What Would You Do About Climate Change?

[Iormlund]

Why not just kill yourself then? That would turn you into a point decimal something insignificant in carbon decrease blahblah.

I feel like the most zealous here are just turning their Houellebecqian protagonist existence into something heroic. 

I'm hardly zealous. I never wanted kids, so it's not exactly a sacrifice on my part.

But numbers don't lie. Having kids is the single biggest multiplier of one's energy expenditure.

[Legbiter]

I'm hardly zealous. I never wanted kids, so it's not exactly a sacrifice on my part.

But numbers don't lie. Having kids is the single biggest multiplier of one's energy expenditure.

My five year old just hugged me the other day because he "loves me almost as much as mum".  You do you of course and as a fellow near-carnivore I want you on my side in a bar fight every day of the week...

Hell, whatever civilization replaces ours will be so perplexed by all the leftover plastic and our ancient smart phones.

[Eddie Teach]

Your kid won't have to compete with his for resources. You should be thanking him.

[Legbiter]

Your kid won't have to compete with his for resources. You should be thanking him.

My children will make their own way in the world. And I'll be there as long as I can help. Preferably the day before I drop dead.

[Josquius]

Its always a bit dodgy when people don't have kids for environmental reasons.
Afterall, that kind of caring for stuff beyond yourself attitude is what we want in the next generation.
It's idiocracy in action.

[mongers]

Its always a bit dodgy when people don't have kids for environmental reasons.
Afterall, that kinds of caring for stuff beyond yourself attitude is what we want in the nex generation.
It's idiocracy in action.

[Eddie Teach]

I'm not so sure there's a gene that makes people care about others. 

[Admiral Yi]

I think Squeeze is saying he wants The Good People to outbreed The Evil Thatcherites. 

[Josquius]

I'm not so sure there's a gene that makes people care about others. 

There's not much there genetically (though there probably are some genes associated with that). But upbringing definitely impacts on it.

I think Squeeze is saying he wants The Good People to outbreed The Evil Thatcherites. 

But thinking and caring about things tends to correlate with a low birth rate.

[The Brain]

Its always a bit dodgy when people don't have kids for environmental reasons.
Afterall, that kind of caring for stuff beyond yourself attitude is what we want in the next generation.
It's idiocracy in action.

How many people don't have kids for environmental reasons?

[Josquius]

Its always a bit dodgy when people don't have kids for environmental reasons.
Afterall, that kind of caring for stuff beyond yourself attitude is what we want in the next generation.
It's idiocracy in action.

How many people don't have kids for environmental reasons?

No idea. But this isn't the first I've heard about it.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190920-the-couples-reconsidering-kids-because-of-climate-change

[The Brain]

Its always a bit dodgy when people don't have kids for environmental reasons.
Afterall, that kind of caring for stuff beyond yourself attitude is what we want in the next generation.
It's idiocracy in action.

How many people don't have kids for environmental reasons?

No idea. But this isn't the first I've heard about it.
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190920-the-couples-reconsidering-kids-because-of-climate-change

Bickner, now 28, quickly recognised that having a child in America – let alone four, five or 13 – would be the single most carbon-intensive choice she could make. In the developed world the carbon footprint of a child is roughly 58.6 metric tonnes annually, whereas that of a Malawian child has consistently been estimated between 0.07 and 0.1 metric tonnes annually.

So they could have just moved to Malawi. I think it's as simple as they don't want kids.

[Admiral Yi]

There's also the train of thought that any children you produce will be living in a post-apocalyptic world.

[HisMajestyBOB]

There's also the train of thought that any children you produce will be living in a post-apocalyptic world.

I like to think of my son ruling his own fiefdom in that post-apocalyptic world.

[crazy canuck]

Since many of the best scientific ideas (perhaps ideas in general) come from the young it would be counterproductive not to have kids.