Words and photos by Libby Foster |
Babies... the one word that can strike fear into most of us under the age of 25. Personally speaking, the whole commitment thing really sends shivers down my spine. Of course, babies are cute, and we all probably think about the future and whether we’ll have them (or not). That lovable, smaller version of yourself running around trashing the house, who also ruined your body and your bank account. But other than that, what isn’t there to love, right?
For a small group of women and men it isn’t the thought of financial burden stopping them from having children, it is the effect that having children is doing to the environment. Birthstrike is a group of individuals who have made a pact not to have children due to the climate catastrophe facing the planet. On paper this may seem like the best solution; less of us on Earth to create pollution. But there’s some doubt it actually makes a difference, with the suggestion that we could be over-stepping the line with no coming back.
A study performed by Corey J. A. Bradshaw and Barry W. Brook in 2014 found that reducing the population is not actually a quick fix to sorting out environmental problems. The pair examined several different scenarios for global human population change by changing fertility and mortality rates. Even when looking into a one-child policy but on a global scale, they still found that there would not be a significant reduction in the population by 2100.
However, this is challenged by Seth Wynes and Kimberly A Nicholas in 2017, who found that having less children was the most effective way of a person cutting down on their carbon emissions. The pair calculated that by doing this each year of a parent’s life would result in a reduction of 58 tonnes of CO2. Despite this, there is still evidence to suggest that the climate crisis is well past the point of being able to be reduced by an individual’s choices.
Having children might not be in your 5-year plan just yet, but one day they might be. It is therefore important to investigate all the factors that bringing another life into this world will do. A reduction in birth rate usually comes with an increase in the use of contraception, so is important we make the right choices to protect ourselves – and our planet.
The major concern that comes from a reduction in the population is obviously that if everyone stopped having babies the human race would eventually be wiped out. Imagine a ‘dinosaurs but without the meteorite’ situation. However, unlike the dinosaurs we have a chance to change our fate, but we need to act now.