Overpopulation: they don’t want children to preserve the planet

Published on : 07/11/2021 – 12:11

“To have a child would be in total disagreement with my ideas. I never wanted one and the more time passes, the more it is confirmed”, entrusts Manon, 26 years old, to France 24. “I do not see the point of ‘impose on the world one more over-consumer. We Westerners are already consuming beyond the available resources, “continues the young woman. Like Marion, more and more young people of childbearing age have decided not to have children out of commitment to protect the planet.

On the networks, they call themselves “childfree” or “ginks”, a contraction of English for “green inclinations, no kids” and they claim their refusal to have children. Convictions reiterated in view of World Population Day, celebrated on Sunday July 11, after the Five Billion Day, celebrated on July 11, 1987 with the aim of drawing attention to the urgency of demographic issues.

“I have no desire to drop a kid on this planet”, explains youtuber Anna Bogen, followed by more than 15,000 subscribers in a hit video. “When she comes to the end of her resources, I’ll be six feet underground. But if I have a child, he and his offspring will have to live with it. I don’t want to inflict that on someone. . ” Denis Garnier, president of Démographie responsable, an association founded in 2009 to promote a lower birth rate, notes that in ten years, the theme of non-procreation has gained ground. “Young people are more informed, thanks to the publication of studies on global warming and the emergence of issues of damage to biodiversity in the public debate,” he says.

On the association’s website, a counter displays the number of human beings on Earth in real time. The numbers go by. “We are about 7.8 billion, it’s already too many. We should exceed the 8 billion mark by 2022 or 2023, “recalls Denis Garnier, concerned about the pace of population growth on this World Population Day.

“One child less is 40 tonnes of carbon gained per year “

“Overpopulation has serious ecological consequences. The calculation is quite simple, the more we are, the more we emit CO₂, the more climate change worsens “, warns Jean-Loup Bertaux, emeritus research director at the CNRS and author of” Demography, climate, migrations: the state of emergency “(Fauves Editions).” In France, one child less is 40 tonnes of carbon saved per year. In comparison, switching to the electric car is 2 tonnes saved. “And the scientist recalled that the global” day of overshoot “, calculated from the ecological footprint of human activities and the” biocapacity “of the Earth , was reached on August 22 in 2020. According to this index, calculated by the American NGO Global Footprint Network, humanity consumes beyond this date, more natural resources than the Earth can renew in twelve months.

In the online videos and comments, the speeches of the “childfree” are marked by this anxiety, but also the mistrust vis-à-vis the previous generation. “I have never had an adult without children in my entourage. For me, having children was a compulsory thing, like getting up to go to school in the morning (…) but we must ask ourselves the question of the world that we leave to our children. I don’t know if I want to leave them a world like this “, says Clémence, 27, another successful Youtuber.

“We are lucky to be able to control your pregnancy”

Manon confirms, the subject is difficult to broach with her parents, even if she was brought up in a family “where we took care of the planet”. “When we talk about it, they really don’t understand. For them, having a job, getting married, having children, that is part of the meaning of life. My position is completely beyond them so we don’t dwell on the subject. . ” A decision that is all the more difficult to get people to accept as she is a woman, Judge Manon. “” You will change your mind, you are still young ‘,’ You will see with the maternal instinct ‘… I do not know if a man would receive the same kind of remark as me”, wonders the young woman . “We are lucky to be able to control your pregnancy today in France. This is not the case for women all over the world. For some, having a child or not is not a matter of choice.”