Is There Fear Surrounding Kids & Climate Change?

The podcast explores the fear surrounding having kids due to climate change. Research shows declining birth rates due to the effects of climate change. It also highlights the potential health risks during pregnancy caused by increased temperatures. On the other hand, there is a TED talk arguing the importance of having kids to prevent issues like labor shortages and insufficient tax revenue. An interview with a passionate individual reveals concerns about resources and sustainability. While another interviewee does not factor in climate change when considering having kids. Overall, there is an awareness of climate change among Generation Z, but the level of fear varies. The podcast concludes with the question of whether climate change could limit the chance of conceiving. Hello, and welcome back to the Crap You Should Care About podcast. This week, we'll be taking a look at the question, is there fear surrounding the idea of having kids due to the looming threat of climate change? You might be wondering, how did you decide on such a specific topic? And I have to be honest with you guys, I have no idea. But I remember a conversation I had with one of my cousins. She's extremely passionate about all things related to our Earth and the best ways to use it sustainably. Having kids turns out, in her opinion, was no longer sustainable. Her fears consisted of limited or no resources such as food, clean water and clean air. That conversation was pretty one sided. The thought of my future children living through the horrible effects of global warming had been a fleeting thought I had had probably about once in a biology class. But that conversation had always kind of stuck with me. And I wanted to see if this fear was something many people in Generation Z had or not. When I started my research, I had very little faith I would find anything. But sure enough, the first academic journal to pop up was titled, will climate change ruin your sex life? For obvious reasons, I was a little skeptical opening this up, but figured it was worth a shot. What I found in the academic journal was actually extremely interesting. The article described a study performed that basically showed when it's warmer out, people aren't as inclined to having sex. Therefore, nine months out from that date or month, the birth rates are seen to have dropped pretty significantly. I never thought about this being a factor before, but found it slightly humorous as well as really interesting. What this article stated towards the end that I found really relevant to my research question was this. They calculate that as a result of higher temperatures due to climate change, annual US births will decline by 2.6%, meaning we'll see about 107,000 fewer babies. Now, this research has nothing to do with fear, and it was at this point I decided to find out if Generation Z had fear surrounding having kids and climate change just by interviewing them myself. But I thought it was really interesting that there's actually data out there that's proving a trend that birth rates are starting to decrease due to climate change. So I continued on with my research to see if I could find any other sources and sure enough, there were. This next source was also an academic journal and was also a study completed on the prenatal and pregnancy period, which was seen to have been impacted by increased temperatures. Their findings were that there was a possibility of increased risk of eclampsia and preeclampsia when fertilized in the summer compared to the fall and winter. For those of you who don't quite know what eclampsia and preeclampsia are, you are in good company, but never fear because I did that research for you. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication where the mom gets high blood pressure and can get high levels of protein in her urine. High protein in urine indicates that there is damage being done to the kidneys as well as possible damage to other organs as well. If preeclampsia is not treated or starts to have complications, then it will turn into eclampsia. It becomes eclampsia when you start to develop seizures either during pregnancy or after birth and it is deemed to be life threatening. In summary, they concluded that the findings of their review confirmed the crucial importance of the adverse health effects of climate change, especially in the prenatal period. Through finding all this research on declining birth rates, it made me wonder if there was any research out there that stressed the importance of continuing to have kids. That's when I found a TED talk called The Case of Having Kids with speaker Wajahat Ali. Now, I just want to stress that I'm completely aware of the very dire threats of global warming and climate change. I just want to acknowledge that choosing to have babies is a deeply profoundly personal choice and that many who want to are unable. But just for today, let's examine the flip side of the coin and how not having enough new people is going to be a major problem moving forward. According to the World Health Organization, we need to average about 2.1 children per woman today just so we have enough people to replace the previous generation. A lot of you thought overpopulation was going to be a problem in 100 years. Yeah, it might be underpopulation. So a question, what happens if that number dips below 2.1? There's going to be a domino effect. As all of us get older and live longer, there's going to be a shrinking younger population, which is going to lead to rising labor shortages in the world's biggest economies. I'm talking about United States, China, Japan, Germany. Fewer younger working people means less tax revenue. Less tax revenue means less money and resources to go to safety net programs that all of us are going to depend upon. I'm talking about pensions and healthcare. It seems every generation is indeed connected. So Ali is clearly a really passionate guy and I actually personally agree with a lot of what he said, but the matter of fact is that having kids is such a personal choice, one that can't be determined by anyone else. The thought of having an underpopulated civilization sounds almost as much of a problem as climate change. Both are extremely hard things to fix. That being said, I'll transition into talking about the interview I held with my very passionate cousin that inspired this whole topic. Unfortunately, she goes to school in Colorado and I was unable to record her interview, but I took very excessive notes. The first question I asked her was, do you want to have kids in the future? Why or why not? She responded by saying she didn't know, but being in a long-term relationship had her leaning towards yes, but not without some hesitancy. She stated that it would be hard to bring kids into the world that's not sustainable. Continuing on, she said she didn't want it to be her kids' responsibility if their future wasn't secured. So it would be something she'd have to take into great consideration. The second question I asked was, when considering having kids, do you factor in climate change? She responded quickly saying absolutely, 100%. You have to be thinking about it. I think you're being naive if you're not. The third question I asked was, what specifically about climate change and having kids scares you? She simply said her fear consisted of her children not having enough resources to sustain themselves, losing clean air, clean water, food, et cetera. And the final question I asked her was, do you know others that have this fear? She responded saying yes. Continuing on to tell me that pretty much everyone her age she talks to has that fear. Majority were females that had that fear, but she made a point to say that it was typically people who were really educated on the topic that had a genuine fear and strong feelings surrounding the topic itself. Now, I'll just put it out there. I know that my cousin has very strong, passionate views on this that a lot of people may or may not agree with. But I've always appreciated her passion and that there's always something I'm able to take away from my conversations with her. Next, I'd like to incorporate a point of view that's a little more relaxed than that of my cousin's, and incorporates a male point of view. When considering having kids, do you factor in climate change? Hell no. Sorry, can I not? Can I not swear? Well, you did, but that's okay. No, I don't think that's something I've really thought about. I mean, I maybe think about my kids' kids, because I feel like they have to deal with it a little more than my kids. I feel like my kids will be fine. Otherwise, I feel like how we are right now, I feel like it's not something I need to worry about for something that will happen in my kids' lifetime. I hope that if you're listening, you can relate to at least one of my interviewers. My biggest takeaway from what I'm considering my two most polarized interviewees is that whether you have strong opinions on it or not, it's still something that people in our generation have thought about. Like my previous interviewee stated, if not for our future kids, then for our kids' kids. That being said, after considering all of this, my personal takeaway in conclusion is that there isn't a universal fear of having kids in Generation Z, but it seems to me that there is an underlying knowledge and awareness of it. I think there's a broad spectrum of the different levels of fear, and it'll be interesting to see if any of it progresses with time. That being said, from the different articles I read, climate change is seen to have had an effect on pregnancies already, so even if you didn't have a fear of it, would it still greatly limit your chance to conceive? That being said, that is all I have for you guys today. I hope you took something useful out of today's podcast, and remember to keep sending in those questions. Thanks for listening to the Crap You Should Care About Podcast. Until next time.