When I was born, there were about 2.5 billion people on this planet. In the span of my lifetime (I am now 70), that number has tripled. That is astounding. When I entered reproductive age, I made the decision that if I could do nothing else, I could at least not contribute to that astronomical growth.

I considered having kids, and I didn’t realise how much I had notions of a future with future generations until I really grieved the decision not to have them.

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.

Our first musical testimony, from Josephine’s spouse and band…

I am a 42 year old woman who decided not to have children in large part because I don’t see a viable future for them. I work in a field involved in protecting wildlife, but most days it feels as if I am rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. 

I am in my sixties now. I made the choice not to have children in my teens due to what I saw happening in the world.

My sister and I made a pact at a very young age that we would never have children, at the time, we did so in solidarity to break the cycle of domestic/child abuse that was occurring in our family.  

Ignore the distractions, focus on what’s important. We are facing an unprecedented global threat that needs priority above all the “distraction” the world throws at us.  I have always been conscious of how my decision to have children will add to the already pressing burden on nature and the environment, with species going extinct every day.