How Big Is Your Eco-Footprint

[mistermack]

On reproduction and population.

If I was a mass murderer, would that give me a better score?

Well of course it would. On my measure anyway. The question is about the environment, not about morals.

There's no need for mass murder, if people kept family sizes down. But it helps.

Say there were two identical twins. One had 12 kids, the other had none.
After they die, the childless one stops having any effect on the environment. The one with all the kids is still using and polluting, from beyond the grave.
There's a world of difference between the two.

[Hermit]

I wish mm's parents had been more environmentally responsible.

Pol Pot and Hitler are my heroes - on environmental grounds, of course.

[JimC]

I wish mm's parents had been more environmentally responsible.

Pol Pot and Hitler are my heroes - on environmental grounds, of course.

In this instance (mass murder aside) I think mm is perfectly correct. Number of children is a perfectly reasonable component of one's effect on the planet.

[laklak]

The problem with mass murder is the bodies. Can't use the ovens, all that fossil fuel, you see. Can't eat that much long bacon in a lifetime. After a week even the pretty ones aren't fit for a shag. What to do? Inquiring minds.

[Hermit]

Well, there are always those pet food factories. And what about Soylent Green?

[mistermack]

The problem with mass murder is the bodies. Can't use the ovens, all that fossil fuel, you see. Can't eat that much long bacon in a lifetime. After a week even the pretty ones aren't fit for a shag. What to do? Inquiring minds.

Leave them out in the open. The flies will recycle them quite quickly, and return nearly everything to nature.
I suppose there is a chance that people might notice though.