Let’s have fewer children, not canines

I found it oddly jarring The Seattle Times would publish a long article on the eco-footprint of large dogs and how dangerous these animals are to the planet’s safety, yet make no mention of the eco-footprint of each child born [“Dog’s eco-footprint a Hummer, study says,” NWMonday, Nov. 2].

Children live far longer than the 12 to 14 years of a large dog, and my children certainly have already consumed more than our 4- and 50-pound dogs.

Also, our children have reproduced. So now for our two children, we have three grandchildren. An acquaintance with seven children, now has 47 grandchildren.

If we really want to get to the heart of eco-footprints and problems with the environment, let’s start telling it like it is.

The largest problem we have on the planet is the number of people.

We need to educate people to have two or fewer children. This is the crux of the problem.

Let’s quit shilly-shallying about and blaming world problems on large dogs or even on Hummers. The real problem is the number of people on the planet, and our refusal to even mention controlling our population’s growth by encouraging and rewarding small families.

— Ruth Williamson-Kirkland, Lake Forest Park