I鈥檝e always struggled to combine the idea of personal responsibility with the overwhelming need for human society to address the threat posed by climate change. , the massive energy corporations responsible for the vast majority of our carbon emissions have known about, and done nothing to mitigate, the harm they cause. Because they own politicians worldwide, there doesn鈥檛 appear to be any will to take government-level action. But I鈥檓 supposed to turn off a light? What possible impact could that ever have? And听why is all this on my shoulders and not听theirs?
When I got engaged, my fianc茅e, Virginia, and I started planning for the future. It wasn鈥檛 just my dog Wiley and me against the world anymore. All of a sudden, I started thinking ten to听20 or more years ahead.
Children are an obvious thing to plan. With a sudden focus on responsible decision-making, it no longer made sense to leave hypothetical future offspring up to chance. When should we have them? What did our careers look like on that timeline? Who鈥檇 be responsible for staying home听and raising them? Couldn鈥檛 we just have one of the dogs do that?
We got engaged in June听2018, a couple months before a wildfire destroyed an entire town in California听and another one wiped out sections of Malibu. Shortly after that, most of the , something that might be the new normal, virtually eliminating the future for industrial agriculture throughout a region that produces much of this nation鈥檚 food. And, of course, the whole Donald Trump thing has been going on.
Is this a world we want to bring kids into? Is this a world听it鈥檚 responsible to bring kids into?
It looks like the pace of climate change is speeding ahead of science鈥檚 ability to understand or forecast it. Thinking about hypothetical Wes Jr.鈥檚 life as far into the future as I鈥檝e already lived鈥38 years鈥攊t鈥檚 tempting to try to forecast stuff like so many feet of sea-level rise听or the extinction of some keystone species. But that may not be possible. than any of us currently fear.
Then Virginia and I听started talking about something we could do鈥攆or ourselves听and to make a meaningful impact on the bigger problem. We could just forego the whole kid thing altogether.
The image of personal climate change action doesn鈥檛 really match the reality. If I gave up my 15 mpg pickup truck鈥攂asically the mascot for climate inaction鈥攁nd rode my bicycle everywhere, I鈥檇 save the planet of carbon emissions a year. That鈥檇 be a massive sacrifice, but it鈥檚 nowhere near the carbon emissions I鈥檒l save by skipping becoming a daddy, which comes in听at around , per kid. Any other action we could take, even all the actions we could ever possibly add up together, pale in comparison.
That鈥檚 because there are simply on this planet. We鈥檝e all been told that driving an electric car听or putting solar panels on our roofs will help, but听that involves buying more stuff, which has a terrible impact on the environment, no matter how green the image. Two people deciding to make fewer humans eliminates the entire cycle of consumption that would听fuel that kid鈥檚 life.
All those people ultimately represent the greatest climate change鈥搑elated threat. Burning forests and flooded beach houses are sad and all, but it鈥檚 the human conflict created by dwindling resources needed to sustain the population听that stands to really change life on this planet. We鈥檙e already fighting wars for oil. Many think , and those are going to hit closer to home.
So, we鈥檙e not having kids. I found a colleague鈥檚 brother here in Bozeman who performs vasectomies and made an appointment. I was afraid of听getting my scrotum operated on, but the procedure ended up being quicker and less invasive than most dental appointments. I took off my pants, laid on a bed, received a local anesthetic, chatted with the doctor while he made a few incisions, then got a ride home. Once the anesthetic wore off, it felt like someone had kicked me in the balls pretty good, a feeling that dissipated over the next seven days. I took a Valium before the surgery听and a few handfuls of ibuprofen afterward听but otherwise didn鈥檛 need painkillers or even an ice pack. The worst part was taking a week off from the gym; I鈥檇 been making good progress.
It might not be enough to save the polar bear, and it might not prevent the next Camp Fire, but this is the absolute biggest difference we can make.听We need fewer humans, and getting there voluntarily will be an awful lot less painful than doing it with war, famine, and natural disaster.