The family and regenerative culture

One on the consequences of informing ourselves about what is implied by transitioning to net zero carbon lifestyles, individually, as a family, and a society, is the stark realisation of how difficult this is likely to be. Greta Thunberg knows this and regards this as a betrayal of her generation. Cutting to the chase, the youth strikes that she has triggered have been joined with another strike action, that against having children https://www.theguardian.com/li... . There is nothing more profound than a birth strike and it beholds us to take it very seriously.

Taking pause for thought, this anxiety is likely to be felt by those of child bearing age and younger, and those looking forward to grandparenting. There are least three ways in which this anxiety could be addressed:

- to bottle it up and tell no-one,

-to discuss this with friends/partners, within an affinity group or counsellor, or

- to treat this as primarily a family issue to be addressed within the family.

No one size fits all but there could be advantages in treating growing families as something that families should be discussing? This applies to choices to have no children, or to having one or more children. In all cases, for those (potential parents and grandparents) who are aware of the climate impact of extra bodies, and the possibility of social stress and possible unrest in a radical and just transformation, it will be difficult to put these matters out of mind. However, the challenge for families is to provide the highest level of support to those who are making and experiencing the consequences of this most serious of decisions. It is in a different order to deliberating on the question of whether to eat meat or to take a flight and is possibly the main argument in relying on our families to negotiate the low carbon transition.

This is not a recommendation of any kind but at http://www.vhemt.org/ there are details of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement that advocates for homo sapiens calling time on their occupation of the planet as a way of removing one of the natural disasters threatening the future of other flora and fauna.