Women who refuse to have children until climate change ends | Hacker News Reader

Women who refuse to have children until climate change ends

theguardian.com

17 pointsjogjayr17 comments

Well I suppose these goofy women won't be giving birth until the Earth ends. Actually this is probably a wise decision on their part, but not for the reason they believe.

It's not just goofy people. I have quite a few friends who don't want to birth children into this "overcrowded, dying world" (paraphrased). I think that's a shame and I would love if those smart and educated people would procreate - but it seems there is too much bad news out there.

Yes, it is sad. I believe moral people have a moral obligation to have and to raise moral children. Ideally...

Why not adopt

Absolutely!

I say we should give them an award for this wise decision. We could call it a Darwin award.

I was thinking the same thing...these people are doing the world a favor though...skipping parenthood for a lame career/political cause will likely lead to an unfulfilled and lonely life.

Three objectively wrong statements in that comment:

1. Climate change isn't a "lame career/political cause". It's not like they're putting off children until net neutrality is enshrined in the US constitution. Climate change is an existential threat for large portions of humanity. The scientific consensus on this is virtually unanimous. Until serious, large-scale action against climate change is taken, fearing for the future of any children one may have is perfectly rational, as is opting out of having any.

2. Not having biological children is not the same as skipping parenthood. Adoption exists.

3. Couples that don't have children out of choice are just as happy and fulfilled as those who have them.

Name-calling is uncalled for. It's not "goofy" to not want to bring new life into a world that is slowly dying - it's perfectly rational. Frankly it's heartbreaking to see people suppress their biological drive to have children because of a fear of what the future might hold for them. Please, please, please, try some empathy.

I'm not an academic but have started reading some climate related papers, and from the little I've read, the future seems to be inevitably grim.

Especially the trends in recent methane readings up north and those indicating fresh water aquifiers running dry world-wide.

Its made me reconsider whether I want children too.

C'mon. What if your future children want to live?

I just tried asking them, but got a ArgumentNullException...

If they don't exist, they don't get a vote.

I think the proper framework for considering morality of those choices should take into account the history of childbirth and child rearing.

Right now we are mostly insulated from concerns of childhood mortality; there is an extensive network of medical care and parental aides that made the subject all but disappear [1]. In the present day a child dying is a freak accident, something that happened years ago to a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend. Even concerns of major birth defects aren't all that common.

However we the humans have biologically evolved, and our civilizations have culturally evolved, in environment where childhood mortality was high, and parents had only limited means of providing safety. Granted, the family planning back then was also of lower availability and reliability back then [3], to some extent muddying the waters here.

At any rate, I believe our moral choices should be informed by our (humanity's) origins, and the way we have successfully overcame various problems in the past. That includes considerations of bringing children to the world when we know they could end up experiencing hardships and misfortunes, or even that they could possibly die one day.

[1] aside of miscarriage, which is a prevalent problem, but due to various factors it appears somewhat less impactful.

[2] herbal and mechanical anticonception was a thing for millenia now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_birth_control

This is silly. They should have >20 children each until climate change ends. It's the equivalent of suicide to get your way. Rather pointless.

The world is guaranteed to be terrible if educated, moral people slowly die off.

People who choose not to have their own children can still adopt and raise educated, moral people.

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