I think that, no matter when you were born in history, there were trials and tribulations.
It’s the main reason I’m not having children. While there are other reasons the main one is a combination of global warming made worse by late stage capitalism and the resulting political instability that comes with that.
While I refuse to make the choice to bring someone new into this world myself I do see it as my duty to help as many of the kids around me who were brought into this world regardless. The world they were bron into is not their fault and I appreciate being able to use my resources to help them and their parents.
Since the industrial revolution, fossil fuels were the only affordable energy sources that could meet the demand of industrialized countries. Until 5-10 years ago.
We're now in a situation where most people can still pretend that climate change isn't serious, and the fossil fuel lobby is stronger than ever. And yet over 90% of new electricity generation is already renewable, because it has simply become cheaper than coal and gas power in the last years.
As climate impacts worsen, the pressure to decarbonize will only get larger. The lobbies have been fighting tooth and nail against the energy transition for over 40 years, but they are rapidly loosing ground now in most countries.
It's right to be alarmed about climate change, there will be serious long-term impacts, but it seems irrational to be completely fatalistic. Just comparing the battery prices and solar panel prices and ev market with 10 years ago reveals a truly massive shift. And this is just the beginning of the energy transition.
It's right to be alarmed about climate change, there will be serious long-term impacts, but it seems irrational to be completely fatalistic.
Ok, what about when you also factor in resource depletion? Is it right to be fatalistic yet?
Because from where I'm standing, it doesn't look like there's much of a future for anything on this planet when Global freshwater demand will exceed supply 40% by 2030, experts warn and 90 per cent of Earth’s topsoil is at risk of depletion by 2050.
How will the billions of children born in this decade, survive in an increasingly polluted and hot future, with no fresh water or arable land?
My children are still very young, but oh are they happy!
They are enjoying their life and no future suffering will ever take that away from them.
I wouldn't want to deny those awesome humans their right to play as merrily as they do. To create, to enjoy life. They exist right now as well, in 2025 and 2026.
The end of life is always painful. Life is still worth it.
It's a very personal decision and I'm glad about every human that's not born on this crowded planet. But collectively not having children feels pretty bleak to me. Are we as a species already giving up, rolling on our backs and wait to go extinct? Come on! There is so much beauty and so much to do in this world.
My children are having a great time, they bring joy, purpose and chaos to my life. I love having them around, even though their future scares me. That has always been part of becoming a parent.
I feel like some doomer lemmings need to go outside a little more, instead of telling themselves and their screens how awful everything is. Life was brutal a century ago.
Absolutely I do. And I don’t understand what makes a person think that bringing a new life into this disaster is a good idea.
Well, hopefully you at least feel thankful that so many of your ancestors brought children into a world much more filled with pain and suffering and death than today.
I'm not, lmao. My life sucks. Wtf is with all the breeders here trying to justify their contributions to climate change!? There is immensely more pain and suffering in our immediate future than there was at any point in human history. We are literally looking at the end of humanity here.
Breeders, oy..... So wtf you still doing here if so miserable and zero hope?
Lmao, did you really just tell someone to kill themselves because they don't want to have children?
And you think you respect life. What irony.
Lmao hurr durr..... Where did I tell someone to kill themselves?
So wtf you still doing here if so miserable and zero hope?
What do you think it means when you say this?
The question mark at the end means it's a question, seems a pretty fair question to me. If there's nothing for kids to be here for, and it's a miserable shithole, and ruining the planet, why would you want to be here either?
Lmao, did you really just ask someone why they won't kill themselves if they don't want to have children?
And you think you respect life. What irony.
WTF are you talking about? Reading comprehension, give it a shot.
Lol
I'm here because I'm trying to figure out what's going on in your head. You're trying to justify having children when we're barrelling towards the most dire point of humanity's history, one that will potentially cause the extinction of our species, while the powers that be are putting their foot on the gas. What the fuck is wrong with you?
Yeah, I'm going to call you a breeder because it appears that your not practicing responsible parenthood, you're just breeding like an animal.
...unless you were trying to indirectly tell me to kill myself. If so then grow a pair and say it to my face. I'm still here because I know I'll hurt the people around me if I end my life. That's it. That's the only reason why I still live. I'm a trans gal in Texas. I don't have much to look forward to.
Do the rest of the world a favor and get yourself neutered, breeder.
I'm not trying, nor will I ever try, to justify a goddamned thing to a hateful fuck like you, just pointing out you're a logically inconsistent hypocrite.
You haven't done anything of the sort. The only reason why I'm still here is for others. Are you telling me that the only reason why children exist is for the benefit of others? That's really fucking disturbing.
You're mad because you know that I'm right. You're mad because you know that the creation of children cannot be justified in this day and age. You're mad because somewhere inside your skull, you've come to the realization that (if you've created children) you've brought them into what is very likely a doomed world in which they will eventually experience a hell like nothing any other human had ever experienced.
Good job, you selfish asshole. Your children may one day grow to be miserable and ask you why you had to bring them into the world. Then you will have to face them, look them in the eye, and tell them that it was all about your own happiness, not theirs.
Oh you're so selfless, living in misery and taking part in ruining the planet on the way to certain doom, all for others! You're a judgy, hateful asshole, really couldn't care less what people of your ilk think about me. Have the day you deserve.
Aww, you're so mad! People only get mad like that when they know that someone has a logically sound argument but they're deep in denial. When that happens, emotions take over and the caveman comes out.
Edit: also, I'm actually looking forward to today, I believe I'm going to have a very nice day with friends. A brief respite from my hellish, self-destructive existence. It'll hopefully be nice and chill. Maybe I'll even get to cuddle with someone! That'd be nice.
Ha, classic!
Oh, and are you not contributing to climate change? Ok for you tho, just not kids?
Oh, I still am, but I'm not increasing my footprint exponentially by adding more lives to the equation.
Yes
Yeah, the world is overrun with dragons right now. It sucks.
But I suppose it's about one's perspective as to the point of life: Is the ideal life one of ease and leisure or of purpose?
We can choose to spite the dragons by voluntarily going extinct, or we can pass down the very best of ourselves and be good examples to raise dragon slayers to take up the mantle, whilst learning from our missteps.
I choose a perspective of hope and responsibility to humanity.
Do not pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to overcome a difficult one. --Bruce Lee
There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for. --Samwise Gamgee
I think the next generation is going to start feeling it hard. Current generation will slip by but barely. I'm not pressuring my kids to have their own. Just do you fam.
Life will be harder but your kids might make it better for the others
Will you be telling your kids this? That you created them as a sacrifice for a chance at making life better for other people?
I mean, I made a conscious decision not to have children, so...
I was born in the 90s and I feel sad about being born to this day, can't imagine the poor kids who are gonna grow up now
I feel like most people today have kids just because they feel that's what they should be doing or because they just want a kid. I feel having kids is almost, incredibly selfish? If that makes sense.
What an odd take. Reproducing is arguably the #1 motivation, and purpose, of all life on this planet. Biologically anyway. You're taking issue with a fundamental trait of life that's baked into our DNA.
May as well deem people selfish for wanting food and shelter too.
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
