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If you want the honest but depressing answer: it's probably too late. Don't have kids unless you want them to have a worse life than you've had. On the plus si

If you want the honest but depressing answer: it's probably too late. Don't have kids unless you want them to have a worse life than you've had. On the plus side, the worst consequences from climate change will occur after we're dead. Just enjoy the rest of your life and try not to think about it too much. After all, that's what everyone else has been doing.

digitalsushi 8y ago
Even if the math ends up that we are indeed doomed, this type of behavior is not aligned with the human spirit. If we get lung cancer from smoking, we can learn from it, defy it, and /stop smoking/. Or we can become the vice incarnate, and die with the smug satisfaction that we were right because we gave no hope. I want to spend the rest of my life on a planet struggling to survive, not partying to death.
pier25 8y ago
Sadly I agree. Climate change is one of the reasons we're not having kids. In part because they would have had a very bad life, but also because it's the best for the planet. Reducing consumption of resources is not working, so we should start thinking about controlling population growth.
- gepi79 8y ago
  If you want kids then have kids. Individual actions do not matter globally. We are far away from global overpopulation. Unless people insist on fossil fuel, waste of resources and animal products as food. More people are needed for more work for a better world. Have a good life because it is important for work for improvement. Improvement means better technology. I know about the dangerous situation but I am still optimistic for humans. http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127 http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127 https://thinkprogress.org/solar-wind-keep-getting-cheaper-33c38350fb95/ https://thinkprogress.org/solar-wind-keep-getting-cheaper-33... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdLRiaCjRkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdLRiaCjRkw https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-carbon/scientists-say-cost-of-sucking-carbon-from-thin-air-could-tumble-idUSKCN1J325H https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-carbon/scie... https://phys.org/news/2017-09-solar-to-fuel-recycles-co2-ethanol-ethylene.html https://phys.org/news/2017-09-solar-to-fuel-recycles-co2-eth... https://www.or.is/carbfix https://www.or.is/carbfix
  - pier25 8y ago
    > Individual actions do not matter globally. The forest is still composed by trees. > We are far away from global overpopulation. Unless people insist on fossil fuel, waste of resources and animal products as food. You are technically right, of course, but if humans were rational creatures we would have acted on climate change when the evidence was presented to the world.
    - gepi79 8y ago
      > The forest is still composed by trees. Yes, but most people do not improve their behavior until nature or some culture or some law enforces the change. The efforts of many are wasted by the ignorance or carelessness or selfishness or insanity or lack of choice of many others.
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  As an individual, you are powerless to control population growth. If you decide not to have kids, the world will get filled with the descendants of other people. The descendants of those other people will probably care less about what happens to the environment than your descendants would. Dealing with the issues of the future will require collective action. In order for that collective action to take place, people will need to vote for it. Having kids means more people to vote for the things you think need to be voted for (since they will share your genetics and you will heavily influence their environment). So you should have kids.
  - ForHackernews 8y ago
    You're still pretending like your kids or those other peoples' kids might get together and fix climate change. I'm saying it's too late for that. Having kids is just condemning them to live in a world ravaged by famine, war and drought. Maybe you're fine with that because you believe on some philosophical level that any life is preferable to never having lived at all, but that's not self-evident.
    - toasterlovin 8y ago
      Black Americans are living proof that a lot of people thought a life of slavery was worth living, despite it's utter terribleness. I think it’s a good bet that living in a world with global warming is better than slavery.
      - xapata 8y ago
        Sorta, but quality of life is subjective. A poor person might be happy and not mind their kids growing up poor. A rich person fearing poverty might have a different opinion.
      - pier25 8y ago
        > I think it’s a good bet that living in a world with global warming is better than slavery. Depends on the level of warming.

digitalsushi 8y ago

Even if the math ends up that we are indeed doomed, this type of behavior is not aligned with the human spirit. If we get lung cancer from smoking, we can learn from it, defy it, and /stop smoking/. Or we can become the vice incarnate, and die with the smug satisfaction that we were right because we gave no hope. I want to spend the rest of my life on a planet struggling to survive, not partying to death.

pier25 8y ago

Sadly I agree. Climate change is one of the reasons we're not having kids. In part because they would have had a very bad life, but also because it's the best for the planet. Reducing consumption of resources is not working, so we should start thinking about controlling population growth.

gepi79 8y ago
If you want kids then have kids. Individual actions do not matter globally. We are far away from global overpopulation. Unless people insist on fossil fuel, waste of resources and animal products as food. More people are needed for more work for a better world. Have a good life because it is important for work for improvement. Improvement means better technology. I know about the dangerous situation but I am still optimistic for humans. http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127 http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/archives/127 https://thinkprogress.org/solar-wind-keep-getting-cheaper-33c38350fb95/ https://thinkprogress.org/solar-wind-keep-getting-cheaper-33... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdLRiaCjRkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdLRiaCjRkw https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-carbon/scientists-say-cost-of-sucking-carbon-from-thin-air-could-tumble-idUSKCN1J325H https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-carbon/scie... https://phys.org/news/2017-09-solar-to-fuel-recycles-co2-ethanol-ethylene.html https://phys.org/news/2017-09-solar-to-fuel-recycles-co2-eth... https://www.or.is/carbfix https://www.or.is/carbfix
- pier25 8y ago
  > Individual actions do not matter globally. The forest is still composed by trees. > We are far away from global overpopulation. Unless people insist on fossil fuel, waste of resources and animal products as food. You are technically right, of course, but if humans were rational creatures we would have acted on climate change when the evidence was presented to the world.
  - gepi79 8y ago
    > The forest is still composed by trees. Yes, but most people do not improve their behavior until nature or some culture or some law enforces the change. The efforts of many are wasted by the ignorance or carelessness or selfishness or insanity or lack of choice of many others.
toasterlovin 8y ago
As an individual, you are powerless to control population growth. If you decide not to have kids, the world will get filled with the descendants of other people. The descendants of those other people will probably care less about what happens to the environment than your descendants would. Dealing with the issues of the future will require collective action. In order for that collective action to take place, people will need to vote for it. Having kids means more people to vote for the things you think need to be voted for (since they will share your genetics and you will heavily influence their environment). So you should have kids.
- ForHackernews 8y ago
  You're still pretending like your kids or those other peoples' kids might get together and fix climate change. I'm saying it's too late for that. Having kids is just condemning them to live in a world ravaged by famine, war and drought. Maybe you're fine with that because you believe on some philosophical level that any life is preferable to never having lived at all, but that's not self-evident.
  - toasterlovin 8y ago
    Black Americans are living proof that a lot of people thought a life of slavery was worth living, despite it's utter terribleness. I think it’s a good bet that living in a world with global warming is better than slavery.
    - xapata 8y ago
      Sorta, but quality of life is subjective. A poor person might be happy and not mind their kids growing up poor. A rich person fearing poverty might have a different opinion.
    - pier25 8y ago
      > I think it’s a good bet that living in a world with global warming is better than slavery. Depends on the level of warming.