A fifth of female climate scientists who responded to Guardian survey said they had opted to have no or fewer children

Ihad the hormonal urges,” said Prof Camille Parmesan, a leading climate scientist based in France. “Oh my gosh, it was very strong. But it was: ‘Do I really want to bring a child into this world that we’re creating?’ Even 30 years ago, it was very clear the world was going to hell in a handbasket. I’m 62 now and I’m actually really glad I did not have children.”

Parmesan is not alone. An exclusive Guardian survey has found that almost a fifth of the female climate experts who responded have chosen to have no children, or fewer children, due to the environmental crises afflicting the world.

An Indian scientist who chose to be anonymous decided to adopt rather than have children of her own. “There are too many children in India who do not get a fair chance and we can offer that to someone who is already born,” she said. “We are not so special that our genes need to be transmitted: values matter more.

  • octatron@lmy.drundo.com.au
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    2 months ago

    The population is actually tipped to massively reduce on the next 100 years due to a large portion of people not have babies simply due to crappy economic conditions, inflation, war the lying flat movement in china and the ever increasing destruction of the middle class into the homeless poor. Aside from rich people destroying peoples ability to have happy lives, there’s also the plastic problem that’s quite literally made every male living thing have a reduced sperm count and it continues to drop as plastic is in the air, our clothes carpet and oceans. Endocrine disruptors in our bodies are being effected by chemicals found in vinyl products, thermal receipts and Tupperware releasing chemicals when heated in microwaves. These things are so small they enter the bloodstream and pass through the blood brain barrier… Fuuuck

    So if you want to save the future start by sniping off rich oligarchs and ban plastic completely

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’ll start to level off around 10 billion, in 35 years.

      The thing about a growing population is that fewer people having babies has a diminished effect when there are so many more people. Each new pair having a slightly smaller chance of reproducing doesn’t matter when there are twice as many new pairs.

      The population won’t decrease dramatically, save for some catastrophic event.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The population very well might drop suddenly. Clearly that 10B is too many, but what happens after that. Some projections have a very steep decline, looking at developed countries approach an average closer to one child instead of closer to replacement value. What happens when most of those 10B age then pass, but there are only 5B to replace them? In the time of one generation, we could see a very serious depopulation in places

  • Kedly@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    How do you have fewer than no children? (=P tongue in cheek purposeful misunderstanding, not true pedantry)

    Edit: (Damn, even being clear I was being cheeky I still managed to piss someone off xD)

  • Asclepiaz@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I knew when I was 12 I never wanted children. I got married at 20. I got fixed at 24. I am almost 40 and have no regrets other than not getting fixed sooner, but finding a doc to fix a lady at 18 is damn near impossible.

  • phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    I always thought my children, if I’d have them, might die a horrible death due to climate change.

    Now, knowing that humanity with climate change in mind, only increased spewing CO2 in to the atmosphere, I think I actually eillmdie a horrible death due to climate change.

    The no children thing for the climate is multiple generations too late already.

    Also, keep the idiocracy effect in mind. Only the good and caring people decide not to have children, the idiots and selfish assholes will have ten for them.

  • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    1/5th is low, and doesn’t appear very different to the general female population.

    This really just highlights the underlying problem and why our “efforts” are destined to amount to little more than shuffling deck chairs on the titanic — humans are selfish, and most of us are not willing to make major sacrifices to avert disaster; hell, most struggle to accept minor inconveniences.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      humans are selfish, and most of us are not willing to make major sacrifices to avert disaster

      I am sick and tired of this cynical bullshit argument. It’s wrong in two ways (and neither are the way you think):

      1. It assumes that we have to reduce our standard of living in order to reduce our fossil fuels consumption, instead of innovating
      2. It presumes that the lifestyle changes that we do have to make (e.g. higher density zoning and walkablity) represent some kind of deprivation, rather than the improvement they would actually be.
    • PhAzE@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      1/5th want no or fewer kids… so 4/5 were pushing forward like normal.

      • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        Ohe of the 4/5. I have 3 kids under 13. You gotta.be optimistic that they’re the generation to finally fix the mess we made.

        If everyone stops having kids then hope disappears.

        When we have exhausted all other options, we will do the right thing.

        Edit - I love that having hope and optimism for a future is downvotes lol

  • BigBenis@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I decided that I personally felt unethical bringing people into this world nearly a decade ago

      • mutant_zz@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        We’re not in a movie. Climate change isn’t going be solved by one brilliant scientist. It’s not even a scientific/technology problem at this point, it’s a political one.

          • otp@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Lmao…

            Your two ideas are…

            1. “Someone’s child will solve the problem”
            2. Well there’s nothing we can do

            ?

            • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              No my ideas are that I’ll live my life and be the best person I can.

              It was a joke when I said his kid could fix it. That guy’s obviously an idiot and his kids would be too

              How do you people not know sarcasm? So I need to dumb it down for you with the /s like back in the day on Reddit? I thought we moved past that

              • otp@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                Yes, it’s obvious that you were joking about the other commenter’s kid fixing the problem.

                The issue is that it embodies the sentiment that it’s “not our problem” and it’s for the future generation to figure out…and then when that was called out, the first alternative you brought up was defeatism, as if that’s the only alternative to someone in the future fixing the problem, lol

                • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  The defeatism was obviously sarcasm too though. So stop making all these assumptions about me.

                  I obviously want the issues fixed and have hope that they will be since I said that I have my own children. I do my fair share as well.

                  Also you talk about “defeatism” and that’s all I see in this thread. People give up on the chance to have kids not because they don’t want them but because some rich assholes have started to destroy the environment, things cost too much, the pay isn’t right, etc… that’s defeatism. The rich assholes are still having plenty of kids and they will be the ones to inherit the world.

  • treefrog@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    You’ve thrown the worst fear That can ever be hurled Fear to bring children Into the world

    For threatenin’ my baby Unborn and unnamed You ain’t worth the blood That runs in your veins

      • Bo7a@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        This is a powerful lyric from the song masters of war by bob dylan.

        It is a song about how the Rich and powerful use and abuse normal people as Grist for the war mill or in this case Grist for the oil mill.

        How the fuck is this being downvoted?

  • StaySquared@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    lol… so wait, what you’re saying is, believers of the climate change doomsday scenario are less likely to have kids?

    Climate change is real! And we only have 20 years left… again. And again. And again… Annnnd again.

  • Amoxtli@thelemmy.club
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    2 months ago

    Is it climate change, or is it another cover for not wanting to raise little brats? I don’t want kids because: 1. “Cost of living.” 2. " I never met the right man." (Despite being sexually active). 3. “Nobody pays for my childcare.”