I have been attending a women's climate group since January, where most of the women are of childbearing age and are struggling with whether or not to have children. As the mother of a daughter who is my age and has no children due to the state of the world, this issue brings me sadness. Not only will my daughter miss out on the joy of having children, but I will also miss out on being a grandmother.
Back in 2022, New York Times reporter Ezra Klein noted that the most frequently asked question on podcasts was whether or not people should have children in light of the climate crisis. Klein pointed out that people who are dedicating their lives to fighting climate change are continuing to have children, and she mentioned two polls:
Morning consultation in 2020 poll It found that a quarter of childless adults say climate change is part of the reason they are childless.Morgan Stanley Analysis found “The decision not to have children is widespread due to concerns about climate change, impacting fertility rates faster than any previous trend in the area of fertility decline.”
A recent Lancet poll found that36% of teens and young adults were afraid to have children because of climate change.Tuesday's article detroit news Some young people are planning to have fewer or no children because of climate change.
Chicago — Colin Pearsall has a friend who is starting to have children. But he chose a different path. The main reason is climate change.
Pearsall worries that children will add to greenhouse gas emissions to a planet already affected by rising temperatures.
And he's concerned about the effects of climate change on children. “The sense of impending doom continues every day for the rest of their lives.”
When he and his wife talked about having children, he said, they found they were on the same page. ”
The decision to have children in a world threatened by climate change is two-fold. Not only are there concerns about bringing children into this world, but there are also concerns about their carbon footprint.
in Rochester Beaton This article discusses how having one fewer child can reduce carbon dioxide emissions. How many children should couples have if climate change is occurring? The authors cite a study that compared the number of people lost by one person (58.6 tons of carbon).
As a second example, Survey by statisticians It shows that if carbon emissions remained at the same level as 2005 for several generations, an American couple with one fewer child would save the equivalent of 9,441 tons of carbon dioxide. In contrast, driving a more fuel-efficient car, one that gets 10 more miles per gallon, saves you the equivalent of just 148 tons of carbon dioxide. That is, compared to other environmentally friendly behavior Whether it's driving an electric car, installing solar panels on your roof, or cutting back on red meat consumption, the decision to have one fewer child can have a dramatic effect.
Virtual reality and climate change action
A recent study published in the journal Science Communication found that people are more likely to be motivated to actively support environmental causes when information is presented through a virtual reality platform.
“It's difficult to communicate environmental issues to non-scientists because they are usually long-term and not easily predicted.” Liao Mengqi, first author and doctoral candidate in mass communication at Penn State University. “It goes without saying that bringing people to environments damaged by climate change, such as coral reefs, is typically very difficult, but decades of data collected in part from NASA aircraft and satellite missions show that Based on 2018, coral reefs have declined rapidly over the past 30 years. This is where VR can help. We can bring the environment to people and show them what will happen if we don't act.”
Participants in the loss-framed experience were exposed to healthy and unhealthy coral ecosystems, along with messages explaining the negative effects of not adopting climate change mitigation actions. The gain-frame version showed unhealthy and healthy coral ecosystems and included messages explaining the positive impacts of adopting climate policies. www.psu.edu/…
United Nations Meteorological Agency issues 'urgent warning' on climate change in response to record heat and increased ice melt in 2023
GENEVA (AP) – The United Nations meteorological agency is sounding an “red alert” on global warming, citing record increases in greenhouse gases, land and water temperatures, and melting of glaciers and sea ice over the past year. It wasn't enough to reverse the trend.
The World Meteorological Organization said 2024 is “likely” to be another year of record heat.
The Geneva-based agency raised concerns that much-vaunted climate change targets are increasingly at risk in its “State of the Global Climate” report released on Tuesday. In other words, the world can come together to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels.
“Although this is temporary, we have never been this close to the 1.5°C lower limit of the Paris Climate Agreement,” said Celeste Sauro, the agency's director-general. “The WMO community is sounding an emergency alert to the world.”
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