Editor’s Note: Those who want to join in the efforts of BirthStrike are required to agree with the BirthStrike declaration.
Which reads:
We, the undersigned, declare our decision to not bear children due to the severity of the ecological crisis and the current inaction of governing forces in the face if this existential threat. Insecurity of future, despair at our species’ relationship to our habitat and each other, channelling time and personal resources to ‘change work’ i.e. activism and rebellion, are all typical of our reasoning.
[Virginia Hale | Breitbart] A group of UK women worried about “ecological Armageddon” are urging others to sign up to a pact pledging not to have children.
Founder of BirthStrike, Blythe Pepino, said she was moved to create the now-60-member-strong community after reading publications from the United Nations’ (UN) climate change body left her feeling like the world had “no future”.
“I do have a partner and would like to have children with him. We’re really in love, and it feels like the right thing to do,” the 33-year-old disclosed.
But last year I read the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] and realised how wrong it would be to bring a child into a world on the brink of catastrophe. Now we are looking for [others] who feel the same way to join us.
“It’s a very hard emotional message to decide not to have kids but I hope it might break through the fear and diffidence that surrounds this subject… we are talking about a major destructive event,” concluded Pepino, a singer who has previously spoken extensively to press outlets on her ‘polyamorous’ lifestyle and relationships.
The launch of BirthStrike in Britain came only days after U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez touched on similar topics during a question-and-answer session broadcast from her Instagram account, in which she defended her much-criticised ‘Green New Deal’.
“It is basically a scientific consensus that the lives of our children are going to be very difficult, and it does lead young people to have a legitimate question: is it OK to still have children?” the Democrat representative wondered aloud.
Bristol-based eco-activist Alice Brown, who was one of the first to sign up to BirthStrike, joined Pepino on the UK media circuit this week to talk about their concerns for the future and urge other British women to think twice before bringing children into the world.
Brown, who recently told her father that she would not consider having children until carbon emissions were vastly reduced, told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show that her concern over the climate meant “each day for me is a struggle.”
“I’m so depressed, and that has led to a fear that I’ve never felt before,” the 25-year-old confessed, explaining: “Since my parents had me, we’ve destroyed 60 per cent of life on this planet.
[Editor’s Note: This article was written by Virginia Hall and originally published at Breitbart. Title changed by P&P.]
