I want to have hope but I am afraid—Anonymous

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,

between climate change, ever more likely pandemics, escalating military conflicts, the likelihood of food and water scarcity, the rise of fascism, the destruction of state welfare resources and the impossible job and housing markets. I’ve always seen optimism as a verb, not a noun, about believing in a better world because you are out every day taking concrete action to improve it. And I know having children would be the ultimate act of hope. But I am just so afraid that I would have children, we would miss the 1.5 degree target, and they would have lives doomed to ever declining ecological conditions, unable to swim in the oceans or walk through the forests and likely with very low life expectancy and little to no quality of life. Should I wait to see what happens around the point of no return in 2030? I am so afraid and I just want a safe future so I can have children. I wish policymakers would make the world better and stop using fossil fuels. Where is there urgency? My chance to have children is slipping away before my eyes.