Children Are Our Future...

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...And we are creating that future now!

This is my response to the @ecoTrain Question Of The Week:

Do you think it a good or bad idea to bring children into this world in these troubled times?

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^{Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash}

If you want last, you learn from the past
And don't re-make it
— Directions In Groove

 
I'm going to declare here that I have a daughter. And for all the stress and anxiety that comes with being a parent of a daughter in today's day and age, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Yes, I've had to make sacrifices and changes in my life. It has meant I haven't been able to travel like I used to. It has meant I haven't been able to always do what I have wanted to do with my life (although I also have to acknowledge that I've done this better than many other people around me).

But it's also meant that I haven't consumed like I probably would have done were I single and care-free.

Being a parent meant that her mother and I were acutely aware of the kind of legacy we would be leaving for her and any (possible) future grandchildren. What values do we teach our daughter? How do we engage in the world, with the environment, with the economics of our time?

These are all questions we were both concerned with prior to meeting and becoming parents. But they took on a very different quality when considering the consequences of our thoughts/words/deeds in the context of these concerns to our daughter.

When we were till together, my daughter, wife and I transformed a suburban home into a permaculture food forest. When we moved in, there was no topsoil (only invasive lawn), and absolutely no insect or microbial life on the land. The place had clearly been nuked by the previous owners. The house didn't even have cobwebs or insects in it — that was of grave concern.

At the time, Victoria was in a 7-year drought. And yet, within the span of a year, we had a productive and drought-proof urban farm. While everyone around us had weekly bins overflowing, we were lucky to fill the same size bins in 3 weeks.

Because we were focussed on doing whatever we could to ensure there was a planet for our daughter to live on.

The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
— Manic Street Preachers

Last chance to evacuate planet Earth before it is recycled

Fast-forward to now, and I no longer live with my daughter or her mother. We separated some time back. However, our values remain, and we continue to co-parent in such a way that promotes the value of ecological thinking. As she enters into her teens, my daughter is being confronted of the challenges inherent in that age-bracket. Fitting in with others, and yet resisting the urge to mindlessly consume as many of her peers do.

It is the coming generations that will receive the legacy of our times. Will there be a sustainable, thriving planet for them to live on? Will there be clean food, clean water, clean air for them?

I understand that over-population is a real concern from an ecological perspective; I understand that resources are finite, and access to them provoke disputes, wars, and invasions. I get it.

Looking at the current global fertility rates is very interesting. The affluent, over-consuming 1st-world nations have the lowest rates, while the poorest nations (all in Africa) have the highest. Even the two highest most-populous nations, India and China, have relatively low fertility rates.

^{Distribution of fertility rates, 2019}

In the Western nations, fertility rates are decreasing because fewer couples (read, women) are choosing to become mothers; however mortality rates are also lowering because the mainstream medical system seeks to prolong life as much as possible.

My current partner is one such woman. It was a relief when we first met that she had no desire to become a mother or bear children. And I was satisfied with being a father to one child. For her, being part of my daughter's life was enough. And I'm grateful that she is able to provide a solid, strong feminine presence in her life!!

I am concerned about over-population.

However, I'm not certain putting a halt on child-bearing is the answer. Life begets life. That is the way of nature. Should we stop reproducing, would there be any future for the human race? If we look to the natural world for evidence, we would find plenty.

I'm certain that were the world's resources spread evenly across the globe, those fertility rates as shown in the above map would even out. In nature, plants 'go to seed' when they are dying; mammals also increase reproduction when they fear for their survival. Is what we are seeing in Africa just the beginning? Or is the slowing of rates in the rest of the world a sign of what will maintain human presence on Planet Earth?

 
The key in my humble opinion is for individual's to make conscious, genuinely personal choices. Laws and policies are not the answer; education is.

Children of the revolution

Kids nowadays are savvy. They may be getting sucked into modern consumerism easier and earlier than my generation; however they're also wisening up quicker than previous generations also. They are acutely aware of the hypocrisy and inaction of world governments.

If we all had the 8+ children per woman, then we would be in grave danger. However, putting State-imposed halts on reproduction would be equally as dangerous. We need children; we need future generations to continue to do all the wondrous things we humans do well, and to continue to heal the wounds of the past, redeeming their ancestors for what they've inherited.

I feel that if we truly want to see humanity survive and thrive sustainably on a thriving, abundant, and clean planet then we need to focus on what we are creating right now in the present — and that includes what kind of children we are bringing into the world, and how we are preparing them for the consequences of our actions.

I believe we need to stop worrying about what others think, and equip the kids with critical thinking skills, and the ability to discern the massive amounts of information they're exposed to. We can't shelter them from the "inconvenient truth", nor should we hide the horrors of what we are doing: war, famine, ecological destruction, species thinning, and squandering limited natural resources for profit and greed.

I have faith that the coming generations will make the decisions and take the actions our generation are failing (and afraid) to.

Well you've cracked the sky
Scrapers fill the air
But will you keep on building higher
'Til there's no more room up there?
— Cat Stevens / Yusuf

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Listen to the soundtrack for this story on Spotify

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