Bill McKibben Maybe One ISBN 13: 9781862300040

Maybe One - Hardcover

9781862300040: Maybe One
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Bill McKibben argues that the earth is becoming dangerously overcrowded, and that if more of us chose to have only one child, it would make a crucial difference toward insuring a healthy future for ourselves and our planet. But the environment alone may not persuade most people to consider having just one child, as eighty percent of Americans have siblings. Powerful stereotypes about only children—that they're spoiled, selfish, or maladjusted in some way—still persist. McKibben, the proud father of an only child himself, debunks these myths, citing research about the many emotional and intellectual strengths only children possess. Contrary to the old folk wisdom, only children are very much like everyone else; they are no more likely to be lonely, shy, or difficult to get along with than children with siblings. Only children also receive the benefits of more parental resources and time that are denied to kids with siblings: higher test scores and levels of achievement in school, and greater development of positive personality traits, like maturity and self-control.At once a powerful personal argument and an accessible exploration of what overpopulation could mean to human life, Maybe One is a provocative yet well-reasoned opening to what will be an important and lasting debate.

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Review:
Here's the bottom line according to Bill McKibben: the earth will not be able to sustain its ever increasing population indefinitely. But the population problem is not just a phenomenon of developing nations--the United States is a major environmental threat, gobbling up a huge piece of the resources pie as our numbers grow larger every year. To avoid worldwide catastrophe, McKibben believes that the United States must reduce its birthrate.

Maybe One is more about the concept of having only one child per family, than a sanctimonious sermon on the perils producing more than that lone baby will have on the world. Understandably the implications of overpopulation for the planet's resources isn't something the average American cries into his Cheerios about every morning, but Maybe One argues that we must start thinking about family size and stop thinking of population as an "abstract issue" that has no bearing on our lives. McKibben produces compelling if not controversial arguments for curbing the U.S. population explosion, a population which he believes could grow by at least 50 percent by the year 2050 to possibly 400 million people. That's a lot of mouths to feed, fuel to burn, and waste to dispose! McKibben's arguments are a mixture of the highly personal (he speaks in great detail of his decision to have a vasectomy) to the highly global (McKibben cites scary statistics about the greenhouse effect, species extinction, soil erosion, and food shortages). He is particularly passionate about "only children" and that it really is okay to have just one child, arguing that only children are often more intelligent and confident than their multiple-sibling friends.

Like in The End of Nature an earlier McKibben book concerned with man's catastrophic contribution to the greenhouse effect, McKibben urges us in Maybe One to really think about our relationship with the earth. He writes, "No decision any of us makes will have more effect on the world (and on our lives) than whether to bear another child." Prophetic words, but words many parents will find difficult by which to abide. --Naomi Gesinger

About the Author:
Bill McKibben is the author of more than a dozen books, including The End of Nature, Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age, and Deep Economy. A former staff writer for the New Yorker, he writes often for Harper'sNational Geographic, and the New York Review of Books, among other publications. He is the founder of the environmental organizations Step It Up and 350.org, a global warming awareness campaign that in October 2009 coordinated what CNN called "the most widespread day of political action in the planet's history." He is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College and lives in Vermont with his wife, the writer Sue Halpern, and their daughter.

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  • PublisherAnchor Books
  • Publication date1999
  • ISBN 10 1862300046
  • ISBN 13 9781862300040
  • BindingHardcover
  • Number of pages272
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9780684852812: Maybe One: A Personal and Environmental Argument for Single Child Families

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Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1998
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Bill McKibben
Published by Anchor Books (1999)
ISBN 10: 1862300046 ISBN 13: 9781862300040
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Book Description Condition: Bueno. Written in lucid, rational prose, the theme of this book is the threat that overpopulation poses to the world. But rather than pontificate and propose global solutions, McKibben contends that there is something average, well-off adults can decide to do about it- they can choose to have only one child. Knowing that he has taken a controversial slant on a delicate subject, McKibben is at pains to demonstrate his reasonableness. He abhors the idea of coerced family planning, for example. Nor is he saying that all parents should limit their families. He points out, however, that there could be 500 million people in the US by 2050 -- what if population declines rather than increases? What would an America with 150 million people -- the population after World War II -- look like? This book does not dodge difficult questions, it seeks them out. Would a generation of only children pose a problem for society? After all they are commonly considered more likely to be lonely, self-centred or incapable of forming healthy social relationships. What about the difficulty of financing social security in an ageing populace? What of the deep emotional satisfaction many receive Seguir leyendo BIOGRAFÍA DEL AUTORBill McKibben's books include The End of Nature, The Age of Missing Information and Hope, Human and Wild. A former staff writer for The New Yorker, he is a frequent contributor to a wide variety of publications. He lives with his wife and daughter in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Seguir leyendo EAN: 9781862300040 Tipo: Libros Categoría: Título: Maybe OneEditorial: - Formato: Tapa dura. Seller Inventory # Happ-2024-02-20-c39a3c37

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