‘I am starting to panic about my child’s future’: climate scientists wary of starting families

The Guardian ^ | May 10, 2024 | Damian Carrington

[DoodleBob]

“I had 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.

Such decisions were extremely difficult, they said. Dr Shobha Maharaj, an expert on the effects of the climate crisis from Trinidad and Tobago, has chosen to have only one child, a son who is now six years old. “Choosing to have a child was and continues to be a struggle,” she said.

Maharaj said fear of what her child’s future would hold, as well as adding another human to the planet, were part of the struggle: “When you grow up on a small island, it becomes part of you. Small islands are already being very adversely impacted, so there is this constant sense of impending loss and I just didn’t want to have to transfer that to my child.”

“However, my husband is the most family-oriented person I know,” Maharaj said. “So this was a compromise: one child, no more. Who knows, maybe my son will grow up to be someone who can help find a solution?”

…

The publication of The Population Bomb by Prof Paul Ehrlich in 1968, mentioned by several of the scientists in their survey responses, was a particular flashpoint.

[lightman]

Yup, some critters shouldn’t breed.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I encourage all leftists to not have children and to castrate themselves

[Mears]

So what !

.

….

[No name given]

So do I.

[No name given]

Well said.

[No name given]

Amen!

[No name given]

At all.

[No name given]

And don’t forget to repeal the 19th amendment.

[No name given]

And I hope they all stop!

[No name given]

That’s right!

[toddausauras]

That too.

[Brian Griffin]

“climate crisis”

I personally know New England can be pretty cold in May.

[Parmy]

Genesis: As long as the Earth lasts, sowing and harvest, hot and cold, night and day, Summer and Winter will exist.

[madison10]

Good. No little climate change clones.

[madrastex]

Wonderful news!

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Parmesan imagines she had an original thought and the whole world will be in awe. Sorry, she is not Einstein.

[Organic Panic]

“Climate experts”

What the hell have “climate experts” ever been right about? Would you trust a doctor who has been wrong about everything?

[bigbob]

They have plenty of reason to be concerned - just not the one they think is the problem.

[Ancesthntr]

“ I’m 62 now and I’m actually really glad I did not have children.”
———-
So are we, you’re an idiot.

[Allegra]

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.”