From the Daily Skeptic
by Sallust
this mail Published an article by a businesswoman in her 30s who vowed never to start a family again. She even convinced her husband to have a vasectomy after doctors refused to sterilize her. These decisions are anyone's free choice and for any reason they wish, but in this case the claimed cause turned out to be climate change:
How can I bring a warm package of innocence into this world when none of us can say this world is a good place for them to live? Over the past few weeks, two new sets of statistics have emerged: the first is universally depressing; The second time there was barely a whimper.
The first figures show that Britain's birth rate has fallen to its lowest level on record. Fertility rates in England and Wales fell from 1.49 children per woman to 1.44 children between 2022 and 2023, the lowest level on record and well below what is needed to sustain an aging population Rate.
So what about the second set of statistics? According to the European Climate Service, these messages tell us that 2024 will “almost certainly” be the hottest year on record.
A year of deadly heatwaves and catastrophic storms will end up being 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and, for the first time, the symbolic tipping point beyond which we cannot avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change – A chain reaction that could lead to widespread extinction of animal species and even our own extinction.
To me, these two statistics are not unrelated. Raising a person in today's world is difficult. Women's reasons for not doing so include the cost of childcare, the hit to their careers and the difficulty of finding a decent man to have a child with. As a happily married businesswoman with her own sales company, these reasons don’t apply to me.
She showed no mercy:
I will not have children because of the threats posed by climate change.
Those world leaders who gathered in Azerbaijan last week for the COP29 climate conference should know that women like me are not having children because we are too worried that the increase in global population will only accelerate the demise of the global population.
Whenever someone asks me about my childlessness, I tell them the truth and make no apologies for sounding brief. “Why bring a child into a world that we don’t know if it will still exist in 100 years?”
The most common answer to this always surprises me: “Oh, well, it doesn't matter to me because then I wouldn't be here!” That's a very selfish attitude.
Why allow children to have their biological needs met without caring that the world they will inhabit looks more and more like a post-apocalyptic wasteland? The oceans are barren, the skies are turbulent, and the deserts are spreading. This ecological disaster is irreversible.
I've long been afraid of the future. Ever since I was six years old, I've had nightmares about being pulled into a hole in the sky and my little body being flung into space.
It seems she's not alone:
I'm just a woman, but my decision isn't particularly unusual. A US poll found that a quarter of adults without children said climate change was a reason, while a 2021 analysis by a global bank found that “decisions not to have children are driven by concerns about climate change.” is increasing and affecting fertility rates “more rapidly than any previous trend in the area of fertility decline”.
UK-based BirthStrike movement is formed by women who refuse to have children [their] Children from a dystopian existence”.
reject any argument for She believed that having children was “selfish” (presumably having children in pre-modern times, when they faced the prospect of high infant mortality, disease, disaster and revolution, was also unconscionably selfish, and perhaps even more selfish), and she carefully allowed mail's readers know how she's doing her part to stop Britain turning into a seething, barren desert:
I take care to buy sustainable gifts for my godson from local businesses in North Yorkshire where I live. I try to do things with my godchildren that teach them to appreciate the beauty of nature, such as taking long walks and collecting seashells at the beach. I grow my own vegetables and support local producers whenever possible.
I try to do something every day to help. I use lower washing machine temperatures, drive an electric car and recycle strictly. I use Vinted instead of buying new clothes, and I also have a rescue dog. My entire business is digital: we avoid printing anything and send all documents and contracts digitally. I use public transportation to go to business events.
Oddly, she worries about the impact making decisions like hers will have on her own aged care:
Indeed, if there aren't enough young people to pay for pensions and the NHS, who will look after our generation?
Economists say it's their fault that plummeting birth rates are causing serious trouble for women like me who are seen as selfish.
But if declining birth rates worry political leaders, perhaps they should take steps to address the problem and increase responses to climate change.
Young people have more to do than just fund old people (I've been working since I was 16 and have full responsibility for my own retirement income), but regardless, whether the state pension can keep up with inflation is likely to be the most important.
The argument seems to be that if governments devote every minute of their lives to preventing climate change, women like her might be able to have children after all. Maybe. Or maybe there’s a subtext. Who knows?
The article provides a fascinating insight into the psychological impact of state-sponsored intimidation, which can lead to the greatest disaster of all: a culture of total negativity. People wonder why she bothers to go to work, which by the way seems to be to help other companies sell more products.
It’s worth reading in full, if only to see how nihilistic climate change culture has become.
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