Children are fragile, vulnerable, to have a lot of resources available is very attractive to reproductive instincts. Money fits all these fears of not having enough for the future. It is very difficult to store food, fuel, material resources. Money gives the illusion of having great resources on hand. In fact, unless the actual resources are there, the money is nothing.
Some people know that, but they like illusions.
And it does work for short periods. Balance of energy says we should not use resources faster than they renew, whether trees, animals, soil, oil, coal, breakdown of waste, etc. This can be figured on an objective basis, one piece of the planet at a time. Again, where direct measure is difficult, careful trial and error can bring answers, but one can always make estimates to start off. Just as an engineer uses factors of safety in design, these estimates should be conservative.