Many of the seats won by the Australian Labor Party in the recent Federal elections were won on Green preferences, so Green ideology warrants a closer look. In November last year the London Daily Mail reported on two women environmentalists who take their carbon footprint very seriously indeed. One of the women, Toni Vernelli, aborted a pregnancy and had herself sterilized by age 27 to "save the planet". Having babies she says is "selfish and all about maintaining your genetic line at the expense of the planet".

Toni and her husband, Ed, are childless and vegan, so they claim they can justify one long air flight per year and still remain carbon neutral - like flying to Bali to stay in 5-star hotels for the UN Climate Change Conference.

Sarah Irving is another planet-nurturer. She and fiancé Mark Hudson decided on him having a vasectomy to pre­vent the possibility of a planet-damaging baby spoiling their carbon-neutral footprints.

Those of us who have "selfishly" had babies are puzzled by all this environmentalist zeal. If we all aborted our preg­nancies and/or sterilized our loved ones, who would be left in a generation or so to appreciate the beauty of our now (presumably) pristine planet? Who would be left to mea­sure the now (presumably) increased Arctic ice? For who exactly are we saving the planet if not for our children? Will polar bears appreciate our supreme sacrifice?

This is of course on the assumption that Toni and Ed and Sarah and Mark are correct in their opinion that global warming is a serious problem and that human activity is contributing to it. But even if they are right, who will be left to declare victory when we are all gone? No doubt the last man or woman left standing will have been admon­ished to turn off all the lights.

Those of us who are courageous enough to have children - and it does require courage these days with all the Green environmental zeal around us - know that having babies and raising them to be responsible adults calls for personal sacrifice, not selfishness. There is the pain of childbirth, the sleepless nights, the career compromises, expenses for food and education, more sleepless nights when your teenager or young adult is out late and so it goes on. Parents are not planet polluters but captives to love for their young.

It is doubtful whether Toni and Ed and Sarah and Mark will have saved the planet, that is if it required saving in the first place, with their personal sterility, but they will have saved the human gene pool from an influx of 'genes for stupidity'. Darwin would be pleased. Now if only the moth­ers of Toni, Ed, Sarah and Mark had been as environmen­tally conscious as their children are, those of us who are fortunate enough to be parents would have been spared all this nagging....

To hear a more family-friendly view, join us for our 29th Birthday celebration and hear the Hon. Senator Guy Barnett

- Babette Francis, B.Sc. (Hons), is national co-ordinator of Endeavour Forum Inc.