Do you ever think Earth would be better off if the human race was reduced? Animals, plants, the seas, air, everything in nature would be healthier with fewer people polluting the planet. Now you can join an organisation called BirthStrike and vow not to have children.
Blythe Pepino, a 33-year-old Londoner who is lead singer of Vaults, founded BirthStrike at the end of last year. Now she says the voluntary organisation has vows from about 450 people who have sworn off parentage. Eighty per cent are women. Blythe has a boyfriend Joshua who she says she loves, but there will be no children.
Blythe said she made her no-kids decision after learning the United Nations Panel on Climate Change had concluded there is a window before catastrophic climate change overtakes the planet of only 11 years. Researchers at the University of British Columbia reported in a 2017 paper that fewer children is the single best thing an individual can do to reduce greenhouse gases.
On its website, BirthStrike says it stands “in solidarity with all parents, celebrates their choice and doesn’t seek to judge anyone intending to bear children.” The organisation says, despite its efforts to convince people to have fewer children, it is actually system change that is more important to head off environmental devastation.
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the rising-star U.S. Congresswoman, said the climate crisis “does lead young people to have a legitimate question: Is it OK still to have children?”
Blythe Pepino said in a interview last month, “I am white and privileged and I don’t have any children.” Thus she has the time to be an activist. “This next few years it is very important to put pressure on Governments to make the big changes that we need for our survival.”
Other quotes from people who have signed up with BirthStrike vowing not to produce children:
Kirsten Stade,45: “I was most profoundly affected by the biodiversity crisis and the simple knowledge that every human being takes space and resources that would otherwise have been available for wildlife and untrammelled habitat.”
Katia Morel, 41: “I am not against children. On the contrary, it is out of care for our children and future generations that we must choose quality and not quantity. Fewer people means less CO2 emissions and more space for animals and nature. Animals and nature are also entitled to a healthy environment.”
William Kass, 26: “We, the current living humans have the possibility to change each other and therefore the world. By not having our own children, we can focus on activism, helping raise more caring and positive people. There are many good things we could be doing instead for the planet and its inhabitants while also leaving a smaller footprint behind.”
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