One teenager has been hitting headlines for starting a campaign called "No future, No children!" which calls for young people to not have any children until the government takes a more serious approach to climate change.
18-year-old Emma Lim started the movement after realizing that her government wasn't doing enough to combat climate change.
Since its inception, #NO FUTURE NO CHILDREN has received over 3000 signatures online. Ms Lim is a young climate activist who has said that she will not have children until her government starts taking more serious steps to tackle climate change.
On the campaign's website, Ms Lim wrote:
"Because even though I want to have children more than almost anything- what kind of a mother would I be if I brought a baby into a world where I couldn’t make sure they were safe?"
Despite only being 18, Ms Lim is already thinking hard about the future; not only her future, but the future that we will all be sharing in.
Ms Lim explained on her website:
"I am facing a future of economic instability, of food scarcity and extreme weather. What if I have to sacrifice my child’s education to pay for a new house? What if my house becomes un-insurable? What if I have to pay for clean water? What if my city becomes unsafe and I have to flee or if my baby is sick, but the hospitals are overflowing with people fleeing worse conditions?? For many people these fears are already reality."
The real-world effects of climate change leading to mass migration terrifies 18 year-old Emma. Coming from a family of holocaust survivors, Ms Lim understands the effects that mass migration can have and fears that her children may, "again face the very worst of humanity".
Some of the stories come from people as young as 13, such as Max Smith from the United Kingdom who explained their reason for signing up as such:
"Because It is simply inhumane to force a child into the world post ecological collapse. I know that I wouldn’t want to be brought into the world now, and that’s why I will dedicate myself to tackling the climate crisis and pledge to not have children until the climate crisis is dealt with."
There has been a great deal of people commending Ms Lim for her passionate work at such a young age.
However, there have also been quite a few skeptics, because where would the internet be without them?
We live in a strange time to be a climate change activist. Climate change is happening, and yet to be a young person advocating for climate reform is quickly becoming akin to painting a bulls-eye on your head on social media.
Look, I can see problems in Ms Lim's campaign, such as the fact that people can simply sign up for the website and not do what they pledge. However, she is doing much more than I am for the environment, and I respect her for that.
What I find fascinating (in terms of a horrific kind of fascination) is that in today's society it is seemingly okay to drag a teenager on social media for standing up for what they believe in. If you ask someone on the street whether kids should stand up for what they believe in, most people's answer will be, "Of course!" However, when it comes to climate change there are other parents and adults brutally tearing down young people across social media for doing as little as trying to open a dialogue about climate change. Is it only me who finds this bizarre?
In an interview with CBC, Ms Lim's mother said, "It's a parent's role to support their children [...] who can blame her for not having children?"
Hopefully Ms Lim will continue campaigning for climate reform, as at the end of the day, it is a message of hope. Ms Lim wants there to be a better future for her children and that is a wonderful thing.
I am so continually baffled by the attitude of adults on social media who think it's okay to savagely tear down young people for standing up for what they believe in. Some of the comments on Ms Lim's tweets are so horrific that it makes me wonder how we got to where we are as a society?
Grown adults who disagree with Ms Lim's approach to the subject of climate change do not simply explain calmly what aspect they disagree with and open a discourse, instead they hit caps lock and scream at her.
The fact that we are at a point as a society were it is "okay" for adults to scream unsubstantiated abuse at young people online for trying to doing something as simple as trying to open a discourse on climate change speaks more about us as a society than I care to think about.
It feels progressively more as though in today's society you cannot have a political opinion unless you're screaming it louder and more violently than everyone else. Hopefully Ms Lim will never give up in her endeavour, as wanting your children to breathe clean air is a wonderfully noble pursuit.
h/t: CBC
