Hurricane Harvey has broken all sorts of records, killed dozens, and caused untold suffering and devastation. Anyone who looks honestly as the science knows that global warming has caused this and other storms to be more deadly and destructive.

As the world becomes more crowded and overheated, events like Harvey, Superstorm Sandy, and Katrina are certain to cause more and more harm, threatening more people and disrupting more lives.

Study after study has shown that the single most powerful step we can take to combat climate change is family planning (1, 2, 3). This is not a hard problem to address – currently, over half of the pregnancies in the US are unintended! (4)

What will it take for us as a society to take family planning seriously?

At Having Kids, we’re not willing to let the planet burn because people are unwilling to broach the taboo of reproduction as a societal concern. We want every child who will be born to have a fair start and be born into an inhabitable, sustainable world.

It is time to stop passing the buck, expecting others to step up. Be a part of changing the conversation. Please join us today!

[1] Seth Wynes and Kimberly A Nicholas, The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions. 12 Environ. Res. Lett 7. (2017).

[2] Paul A. Murtaugh & Michael G. Schlax, Reproduction and the Carbon Legacies of Individuals, 19 Global Envtl. Change 14, 18 (2009).

[3] University of California San Francisco Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, By Slowing Population Growth, Family Planning Can Help Address Food Insecurity and Climate Change (Feb. 3, 2015), available at https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/pdfs/UCSF_Population_Climate_Food_Feb_3_2015.pdf.

[4] L.B. Finer and M.R. Zolna, Unintended pregnancy in the United States: incidence and disparities, 2006, 84 Contraception 478 (Nov. 2011).