The most common questions I get as a climate journalist, part I
Should I have kids?
#1: I’m worried about climate change. Should I have kids?
This is the most common question I get. I have written and spoken about this quite a bit, so I’ll try to summarize:
If you want to have kids, you should have kids. If you don’t want to have kids, and climate change is one of the reasons that helps you explain this to others who are inappropriately questioning your decision, carry on. However, if you’re using it to shame people who are choosing to have kids, cut that out.
If you are concerned about the impact your future children will have in terms of carbon emissions, watch this video. The long version is that it’s complicated and depends on if you hold yourself responsible for the carbon emissions of your lineage for the next 400 years. The short version is have the kid and stop flying.
If you are concerned about the kind of future your kid might face, this is much more complicated. I am right there with you. The truth is that we just don’t know what our children will face — from AI, from climate change, from totalitarian governments, from nuclear weapons. What is a sad truth that I find most people avoid is that if you live in the Western World and enjoy middle-class privileges, your child will likely avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. And the children who are suffering from climate change are suffering now, and most people in America don’t give two shits about that. So…yeah…have the kid, and donate to this fund.
As my friend (and philosopher) Danielle says, people decide to have kids for emotional reasons and then spend a lot of time trying to rationalize those decisions. When I describe to friends why I decided to have kids, I tell them it felt like when you really crave Thai food. Who knows why? But you can either spend the next hour agonizing about it, or you can save an hour and call in the pickup order.
Just one more question about…having kids in a climate crisis
For the sake of being succinct, I was forced to write on this topic with much more confidence than - if I’m being honest - I actually have. Here are the questions that I’m still mulling over:
- Does having children make us inherently selfish and self-serving, unable to be truly community minded since we are biologically driven to want to protect and advance our children above all others?
-Or, does having children actually make us more able to witness and stay awake to the enormous suffering of the climate crisis? Can we only care fiercely about the future of our planet after we realize it’s going to house our children (and their children, etc?)
-Why the fuck are so many climate activists also mothers, specifically mothers of young children?? A group of people who truly have the LEAST time and energy to spare seem to be the ones giving the most. It’s a disturbing trend I’m going to have to write about sooner or later…
-Why have kids at all? I can’t figure it out. I feel like in order to make a truly logical decision about having children, you’d have to understand the meaning of life in general. It’s just bizarre to not be asking WHY ARE WE HERE? but instead be asking SHOULD I BRING ANOTHER PERSON TO THIS PLACE WE DON’T KNOW WHY WE ARE AT?? And, when you throw in climate change, then you’re really asking SHOULD I BRING ANOTHER PERSON TO THIS PLACE WE DON’T KNOW WHY WE’RE AT, EVEN THOUGH IT MAY BE WORSE IN THE FUTURE THAN IT IS NOW, EVEN THOUGH IT’S PRETTY ROUGH NOW BUT ALSO GREAT NOW??
Sidenote: very interested in understanding why we’re here if you have an answer to that.
What is Just One More Question? This newsletter came about because I feel like so much online writing is about answers (I get it, click bait and algorithms and all that), but all I have are questions. I wanted a place to write about the questions I’m chewing on.
Want to connect? Find me on Instagram. Read more of my writing here. Or leave a comment on this post.
Know someone who would enjoy this? Share it below.
"Who knows why?"
This is so true. I spent so much time trying to analyze how I felt, why I felt it, and whether feeling it was logical or not. Great post!
I think about why we exist and would be glad to talk about this any time. As a counselor, I view all of this from a different lens perhaps. As a person whose faith determines my identity and purpose for living, the question of why we are here always intrigues me.