Want to Help Fight Climate Change? Have More Children
Don’t feel guilty about bringing children into a warming world. Be hopeful that they can help solve the problem.
A favorable climate for childhood.
Photographer: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images AsiaPacFear of climate change is justified. It is not, however, a reason not to have children. That’s because those kids of yours are more likely to be part of the solution than the problem.
This view puts me at odds with millions of younger Americans; a recent online poll indicates that 38 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 say climate change should be a factor in the decision to have children. (Perhaps the most prominent member of this cohort is Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who recently suggested on Instagram that climate change will make future lives so difficult that whether to have children is a “legitimate question.”) There is even a Facebook group, called BirthStrike, for people who have decided not to have children because of climate change.