On Earth Day, sacrifice your pessimism, not your future generations, to save the planet

When I was growing up, my classmates and I celebrated Earth Day, April 22, by planting trees, thinking that future generations would enjoy the shade.

Today, however, the mood has shifted: many of my peers are increasingly convinced that the planet will suffer if they bring these descendants into the world.

I’m a Gen Z woman who wants to have children. and Tackling climate change.

Although some people think environmentalism means saving the world, this is not a contradiction from Our species and not for it.

Population control itself is an insidious idea, and its purported climate benefits have been repeatedly debunked.

The good news is that a common-sense approach to climate can enable innovation and prosperity for all while reducing pollution, without requiring human sacrifice.

The numbers are truly staggering: 47% of U.S. adults either have at least some regrets about starting a family or think they shouldn’t start a family at all due to concerns about climate change.

(The finding is a worldwide phenomenon, with adults in the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates and India more concerned.)

For my generation, where climate anxiety is at its most acute, I often see women posting on social media that the best thing they can do for the planet is to refuse life.

But population control is a false solution that is worse than any problem it purports to solve.

It also fundamentally misunderstands humanity’s relationship with the environment: we should care about the climate so that all life, especially human life, can thrive.

We are not asked to worship the earth at the expense of our descendants.

Those who avoid starting a family because of climate change don’t even support what they see as environmental fixes.

That’s because this pessimistic view ignores the wonderful positives of having children, the increasingly effective bipartisan legislation signed into law to reduce chemicals linked to climate change and U.S. per capita emissions, which have fallen since 2000 30%).

In fact, as the fertility rate shows, the problem exists in this country and elsewhere as well. rare Kids, not too much.

The global population is likely to peak within our lifetimes.

We must also not forget the power of innovation and adaptation that allows our species to overcome daunting challenges.

Paul Ehrlich’s 1968 book The Population Bomb stoked fears of overpopulation and famine.

But these dangerous predictions have been proven wrong as we learned to be more efficient and feed more people than previously thought.

Imagine how tragic it would be if, after reading Ehrlich’s book, you chose not to have children and spent the rest of your life waiting for the end that never came.

I don’t want Americans to make a similar mistake today because of an overly pessimistic view of climate change.

Science tells us that it is simply unreasonable to worry that bringing a child into this world will lead him or her to an unbearable life on a collapsing planet.

Climate change is a challenge we must address.

But exaggerating the problem helps no one.

Surrendering to irrational climate doom will not only stoke climate anxiety and cause people to abandon their new lives; it will also be counterproductive, undermining incentives to reduce emissions.

Fortunately, the best path forward is one that takes into account reality: drastically reducing carbon pollution while strengthening economic and energy security.

For example, reforming outdated electricity transmission regulations would boost economic growth and deliver huge emissions benefits.

Domestic mining of critical minerals and rare earth elements in places like California’s Salton Sea and Wyoming’s Halleck Creek would help the U.S. compete with China for clean energy dominance.

Regulatory reform, innovation and market-driven competition are critical to this common-sense vision.

Instead of worrying about climate anxiety, we should make it easier for American innovators to create affordable carbon-free technologies, such as small modular reactors and carbon capture, and then export them around the world.

Just as our species has survived predictions of runaway population growth through the power of innovation, we are finding ways to lower global emissions while affordably powering the future.

There are many developments to be optimistic about in the fight for a better planet, but anti-natalism is not among them.

Earth Day encourages us to take smart actions to protect the environment, which may include planting a tree, but it doesn’t need to end your family tree.

Alina Clough is a fellow at ConservAmerica and president of the ConservAmerica chapter in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.