The news report I presented in class called “No Children Because of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering It” by Maggie Astor summarized different thoughts on people having children in the age of the Anthropocene. It included thoughts from Mormons (who are at odds to reproduce with their religious traditions), a woman from Ohio (who after an unplanned pregnancy decided to have a second child so her first child would not be alone while climate change takes place), and a couple who plan to adopt instead of have children. One bias to point out is that the New York Times only used one study and did not offer any others to compare to. The articles audience was anyone and everyone who is concerned with having children in the 21st century. What it did was detail that reproduction rates have slowed due to awareness about the effect overpopulation has on climate change. The article was presented and pertaining to our current time that affects all people from all around the globe since climate change is a systemic issue. It important everyone reads and becomes increasingly aware the footprint humans leave and how it creates global planetary changes. Slowed reproduction is happening because people are becoming increasingly self-aware of their decisions, especially those who have seen climate change happen in their lifetime. The impact of this finding shows that people are concerned with how population growth is contributing to degradation of the climate, land, sea, and resources. It is relevant to society because will require planning of labor force and this will raise questions about how we should be dealing with climate change (especially among younger generations). This article shares a close relation with environmental and sustainable studies, especially since the study in the article was conducted by Conceivable Future (a nonprofit founded on the Notion that “the climate crisis is a reproductive crisis) who also was the study cited in the NPR article we read for class. This topic is undoubtedly interwoven into the idea that religion, philosophy and science play an integral part in our world view. This article is also closely related with our discussions on our ecological footprint since it details our awareness of our impact as well as the discussions of the Anthropocene. In class, Professor Beckingham used an image that I’ve linked below which shows the lessened impact of carbon emissions if one less child Is born. Overall this article was further informative about overpopulation and is a great resource if students want to educate themselves further on this topic and the opinions that are held by those who are of child-rearing age. Some questions I wanted to propose for discussion was How much of slowed reproduction is due to awareness of overpopulation? And, Is it possible to keep having children at a sustained rate and instead alleviate other issues that contribute to global planetary change? Once we better understand humans and their worldview, we can further understand how these worldview influence decisions and in turn, the impacts.
Astor, M. (2018, February 5) No Children Because of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering It. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/climate/climate-change-children.html