A generation facing an intractable problem debates whether to bring a new generation into the world.
WBEZ Chicago on NPR One | 4:20
Testimony: I want to have hope but I am afraid -Anon
Hello,
I am an almost 21 year old non-binary person from the UK. Ever since I was a child I have always known that I wanted to be a parent. In my ideal world, I would have children in about eight to ten years’ time. I desperately want to be a parent and feel a strong urge to care for and raise children but the world seems so hostile towards them and I can’t imagine a future where they would be safe,
Two climate activists weigh in on why thinking about your uterus as the site of your political action is problematic.
In a world of pandemic chaos, political strife and climate catastrophe, some would-be parents see the future as too dark to procreate.
this NYT Styles article conflates anxiety about the changing climate’s threat to babies with babies’ ‘threat’ to the climate. This is the first distinction we make at Conceivable Future.
Around the world, members of Generation Z are experiencing climate anxiety. And many people are debating whether to ever have children.
A collaboration between Gen Dread and The All We Can Save Project
In 1969, a year after Paul and Anne Ehrlich published a book predicting that a “population bomb” would set humankind on a path to widespread famine and
Hello, I am a 21 year old woman. (Anon)
I have always felt called to motherhood. When I was a child I would cart around my baby dolls and play Mommy. Now I am an adult person, capable of being someone’s Mommy.
Trying to come to terms with the impact of our choices - Anon
Tread lightly is a motto I live by and one I am trying to instill in my two young children.
I think it’s too late- Kate Age 43
I am 43 years old. My husband and I have been married for six years. We live in the UK. I know he wants kids and would make an amazing father. I have always been a bit ambivalent about kids for many reasons, yet I probably would have done it, at least for the sake of my partner. However, for the last few years I have felt a crushing sense of climate anxiety which has put me off the idea of kids. I sway between hope/ activism and doom/ despair.
Climate change is influencing reproductive choices.
“The point is not whether or not to have kids; the point is, what can
this political moment teach us about what we have to do? The fact that
people are asking themselves these questions, having these thoughts,
that’s the problem. The problem is that we have built a world where
people need to ask [themselves if the climate is too much of a threat to
a future child].“
Kiersten Little, Age 30
For most of my life, I have felt fairly ambivalent about having children. However, now that I am 30 and married, I have gradually begun to feel the pull of having children. My friends are starting to have kids or talk about wanting kids soon. And it’s just hard to imagine not having kids when that experience seems to be such a big and important part of life. Entering this stage of life has brought increased doubt, uncertainty, confusion, and sadness around my reproductive choices.
The Calling- Monica Filippenko
Tonight is the Winter Solstice. Darkness envelops me, saying rest. Sleep. Be quiet. Make space.
I
am hoping for some clarity this winter, some answers about which steps
to take next, and what Gaia is asking me to do. How to best serve her
with my life. I feel movement toward this clarity in certain respects,
but I also still feel unsure.