Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If you don’t have kids, do you care about climate change?

118 replies

Blankspace4 · 13/10/2021 22:20

I’m genuinely interested

YABU - I still care about climate change even though I don’t / can’t have children

YANBU - It doesn’t affect me - I don’t really care

I know the vote will polarise but also interested in comments. I can’t have children (long struggle, finally come to terms). I do try and act in the interests of the planet but frankly I am sick of the “think of your children and grandchildren” prevailing rationale - what does that mean for those of us who can’t have that?

OP posts:
Imwearingtrousers · 14/10/2021 09:44

CounsellorTroi

Are they really? Makes me feel slightly better!

Imwearingtrousers · 14/10/2021 09:45

SusieBob

I agree re the space programme but tourism is totally different, no experiments or observation going on there presumably!

Imwearingtrousers · 14/10/2021 09:46

SusieBob

Why does it always have to be about humans?? That makes me so mad, what about the wildlife and wonderful ecosystems, why can't they just exist for themselves and not be for us?

CounsellorTroi · 14/10/2021 09:47

It's not a waste, the amount of knowledge and technology that has filtered down to everyday life as a result of the various space programs over the years is enormous.

Not saying space travel/exploration generally is a waste. We might well need another planet someday if we go on as we are. But I think space tourism is.

SusieBob · 14/10/2021 09:55

@CounsellorTroi

It's not a waste, the amount of knowledge and technology that has filtered down to everyday life as a result of the various space programs over the years is enormous.

Not saying space travel/exploration generally is a waste. We might well need another planet someday if we go on as we are. But I think space tourism is.

Space tourism, if nothing else, will pump huge amounts of money into private space programs when governments are increasingly reluctant to do so. Sending rich people on joy rides pays, at least in part, for the r&d of all the more "worthy" stuff.
JorisBonson · 14/10/2021 09:56

I was and am more concerned about having meaningful connections in my life over whether or not I'll be polluting the planet further by having children.

This is all part of the problem.

SusieBob · 14/10/2021 09:56

@Imwearingtrousers

SusieBob

Why does it always have to be about humans?? That makes me so mad, what about the wildlife and wonderful ecosystems, why can't they just exist for themselves and not be for us?

I don't disagree, but it's an easier sell to most to say "won't somebody think of the children" rather than "won't someone think of the fauna.
tcjotm · 14/10/2021 10:10

@grapewine

YABU. I'm childfree not sociopathic.
Yes this.

I’m also thinking of the beautiful flora and fauna that have to live here too. I’d like them to survive and future generations to be able to appreciate them.

tcjotm · 14/10/2021 10:12

@Imwearingtrousers

SusieBob

Why does it always have to be about humans?? That makes me so mad, what about the wildlife and wonderful ecosystems, why can't they just exist for themselves and not be for us?

Yes! They’d get on much better with out us too.

(Well maybe not my cats, they’d miss modern conveniences)

SprayedWithDettol · 14/10/2021 10:12

People can care without having children.

3scape · 14/10/2021 10:17

I think the think of the kids rhetoric is a problem, no wonder most don't care. The persisting winning "vote" is for the right wing, anti supporting others, fuck everyone else vote anyway. The majority can't be made to care, they're certainly not interested in the young. Look at brexshit

Glitterybug · 14/10/2021 10:59

Is it that people "don't care" about the environment or is it that they know they as an individual living a normal life can do very very little about it to actually effect change and so just get on with their lives instead?

zonkyzonky · 14/10/2021 10:59

@JorisBonson

I was and am more concerned about having meaningful connections in my life over whether or not I'll be polluting the planet further by having children.

This is all part of the problem.

I know it is... but life is short ...and capitalism makes it quite meaningless already...
JorisBonson · 14/10/2021 11:07

But surely if you do have children you want to make the planet a better place for them once you're gone?

The "I'm alright Jack" attitude is a real problem.

juliainthedeepwater · 14/10/2021 11:08

Err any concept that human beings might care about the survival of species other than their own?!

zonkyzonky · 14/10/2021 11:42

@JorisBonson

But surely if you do have children you want to make the planet a better place for them once you're gone?

The "I'm alright Jack" attitude is a real problem.

That sounds like something out of GCSE science syllabus.

I want to give them a good, happy life...I'm not going to be killing myself over the environment or the 'planet'...like I've said earlier, in the child's presence I'll 'model' the environmentally responsible behaviour ie recycle etc. away from their sight, I won't be. I think I'll have more important matters to think about than that like keeping a roof over our heads etc

JorisBonson · 14/10/2021 11:43

You're alright Jack

zonkyzonky · 14/10/2021 11:48

@JorisBonson

That's why we need individuals like you! And I'm glad these issues are someone else concern

HitchhikersGuide · 14/10/2021 11:56

Really interesting question OP - thank you for coming up with it. I am very 'green'. I do have DC but cared about the environment way before, because I just think it's the right thing to do, not for future humans, but because we have consciousness and knowledge and I don't want to be an active player in mass extinction.
I do rather think though that as having children is actually the most unsustainable thing we can do, parents have more responsibility to think about these things than those without children.

Chikapu · 14/10/2021 12:02

Of course, or are you buying into the childfree women are obviously selfish bullshit?

zonkyzonky · 14/10/2021 12:09

@Chikapu

Of course, or are you buying into the childfree women are obviously selfish bullshit?
I don't think childless/child free women are selfish by the virtue of not having children. I do know that before I got pregnant/(and anticipating the arrival if my child in December), I had so much free time to ponder/naval gaze about the state of the world etc....too much in fact...I guess without children (voluntarily or not) your priorities at different? You want to have a different sense of legacy maybe? Saving the planet/active environmentalism is a meaningful pursuit for some?
PurpleDaisies · 14/10/2021 12:16

This thread has killed my good mood. This is straight out of the Angela leadsom school of crap. If you don’t have kids you don’t have a stake in the future. Utter nonsense.

zonkyzonky · 14/10/2021 12:19

@PurpleDaisies

This thread has killed my good mood. This is straight out of the Angela leadsom school of crap. If you don’t have kids you don’t have a stake in the future. Utter nonsense.
I think some would call it pro-natalism where only the voices of parents matter
Imwearingtrousers · 14/10/2021 13:35

I lost sleep over the state of the planet long before I had kids

DdraigGoch · 14/10/2021 14:03

@Glitterybug

I don't think the average person recycling their yoghurt pots has any effect whatsoever on climate. We need massive far reaching worldwide cooperation, we need giant cocks to stop firing giant cocks into space and we need to stop building over every bit of green space. We have plenty of empty houses, use those first.

It all seems very very pointless to tell individuals they're not doing enough until the bigger things are addressed.

Recycling yoghurt pots was never about climate change or CO2 emissions. Plastic is very carbon-efficient. When you throw plastic in landfill it doesn't bio-degrade and therefore doesn't emit methane, unlike (say) starch-based wrap. In fact having plastic wrap on produce probably reduces emissions because there is less spoiling.

No, plastic waste concerns are about the plastic getting into the ecosystem and the food chain. It's about a different aspect of the environment, not climate change.

I get your overall point about it being the proverbial drop in the ocean though. Someone dutifully rinsing their tins out before getting into their Range Rover is a fool if they think that they are saving the planet.

That's not to say though that individual actions don't matter. If we all made efforts to reduce our emissions below five tonnes per year, including emissions in the supply chains which feed us such as those in the oil industry (so by ditching your car, you are not only relieved of the emissions which come from the tailpipe, but also the emissions when manufacturing that car and drilling for the oil which fuels it), it will actually have an impact. It's no use going "I'm not changing my ways until everyone else does", someone has got to step up. I intend to be the better person and lead by example.