To find it strange no one is talking about this?

[FruminousBandersnatch]

The latest IPCC report - a result of looking at 6000 climate change studies. It’s horrifying. The world as we know it is going to change so quickly and not enough is being done.

Why is this not being discussed here?

The absolute best thing anyone could do is not have so many children

I've done my bit on that score by remaining child-free. May I be permitted to eat a little more meat?

Seriously though, I find this very frightening and it makes me glad I'm 63, not 23. Hopefully, I'll be in the ground before it gets too bad.

I've done my bit on that score by remaining child-free Yup. Me too. I can have as many flights/cars as I want and remain guilt-free!

Doing "our bit" isn't enough. I'm strongly encouraging my children not to have children, or to adopt.

I can have as many flights/cars as I want and remain guilt-free!

tell me you’re joking. Have you actually read this thread?

It isn’t just population, it’s population and consumption. So, for example, a woman living in (some parts of) Africa could have a very large family and they would still do less damage than you living alone in the uk, going on “as many flights as you like” etc.

Stonebake, I was living in the South East and just about all the couples we knew with children had 2 at most. We know quite a lot of couples that are childfree.

We now live in The Midlands and families definitely seem larger here. In our villages there are a lot of families and the majority have 3 or more children.

It's OK, nothing to panic about.

President Trump says he thinks it's all a hoax.

So, that's alright then.

Phew! That’s alright then. Crisis averted.

We only have one car and only fly a couple of times a year so hardly a massive carbon footprint. Anyway, as I don't have children, it isn't on my list of things to worry about.

It is interesting having a thread like this on a forum for parents. I can't can't blame anybody for having children. Because while having a child is the single most negative impact on the environment, having a car is a close second. I don't have children, but I do have a car. I also know that replacing a perfectly good working gasoline car with an electric car is not better for the environment either, because of the method of production.

I have a lot of reasons not to want offspring on my own, but I have recently added the reason that I am horrified by what they'll likely have to face in the future with regards to the environment (and also the ever tighning straight-jacket that is gender, which is not relevant for this discussion).

Years ago I tried to be a more ethical consumer by paying attention to what effects the products I buy have on the environment and under what labor conditions they were produced. However, my blacklist of companies grew and grew. Some companies are so large and own so many smaller companies that they were impossible to ignore completely if I also wanted to remain employed.

I feel that the government has a duty to hold these large corporations accountable. As consumers we have limited information at our disposable and, depending on where we live, have limited choices in the goods we buy. I feel the most important contribution individuals can make is vote for parties who will make corportations obey environmental protection laws and create new laws as needed.

Me too. I can have as many flights/cars as I want and remain guilt-free!

I haven't flown anywhere since 1998. We live near a channel port, so drive or go by rail. We mostly holiday in the UK, as neither of us like the heat or resort-type holidays.

We have 2 cars and, being old ones, their fuel consumption isn't brilliant. Between us we only drive about 12,000 miles a year though, and I kind of hope that the additional fuel is offset by the resources that would go into making new cars if we bought them.

We try and keep food miles down by sourcing as much as possible locally, and we repair what we can and recycle what we can't.

All of which makes us sound a bit virtuous, but actually a lot of that is driven by the fact that we're also a bit mean!

I'm vegan for ecological reasons, dd is vegan most of the time. Before becoming vegan I was vegetarian for 35 years. I've never driven or owned a car. I don't buy unnecessary things. I hardly ever get on a plane. I use as little gas and electric as possible in the home. I recycle everything. I don't waste anything. I really like our lifestyle, its enjoyable to live as simply as possible. I'm sure there is more I could still do.

I worry about our future long-term. But right, now I'm worrying about Brexit more.

I’m grateful to people who choose not to have children, even if it isn’t totally driven, or at all driven, by selflessness.

I also won’t encourage my children to have children.

I think there is still an expectation that everyone must have children and I think it’s so damaging. Not just to the environment, but also to the children whose parents never really wanted to be parents anyway and who probably wouldn’t enjoy parenthood or be good parents as a result.

There are many reasons not to want children and they’re all perfectly valid, but there are reasons in favour of having children, at a personal and at a societal level. Whether or not the reasons for outweigh the reasons against having children, is quite subjective and personal.

But anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that people need to be aware that there is a clear choice instead of the default expectation being that everyone has to have children and there is no thought given to any possible alternative. I read a lot that younger generations are giving this more thought now. I hope that’s true.

And thank you to the pp who said you don’t blame parents for having children. All too often in these discussions, posters pop up, smugly say they haven’t had children as if they have single handedly saved the planet. It’s an unhelpful oversimplification for one thing and I imagine the reasons they chose not to have children were fairly complicated and personal to them. Not just so they could smugly come on to parenting forums and say words to the effect of, “if you have children you have no right to say you’re worried about the environment, whereas I will have as many cars and take as many flights as I like because I don’t have any children”. What on Earth is anyone trying to achieve with this argument? If you really don’t care because you don’t have children and will be dead by the time the worst effects are felt, do us a favour and don’t bother commenting on threads where people are trying to discuss what positive changes we can make.

I heard somewhere that we now have 1.3 children instead of 2.4 on average. Who’s going to pay our pensions tho

Some shops are still handing out plastic bags, plastic straws, cutlery etc, as if non one in their management is aware or has changed the way they work. Primark, Itsu, I am looking at you.
The local Polish takeaway uses Styrofoam boxes so I will not be returning there.

Totally agree.

It used to frighten and worry me like many others on this thread, but the more I learn the calmer I get. I think humans are going to die out in the relatively near future, and I think that's a good thing and shouldn't be avoided. We will leave behind a scarred planet but it'll heal and life will go on without us.

It is frustrating to see so many people hand-wringing over what kind of world their children will live in. You and your children are the culprits, not the victims!

You and your children are the culprits, not the victims!

Surely you meant to say “we”. Unless you aren’t culpable?

So much of this on these threads. Climate change isn’t about me, cos I don’t have children / I’ll be dead by then anyway. Always descending into competetiveness about who is the worst culprit and how dreadful other humans are. It’s almost as depressing to see as climate change itself. Everyone’s looking for an excuse to not be arsed, even if it’s saying “we’re doomed anyway”.

I don’t know how long humans will last. And maybe the robots will get us before climate change does... !

Even if we are doomed to die out relatively soon as a species, (and let’s face it, we were never going to be around forever), surely you don’t want to leave the worst possible legacy behind for whatever comes after us.

There’s a film I keep meaning to watch called “how to let go of the world and love the things climate change can’t change”. That sums up my attitude to it. Climate change is happening and we can’t stop it, but we can work to mitigate some of the worst effects and make the world a reasonably decent place to live, at least for another few generations.

Basically, even if we are doomed, we don’t have to be dicks about it.

Competetiveness*

Is it even a word?

If we were to die out today would leave an absolute disasterous legacy behind us. Just think of all the nuclear power plants who will melt down without maintenance and start to leak radiation. Ships will rust and sink and leak oil everywhere. We need to clean up after ourselves before we go exinct or it will be a long time before life has any chance to recover from our messes.

Totally agree captain. It’s not ok to just say “oh we’ll die out and I’m fine with it”.

This is one of the reasons I hate the tearing down of hedges in older housing areas and them bing replaced with concrete and panels andyou biggest pet hate plastic grass!! How can those that are having plastic grass that they vacuum and pour Jeynes fluid/zoflora/bleach on say that it is much better because they can use their garden shed all year round. Bet most haven't stepped outside in the last couple of very wet and windy days and meanwhile bits of plastic and nasty chemicals are seeping into the ground affecting the bugs etc. I have started using solid soaps and natural cleaning products where I can and recycle much of clothing/bedding etc and make other items (rugs/bags/pet beds ) . I do drive and I do fly on holiday but I have lots of trees, shrubs, plants to encourage bees and birds etc as the disappearance of them worries me. I agree with the posters who say that until we are force into things (fewer children for example) nothing will happen.

I find it a little reassuring that there are plenty on the thread who obviously do care and are doing what they can. I don’t want the human species to die out without at least having made some effort in the right direction!

I’m trying to find the metaphor for it, something along the lines of arguing over the bar tab on the Titanic... Gyor said. Brilliantly put.

I do my bit, we eat far less meat, do not use the car unless leaving the city etc and the most important thing..... LOBBY.

The only way the politicians, companies are going to listen - if we LOBBY AND USE EVERY SMALL WAY WE CAN TO AFFECT THEM - AS IT CAN SNOWBALL - ITS UP TO US.

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