Reflection: Endings

In the third of four articles, Alison Leonard reflects on five years of involvement in the Quaker Concern Around Dying and Death and writes about extreme old age in a time of dwindling planetary resources

by Alison Leonard 13th September 2013

Our Quaker deliberations about climate change and scarce resources have led to anxious discussions about population. At one group I took part in, one Friend said, ‘People in [a distant continent] have too many children.’ I responded by suggesting that our culture also bears responsibility for population overload, because we’re living too long. ‘In my own case,’ I said, ‘I intend to do something about that.’ After quite a pause, the discussion moved on to other points.