Last weekend, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” program had an intriguing story on, as the headline put it, “climate change activists hesitant to have kids.”
The reporter visited a meeting in New Hampshire held by the nonprofit organization Conceivable Future at which women fretted over the ethics of bringing children into a world facing a dire climate future.
The story got me thinking, especially since I’m in a demographic that was well represented at the meeting. I’m not married, but I am in a committed relationship and the option to have kids or not is still wide open.
Still, that doesn’t stop me from wanting children of my own someday.
Is it so wrong to desire kids given what we know about the world’s current condition? Would having a child be a selfish act, unfair to the little boy or girl who might be doomed to live in miserable conditions?
Actually, I think the opposite is true.
Having kids is an incredibly unselfish act. It takes guts to commit to nurturing an entirely new life, essentially for the rest of yours.
And who knows, you or I might give birth to the very person who figures out how to fix things. Maybe the world won’t burn up after all.
Faith plays a big role in my reasoning. As a Roman Catholic, I believe married couples must be open to having children, not pre-emptively shut them out of consideration.
Catholics have vocations — not a job that pays, but the life path God lays out — and I’ve always believed mine revolves around having a family.
Plus, no one knows what the future will hold. I am not so naive that I think climate change is not a tremendous and terrifying problem. Of course it is, and we ought to be concerned and take measures now to mitigate its impact.
But I also firmly believe that we should not be afraid. If everyone held the “I shouldn’t have kids so they won’t be stuck with a miserable life” mentality, there goes humanity.
Life will be hard regardless of the state of the climate. Children will still have to survive school, relationships, jobs, bills and kids of their own, not to mention things like their health, social pressures and the weight of tragedies near and far.
We survive and thrive on hope, not fear. The best solution is to have children and educate them, to make sure they are aware of the threats facing their home so they too can work to protect the planet.
We can’t shy away from what scares us, and we can’t presume to know what’s best for someone we haven’t even met yet.
She Speaks” is a weekly column by women writers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Reach Celia Downes at cdownes@staradvertiser.com.
