Intending Eden: Parenting, Population, and the Planet

About this Book

Amid growing political pressure on women to have more children to fend off population decline, Robert Engelman offers an alternative-and hopeful-vision: environmentally sustainable populations stemming from the childbearing intentions of those who conceive and give birth. In this new, updated edition of his book, Engelman offers a sweeping history of human reproduction and shows that the three-way dance of women's autonomy, population, and the natural world is as old as the species itself. Along the way he traces pivotal developments that set population-and society-on its current trajectory, from our first bipedal steps to the persecution of "witches" in Europe to today's worries about population decline. Intending Eden explores how population growth has shaped modern civilization and is increasingly contributing to humanity's dangerous alteration of our planetary home. The result is a mind-stretching exploration of parental intentions, sex, and culture through the ages. Yet for all its fascinating historical detail, Intending Eden is primarily about the choices we face today. Will society support the intentions of women and couples everywhere to decide for themselves-safely and in good health-when or if to have children? The answer will shape not only our lives today but the world children will inherit.

Robert Engelman’s Intending Eden explores the history of human reproduction, arguing that true sustainability relies on women's autonomy.