How many people have to join before something becomes a “movement?” If the cause is climate change, the answer is fewer people than there are in Homer, Alaska: population 5,697.
Even though there were only a little over a thousand signatories that day, USA Today hyped a new “climate change movement,” called “No Future, No Children” Sept. 19. Eighteen-year old Canadian Emma Lim has pledged not to have children until her government “takes serious action” on climate.
"I am giving up my chance of having a family because I will only have children if I know I can keep them safe," her website stated. "It breaks my heart, but I created this pledge because I know I am not alone. I am not the only young person giving up lifelong dreams because they are unsure of what the future will hold. We’ve read the science, and now we’re pleading with our government."
CBS, Vice News and Newsweek also covered Lim’s extreme promise between Sept. 16, and 19. CBS cited Lim’s efforts as part of a growing number of teens “passionately advocating for the planet and their future living on it.” Like USA Today, Newsweek also labeled it part of a “movement” it claimed had been “picking up steam in recent years.”
Of that media coverage, only CBS’s included any skepticism or criticism about refusing to have children for the sake of the planet — and it was minor. That CBS online report only said, “While some have brushed the movement off as something young people will outgrow as they age, Lim said that's not the case — unless something changes.”
Lim’s site asked others to join her in taking the pledge which reads “I PLEDGE NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN UNTIL I AM SURE MY GOVERNMENT WILL ENSURE A SAFE FUTURE FOR THEM.” It had 1,900 pledges on Sept. 20.
Birthstriking isn’t a new phenomena, but it is one that continues to be promoted by liberal media. In 2016, NPR’s “All Things Considered” asked “Should We Be Having Children In The Age of Climate Change?” The New York Times, Buzzfeed and CNN have all published stories about people choosing childlessness due to climate change fears in recent years.
