It’s no juist ‘spermageddon’ that’s keepin us frae haein bairns | Letters

I appreciate Zoe Williams’s excellent interview wi Camilla Cavendish, but I hae tae tak issue wi ane o her statements: “O course, the climate crisis is playin a big pairt in that, but it still disna hale stack up – in the 80s, there wis the wraparound threat o nuclear annihilation and it didna seem tae dent onybody’s joie de vivre.”

Aye, the buildup o nuclear airms and the terror surroundin it reached its peak in the 20t century, but it wis kept in check by policies o Mutually Assured Destruction: a singular launch o a nuclear arsenal wad hae instantly endit humanity.

As an aulder, bairnless millennial, climate change figures profoundly in my desire no tae hae bairns: the cause o climate change has been kent for 50 years, it’s happenin afore our een, and there isna enough bein dune about it.

While it’s true that we may owercome risin emission rates wi renewable energy, the current and near-future effects o the climate crisis mean we are in for a verra difficult road ahead as a society – and that’s if we succeed. If I’m gaun tae gang through the financial, physical, emotional and psychological burden o raisin a bairn, I dinna want tae also hae tae explain tae them that there’s a verra guid chance that they’re doomed, because billionaire, capitalist greed cudna figure out how tae stop itsel frae ruinin the warld for human civilisation.

Camilla Cavendish notes that the fawin birth-rate is fundamentally “a story about pessimism”. I wad like tae offer an additional perspective we can begin tae haud alangside (no in lieu o) this bleak view.

The link atween women’s education and empouerment and the fawin birth-rate is weel established. It is only twa generations syne contraception became widely available in wastern kintras. It is therefore only a split second syne human beings hae collectively been gien the opportunity tae consider what ither forms o joy, meanin and fulfilment are available tae us as a species. While bairns are an enormous source o joy and meanin for mony, we are noo also discoverin ither ways tae bigg bonnie, meaninful, fulfillin lives that include loein communities o non-biological kin, as weel as deep affinity for our hame and the ither beings that inhabit it.

Beyond pessimism, choosin no tae hae bairns or tae hae fewer bairns micht be the exact investment o hope in the future that Cavendish is strugglin tae see. It is no juist an act o “giein up”, but an investment in the belief that the decisions we mak the day can create a better future. By actin noo tae reduce the strain on the planet while simultaneously reducin competition for future generations; by becomin mair mindfu o our individual limitations as potential parents as weel as the systemic limitations o our circumstances; by considerin deeply and ethically whether here and noo is the best time tae bring mair fowk intae the warld; by learnin tae savour deep connections alangside our biological relatives; and by findin a story o hope, meanin and fulfilment beyond the cycle o biological reproduction alane, fowk, and women in particular, micht be makin hope out o the freedom that has been offered through bein able tae control our ain fertility.

For some, choosin no tae hae bairns, or choosin tae hae fewer bairns, in order tae dedicate oursels mair fully tae helpin, as weel as savourin, the warld already here, micht be as much an act o hope as decidin tae hae (mair) bairns is for ithers.