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.

  • BigBenis@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

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

    • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      What if your kid was going to be the one to fix everything though? Lol now we are doomed

      • mutant_zz@lemmy.world
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        6 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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            6 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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              6 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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                6 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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                  6 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.

        • Wolfy21_@lemmy.ml
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          6 months ago

          Cool, now you, an educated, well intent person with good morals won’t have any offspring to pass those values to, and thus won’t have any representation in the next generations. Meanwhile redneck Terry will make 7 children with 3 different women and teach them to hate the libruls and that the earth is flat.

          It is your decision not to have kids, I chose so myself too. But your line of thinking is in discord with the argument.

          • SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            6 months ago

            Have you met the kids of those rednecks? A lot are estranged from their parents.

            Especially with the internet, parents have a limited amount of control over kids, the more important part is education.

      • SolarMech@slrpnk.net
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        6 months ago

        We don’t have time to wait for kids to grow up before doing what we can. Ah, sorry. Before putting all of that responsibility on them and screaming “NOT IT!”