Many young people around the world are rethinking becoming parents, and are deeply concerned about bringing a child into a world beset by a climate crisis, pandemics, and growing inequity and civil strife. Why are we faced with this?

Almost every crisis before us – from the collapse of our environment to the gap between rich and poor – starts with family planning policies and cultures that do nothing to promote responsible family planning behavior. And in addition to policies and culture, today thoughtful and caring young people have to worry about having one child, even when they are ready to care for that child, because older generations consistently had unsustainably large and unplanned families. Today, would-be parents are in a dilemma because of the family planning systems older generations created, and the “nobody else’s business” approach to having kids that persists today and that is destroying our environment and communities.

As one Having Kids supporter, who is keen to have one child one day, wrote:

I am annoyed and dismayed to learn that one of my colleagues in local government is pregnant for the fifth time! How can you bring another child into the world given the state of the planet? This is selfish and irresponsible. Not only for a kid who will not receive the attention they need, but for everyone else. The current population is unsustainable and the planet is dying. Look out the window. We don’t need another mouth to feed, another Costco account, more plane rides, cars, etc. Why are my taxpayer dollars paying for your selfishness? Policies need to change to protect all children and curb this selfish and ignorant behavior. People need to take responsibility for their children, future generations, and the planet. If you want more kids adopt.

The best solution to the dilemma is to change the way we all plan our families, and to demand laws and policies – and the cultures they shape – that promote parental readiness, a distribution of resources that give all kids a fair start, and smaller and more sustainable families.

Take action:

Speak out – send us your story at info@havingkids.org.

And: Urge key United Nations agencies to use their positions to help usher in the change we need.