To ask if you would still have had your children if...

[nanbread]

You had known then what you know now about the environment / climate change?

I had my DC before the last couple of years when reports from the UN etc have come out about unsurvivable conditions, the end of civilisation etc within maybe 30 years, us having 12 years to do anything about it. And seeing the subsequent reactions from governments worldwide which can be summarised as giving zero fucks.

Knowing what I know now, despite how my children are my life and I couldn't love them more, I doubt whether I'd have had children (they're still young). I feel so scared about what they will face in their lifetime and guilty about bringing them into it.

No, I don't think so. I love my kids so much but, I've had many conversations with both my Dc's and asked them not to have children because the future of the planet is not looking great and the world's politics are crazy. Dc1 is an adult and says that he doesn't want kids and Dc2 has recently come out as gay and doesn't want kids, however, Dc2 is only year 7 so, who knows.

My mum says she wouldn't have had me knowing how the world would be. So I wouldn't have been around to decide.

I think the people who are (mostly defensively) interpreting OP as castigating parents for worsening the environmental crisis by having children are reading this wrongly, btw. I think that’s also an issue but it’s not what this thread is about IMO.

That’s a good question.
I remember the yearning for a child and I dint think environmental concerns would have stopped me.
However, now that they are teens, I really wonder in which world they will live in. What the future holds for them :(
In some ways, it feels easy now to say that I wouldn’t have had dcs (fear for their future but also because if the impact and the hardship that has come with them. - nothing to do with THEM but ...). I’m very aware that it wouldn’t have been that easy.

I'm sure since the beginning of time people have been worrying about their children's future. Whether the threat from war, famine, plague etc etc.

I'm old enough to remember when we were all certainly due to die from Aids.

Yet somehow the world keeps turning and whilst some peoples lifes are terrible the vast majority of people just carry on and have an ok life.
Don't spend your time worrying about an unknown future or that will spoil today.

I've had many conversations with both my Dc's and asked them not to have children because the future of the planet is not looking great and the world's politics are crazy

How obscene. It’s entirely their decision to make, not yours.

I'm really not sure, my DSs are 30 and 21 now so i'm really glad i didn't have to think about it at the time.
I'm not sure i'll ever become a grandparent though, as my boys are very environmentally aware, and i know DS1 and his partner are seriously considering not having children for this reason.

I've made the conscious decision not to have children. It'd be really hypocritical of me to sit here saying 'There are too many people on earth!' and then procreate myself.

I rather doub't that the goverment want to tackle it, imagine giving up your car and purlease don't think that electric ones are any better something somewhere has to combust or react to provide the power in the first place and none of this windy mills will save us either the wind can stop blowing all over europe let alone the UK, and solar well yes during bright sunny days but how many days in winter?.

And no more balarics or long haul for you!, all that kerosene being burnt in the uppers atmoshere so whats the Green answer ?

Back to horses and carts and bikes thats what! ..

Or there is one answer thats to build Nuclear reactors like they're going out of fashion:)

Interesing sites;

The UK power supply soreces in real time;

www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

All those aircraft!

www.flightradar24.com/50.24,5.43/6

I think the people who are (mostly defensively) interpreting OP as castigating parents for worsening the environmental crisis by having children are reading this wrongly, btw. I think that’s also an issue but it’s not what this thread is about IMO.

Absolutely.

This isn't about the impact of having children / more children (although I think that's worth thinking about, in deciding whether to have that 3/4/5th child), it's about the fact that during our children's lives we now know there is likely to be a climate disaster the likes of which the human race has never encountered, and unlike in previous times of famine etc we pretty much know it's coming week in advance and have an opportunity to tackle it, but the powers that be aren't, thus effectively condemning our children to this future.

I think I would have stopped at 2. Nothing is happening at governmental level - nothing that will make the big different that we need to make. Drastic measures are required and this is politically unacceptable, so we will keep our heads in the sand and hope it is ok for our own lifetimes, but it may not be and the odds of disaster increase for each subsequent generation.

And never mind our own government and tiny island, what about the US and China, huge polluters. We need a wake up call or it will really be too late.

Yes, definitely. Not sure why I wouldn’t have made this choice though!

When I was a child I was worried about the nuclear threat, my parents went through the Second World War, Dad in a submarine and Mum as a nurse in London.
When my children were young we moved to the States after 9/11 to an area where a shooter had been active
I think that each generation faces some sort of threat they have no control of but that we hope for the best. We are back, the kids gained a lot from the experience and are positive about their lives and curious about other cultures. I think we know about threats but hope for solutions.

@Justaboy funnily enough we have stopped flying and are going camping this year and for the foreseeable, plan to get rid of car when tax runs out in a few months, and buy renewable energy to power our house. Plus the usual recycling, don't eat animal products, don't buy new goods or clothes.

Quite frankly though your post is spectacularly missing the point.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland it was a report from a scientific team in Australia released this week. Including a former fossil fuel exec.

I'll see if I can find a link.

We have one and there will be no more. It frightens me the world he will
Fro old in. He is here now and it’s important we do everything in our power to try and make his future as good as possible. No more kids (I actually get quite angry when people have so many kids and just don’t give afuck) self charging hybrid car for longer journeys where public transport no feasible, wfh more, public transport for commuting, bike/shanks pony, buy good quality clothing made of natural fibres, buy as much local food as possible.

I only ever had one DC as I felt it was irresponsible to have lots of children and realised that even back in the 1980's. He is in his late thirties now and has told me that he and his wife are not having children as they don't want to bring them into this.
I agree and I'm glad. We have no future and nobody really cares.
People will do what they want and have as many kids as they want right up until the last day.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.newscientist.com/article/2205741-is-it-true-climate-change-will-cause-the-end-of-civilisation-by-2050/amp/

What a crock. The country had an ice age, a dessert age, an age when there were trees from lands end to John o grotes. There were times when there were frost fairs on the Thames. Now if the edges freeze there is panic.
I find the arrogance around climate change outstanding

Can't edit desert 😲

www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-highlight/2019/5/28/18629833/climate-change-2019-green-new-deal

You might like this @Justaboy

I don’t have kids and this is one of the reasons I’m on the fence about it. I suspect there are quite a few people who think this way. I’m incredibly worried about the impending climate crisis and how little action is being taken

I grew up listening to cataclysmic predictions. I stopped believing that climate predictions were even remotely reliable a long time ago. I still believe that we need to shift to nuclear and/or renewables asap with the eventual goal of going 100% renewable (for a variety of reasons including climate change). But I don’t believe we are facing a climate apocalypse.

Not because of the carbon footprint / limiting my own impact on the environment that some people are interpreting this as (though that is why we have stopped at 2) but I am very worried about what they will face in their lifetimes and will feel immense guilt for their suffering if things are as bad as some of the predictions (I read that 30 year thing too).

@lifeover be careful with natural fibres. They feel great but many are quite bad for the environment, cotton in particular has already wreaked terrible environmental damage. I must admit I love it but I do my best not to buy it new.