will be fruitless. So, I propose compromise.

The solution is to cap and trade reproductive rights. Cap-and-trade systems, at their most basic level, are purchasable and tradable rights to do a certain act. The well-known example of cap-and-trade is the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. If we already use cap-and-trade to manage the harmful impacts of pollutants, why not use it to regulate the decrease of another major factor in environmental destruction? The fewer polluting people we have, the better.

The system's structure would be straightforward: In tandem with a broad increase in the availability of contraception, government would cap the limit of offspring per citizen at one. If two people joined, they could have two children, maintaining zero population growth. A family of four is reasonable to keep the population stable, but one or even zero offspring would be better.

Why should you support such a policy? Besides the environmental benefits, the financial opportunities of cap-and-trade provide the necessary economic incentives. This is the real beauty of such a modest proposal.

So, if I choose to be an environmentally responsible, caring individual and have only one child, I am rewarded with nothing more than the satisfaction of doing the right thing. Yet, with the cap-and-trade system, I can have one child with my partner and sell off the extra childbearing license.

This way, families that want that one extra child can buy the permit to have her/him, and population growth will remain at zero.

One of the side effects of such a program is that because of a high demand for the permits, it would restrict large families to only those individuals that could afford to support them financially. Low-income families would not be able to afford additional permits and thus would be limited to the number of children that they could afford to support. It's not equitable, but it sure is efficient.

The government can enforce such a system by mandatory sterilization of those who violate the policies, but that seems too harsh. Instead, the government could impose taxes on those who decide to have unsustainable reproduction. The taxes, coupled with a removal of the Child Tax Credit and elimination of welfare increases for partners with more than two children, would provide the incentives necessary to promote environmentally friendly behavior.

Who really needs more than two kids anyway? Under this system, children will benefit from added attention and resources, and spouses will be vastly more satisfied and relaxed. This is a win-win proposal.

The biosphere wins by the reduced human demand for resources. Society wins by the efficient distribution of a sustainable amount of reproduction and increased tax revenues coupled with decreased governmental expenditures (welfare). And those altruistic individuals who limit their progeny are rewarded with economic benefits.

So for the environment, for our society and for your own net happiness, say it with me, "Cap-and-trade me, please!"

Nick Obradovich is a sophomore economics and environmental studies double major.