> the additional concern of bringing a child into a world in crisis
I don't understand this view.
If you think it is net negative for a child to be born in this world then isn't it also net negative for you to continue in this world?
Yet people will continue living their own life while talking about how they don't think it's fair to have a child.
If your life is worth living despite the supposed world in crisis (as if there is any other kind) who are you to say somebody else's wouldn't be?
Your logic is unsound. The child does not exist, the person living does exist. Typical childfree folks like myself don't point at kids and say "ew, that kid shouldn't exist!". This is bias towards values that some don't align too.
> isn't it also net negative for you to continue in this world?
Careful here. Whether you intended to or not, my interpretation of what you said is "if you don't think it's right to bring a child into this world, then you should consider suicide".
> Yet people will continue living their own life while talking about how they don't think it's fair to have a child.
No, this is not what childfree folks say. We do not want kids, we do not care what you do.
The part about "don't think it's fair to have a child" meant that you don't think it's fair for the child.
The point about suicide is approximately what I meant, although of course I do not intend to drive anyone to suicide, only to help them see that their preference to live would also be shared by a hypothetical child.
If your revealed preference is to exist rather than not to exist in this "world in crisis", why would you not afford a hypothetical child the same courtesy?
Samuel Johnson in 1760 or so would have answered such questions with the observation that he could kick a person that exists, who would object and express an opinion.
In contrast a hypothetical child is both unkickable and unable to express a sentiment.
Unless your position is that every sperm is sacred and all wrigglers must strive to leave no egg unfertilised thus maximising a birth rate at greater than ten babies per woman I fear that you also fail to uphold the existence of every hypothetical child.
There are lots of reasons not to have the maximum possible number of children!
I'm not saying you should have the maximum possible number of children, or any children at all. It's up to you.
What I'm saying is that "world in crisis" is not a good reason for you to reduce the number of children you plan to have, if your personal preference is in fact to continue living in this "world in crisis" yourself.
> What I'm saying is that "world in crisis" is not a good reason for you to reduce the number of children you plan to have, if your personal preference is in fact to continue living in this "world in crisis" yourself.
I would suggest you have a poor grasp of the timescale of the "world in crisis" then.
The AGW threat, as put forward in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports is a slow boiling frog scenario, one that steadily gets worse as insulation in the atmosphere continues to increase.
A number of people may, and indeed do, consider that their lives from this time until their projected death assuming good health, will be pleasant enough, but that the lives of their children and potential grandchildren will be worse and might face a rapid decline in quality of life at some point.
Another group, with some overlap in the greater Venn diagram, might consider that one part of a solution includes decreasing overall consumption - and a reduction of numbers in high per capita consumption societies makes sense.
The reasoning of both groups is simple enough, little is achieved by killing themselves, something is gained by a reduction in human population, and hypothetic non existing grand children are spared a life much worse.
For most people, though, there's not neccesarily any clear decision, just behaviour that follows observations made decades past by Hans Rosling and others; as education and quality of life improve, so fall birth rates.
> No, this is not what childfree folks say. We do not want kids, we do not care what you do.
People who just don't want kids do not seem to make up the bulk of people who self-identify as "childfree", in my observation.
There’s a big difference between continuing to mope along oneself and take on the enormous life crushing burden of becoming a parent.