Most climate scientists would agree that we’re fucked, actually. But most climate scientists would also say that every little bit helps. It’s not a binary switch. You and I? Our children and our children’s children? They will not live in a safe, sane, or comfortable world. That shipped sailed a couple of years back. But you’re right, there is hope. If every corporation and state stopped extracting right now, then in about a 100 years, with a lot of hard work and dedication and an international effort like never before seen, we will return to normal.

So yeah, teaching kids to be good people, and good stewards of the planet is an extremely important and necessary thing right now, but so is teaching them to grow their own food, mend their own clothing, build things, build community. Because that’s the only way we get through.

Yeah, I know. I think it’s asinine that people are out here having kids, pretending that the future is going to be status quo. That’s kind of my whole point. I’m not, like, anti-humanity. I have nieces and nephews and I try to inspire them every single day. But I’m also real with them. I let them know that the future is fucked, that many things are past the point of no return, and that we should all be practicing resilience. Humanity will live on, and life will go on, but not the way that it is now. And saying any different is either lying to them or ourselves. That’s not hope, that’s delusion.

But you just gave the same reasons people have been giving forever. That’s not very nuanced. Things are measurably different now If you’re using the same perspective thinking about this that our parents did, then we’re truly getting nowhere

Edit: Or maybe what you’re saying is we need to have kids so they can be raised to be some kind of revolutionary super soldiers?

Obviously my answer to OP’s question is “Yes”. Now can we have a conversation with more nuance?

Right, and that’s all well and good, but not what I was talking about.

I don’t know what to say. This is the system functioning as intended. Capitalism should be abolished.

I’m not trying to doom on anyone’s bloom here, but things are getting worse all around. Even if you ignore all of the political and social strife, and all of the war and terror, there’s still the warming planet to contend with, and we don’t have the magic technology to fix it 20 years ago yet.

As the planet gets warmer, resources will get tighter, people will be displaced, and that will only lead to further strife. Energy crisis, water shortages, famine. They’re all guaranteed. We’re in the cascade now.

Your future is about surviving now.

I can’t wrap my head around this. I’m choosing not to have kids because I can’t imagine explaining to them some day why I chose to bring them into the world.

You have accurately described the way the stock market works. 🏆🏅

But the shit boxes people were driving in the 60s were VW Beetles, an objectively good looking car. Easily the most popular car of the 60s was the Mustang, an objectively beautiful car.

The real shit boxes didn’t start popping up until after the oil crisis in 73.