Thinking About Having Kids In A Climate Crisis

Having kids in a climate crisis: would you do it?

Miki Perkins, September 4, 2021 (Sydney Morning Herald)

When Ashlee Tucker was a kid and adults asked what she’d like to do when she grew up she would always answer: ‘a mum’…[But] this impulse felt more and more incongruous set alongside what she was learning about the escalating climate crisis…Tucker, 26, who lives in Melbourne and works in the renewable energy sector…[and Tess, her wife,] have made the decision – with considerable sadness – not to have children because they are so concerned about the devastating impacts of global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.

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…[Australia’s largest poll ever conducted on climate change and politics found 10% of all respondents and 20% of adults under 35 have] overwhelming concern about climate change in young people…[Nelli Stevenson, 33,] went to her first environmental protest at age 7 and is now the head of communications at Greenpeace Australia…[Now 34 weeks’ pregnant, Melbourne-based Stevenson says] realized the best she could do as a parent was raise her son] to take on that fight with that next generation…

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Alessandra, 26, who lives in northern Sydney, decided four years ago she didn’t feel able to explain to her future children why certain species had become extinct…[She is studying zoology and] doesn’t intend to have children unless she sees positive, ‘huge’ action around decarbonisation in the next few years. And frankly, at the moment she’s not hopeful…[She] has a few friends who also do not want children, and a few in their 30s who have decided to start a family even though they are apprehensive about the future…” click here for more

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