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.

@Deafdonkey have you read the report by the UN, and others?

I mean I really hope you're right that it isn't anything to worry about, but I don't think you are, and I don't really get what the reference to the ice age is?

The ice age was 2.4 million years ago, humans have only been around about 300,000, we didn't survive the ice age...

I know the planet will in some form continue, maybe in a few hundred million years there might even be another species like ours, but I'm talking about the human race, now.

99.7% of food comes from soil, and we've got another 58 years of harvest left, if global warming doesn't fuck us all before then.

If you believe everything that’s around, we are all going to die.

However the only thing certain in life is eventual death, so it’s going to happen!

Just enjoy your time on this planet because it is limited, for all sorts of reasons.

yes.

I am considering stopping at 1 though. Partly because I am absolutely terrified about the world in which he will grow up in, never mind bringing another into the world and worrying for two.

I might re-consider this in a few years but I absolutely do not regret for a second having my baby.

Humans survived the last ice age and they will survive an climate change.

I feel like a total hypocrite. I think people should have fewer children but I’ve had two myself (twos my limit though).

I worry about what the world has in store for them, they are only young and are really innocent trusting kids. They’ve no idea how nasty the world can be. Some days I do regret having kids.

@Mum2jenny I get what you're saying and we should indeed appreciate life while we're living it.

But perhaps we can all do that alongside fighting for our children's / future generations' future too? Rather than ignore it or deny it?

So many people just don't seem to care. I don't blame them, tbh. If the government doesn't care enough to effect change, why should they. Most people probably don't even know what has been predicted and why it's important.

I've been trying to live a life that has a bit less impact, but while it's important to me to feel like I'm doing something - it's not really what will make the difference. To make change we need to get the system to change.

Yes -- they might be the ones who make a real difference to the world.

I live in hope, anyway.

Humans survived the last ice age and they will survive an climate change

I think you are probably right but billions could die of war, famine, disease and the human race will survive. Just because “the human race will survive” doesn’t mean my kids or your kids will survive. And how hard is it going to be to survive, maybe none existence is preferable?

Yes, I would still have had my children. Every generation has it's scare stories, it was the cold war/ozone layer for my age group. I do believe that things will change, but not that drastically, that quickly and I don't believe the 30 year thing.

We were told at school that we'd have run out of coal and gas in 30 years, it's now well past that and still going. I lived in a coastal town almost 30 years ago, we were constantly told that it was crumbling into the sea and would be under water by 25-30 years. That's still standing, exactly as it was back then. Scare stories, albeit with good intent.

Humans survived the last ice age and they will survive an climate change.

Ok so I googled it and there was an ice age during the era of early man. My bad.

I do wonder how many humans died during that ice age though...

ThereWillBeAdequateFood, I don't see people dying in significant numbers from climate change in the UK in the next 100 years.

People are always worried about things, my grandparents generation worried the world would be destroyed by nuclear war but apart from the plague, it has usually worked out OK.

No I really wouldn't have. The worry about what could happen to them really stresses me and I'm annoyed with myself for not being aware of it before having them. The threats to previous generations were nothing compared to this global threat where nowhere will be safe. I really don't get why governments worldwide aren't acting on this right now.

Catastrophising

I don't know anyone IRL who isn't having kids because of the environment or climate change or this "stopping at 2" thing which makes very little sense to me.

If I have 2 DCs who have cloth nappies, wear each other's hand-me-downs, breastfeed, are vegan and only eat locally sourced food, recycle, never go on a plane and get public transport and power my house with renewables, and who promise to lead the same lives, then am I allowed a third child because of our beautifully small carbon footprint? And therefore is somebody who drinks out of disposable cups and never reuses carrier bags, flies long haul, uses disposable nappies, bottle feeds from single use bottles, doesn't recycle and drives a 4 by 4 only allowed 1 child because of their sloppy oversized carbon footprint?

I have a feeling 1+1 does not always = 2

I have one adopted child and one that I gave birth to, I won't have any more most likely. I made each decision considering all factors and unlike many, I don't wish to create more and more children with no regard to anything.

I find these environmental reasons for not having children really bizarre to be honest! There is certainly no evidence of uncertainty for the next few generations so why deprive yourself of the joys of having children?? Also why stop at one child when you're only going to burden them not environmentally but socially, emotionally and financially by being solely responsible for you in your old age as they will have no sibling support ?

China's one child policy was globally condemned for years but in an indirect way sounds like the environmentally childless on MN would have been supportive of its intentions

Yes. I have always put my dcs first and have made huge sacrifices to have them.
I think a large % of people should not have children. They simply do not put enough effort into parenting their dc.

YOU might not have been aware before the last couple of years, but these reports have been widely available and published for a lot longer than that. How on earth were you blissfully unaware until 2 years ago?

@carly2803 yes I don't regret having my children in the slightest, but if I knew what I know now I might have made a different decision. I can't be sure though; I'm saying this from a position of privilege where I already have kids so don't have to make that very difficult choice.

I watched handmaids tale and then that series set in a future where the electricity just stops working one day...and there is something about the way people talk about icecream like they can't imagine the sheer extravagance...and I really really worry that this kind of thing will happen in DD's lifetime.

I hope against hope that we can science our way out of it - but the focus isn't there yet, or the funding....

I mostly dread DD dying from a simple infection due to antibiotic resistance. It doesn't help that a work colleague lost his DD to exactly this around a year ago.

Yes

MorondelaFrontera

Does it matter why someone didn't know about it before then?

People know when they know. WHY they didn't know isn't the point.

ThereWillBeAdequateFood, I don't see people dying in significant numbers from climate change in the UK in the next 100 years

In the U.K. we can’t feed our current population.We require imported food. If harvests fail, where will our food come from?

That's awful @M3lon

@Freyasmum1 there are plenty of people on this thread who seem to be doing just that (taking environment into consideration when deciding to have (more) children). I certainly know people IRL who have done so.

But this thread isn't about the number of DC, this is about the state of the future planet and how we feel about it given it may well be a reality in their lifetime.