What Fate Awaits Our Kids?

We won't—if we're honest—be able to tell them that we didn't know what was coming.

“There’s no way to describe what’s unfolding before our eyes other than to say that the world is simply burning up—things are bad, but we can take action and avoid an even worse disaster, so there’s always hope.”

“I wonder how parents feel about this—young people today will be around to see global heating get really intense, so how will people explain to their kids how this was all supposed to work out?”

“So I wonder how parents feel about the inferno ahead—does inaction mean betrayal?”

See my previous pieces about global heating:

• “Are People In Denial?” (29 December 2021)

• “Will We End Ourselves?” (28 April 2022)

• “Will We Choose to Die?” (1 May 2022)

There’s no way to describe what’s unfolding before our eyes other than to say that the world is simply burning up—things are bad, but we can take action and avoid an even worse disaster, so there’s always hope.

I wonder how parents feel about this—young people today will be around to see global heating get really intense, so how will people explain to their kids how this was all supposed to work out?

Take a look at this shocking and terrifying coverage:

• “‘The Fuse Has Been Blown,’ and the Doomsday Glacier Is Coming for Us All” (29 December 2021)

• “Antarctica’s majestic underwater world is trying to adapt to a warmer planet” (7 May 2022)

• “‘Potentially historic’ wildfire event threatens New Mexico, Southwest” (7 May 2022)

• “The two largest reservoirs in California are already at ‘critically low levels’ and the dry season is just starting” (7 May 2022)

• “Climate limit of 1.5C close to being broken, scientists warn” (9 May 2022)

• “‘Devastating’: 91% of reefs surveyed on Great Barrier Reef affected by coral bleaching in 2022” (10 May 2022)

• “Revealed: the ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown” (11 May 2022)

• “Record high temperatures this weekend ‘are difficult for our firefighters’” (13 May 2022)

And this shocking and terrifying coverage regarding the Amazon rainforest:

• “‘Record after record’: Brazil’s Amazon deforestation hits April high, nearly double previous peak” (7 May 2022)

Regarding the Indian subcontinent, I saw a striking 14 May 2022 tweet that said:

Incessant heat. First 50°C of the 2022 Northern Hemisphere summer has been recorded in Pakistan

And the tweet also said this:

The longevity and strength of the heat in this part of the world is simply staggering. It has been hovering around record heat levels since March.

It’s obvious that global heating will primarily punish—and primarily kill—poor people around the world. But I find that people don’t respond well to moral arguments—it’s much smarter to talk to people about self-interest. So I think that it’s useful to ask people about their own kids—people care about their own kids even if people don’t care about people in Pakistan and Indian and Bangladesh.

There’s a moral issue when present inaction means abandoning young people to the inferno—isn’t present inaction a form of psychopathy when it comes to future generations?

It’s dark to talk about betrayal—discussion of betrayal makes parents feel guilty and ashamed—but a lot of young people feel that way. And it’s hard not to feel that way when you look at the current headlines and extrapolate forward to 2050 or 2060 or 2070…or 2100.

Take a look at my interview with David Poeppel:

• “Should Scholars Take Real Action as the World Burns?” (19 November 2021)

In the interview, Poeppel says the following about remembering that you’re a parent:

Some places are shocked into recognition and they say: “Yeah, actually, good point. Maybe I should remember that—I’m happy to listen to your cognitive science stuff, but I may want to walk out and remember that I’m actually also a citizen and a person and a parent.”

So I wonder how parents feel about the inferno ahead—does inaction mean betrayal?