My name is Emma Lim. I am 18 years-old, and I have always imagined I would be a mother. Even though I want to have children more than almost anything, I am pledging not to, until the government takes the climate crisis seriously.
Emma Lim at the Parliament Hill in Ottawa
Floods, heat waves, fires: I can already see the impacts of climate change in my hometown in Ontario and the IPCC report published last September terrified me.
We’re living a climate crisis, and it’s time our government acts like it. Today, the global week of climate action begins. Around the world, we will be millions of people taking over the streets of major cities, to tell leaders that their inaction is no longer tolerated.
My generation is facing a future of economic instability, food scarcity and extreme weather events. With climate change forcing millions of people out of their homes, poverty and violence will inevitably rise. Who wants their children to face the worst that humanity has to offer? We can turn the tide, but this requires political will.
Until our government begins to act like the grown-ups they’re supposed to be, we will make uncomfortably grown-up decisions of our own and refuse to carry on as though all is fine.
That’s why I have been organizing for months for the climate strike on September 27th.
I can’t force my elected officials to act, and that’s why I am giving up my dream of having a family. I will only have children if I know they will have something to live for and a healthy planet to live on.
We are already more than 2,300 young people to have taken this pledge. We will be more. Don’t let the political inaction take a toll on our future. On the future of our children.
Here’s how you can take action:
- Join us at the climate strike on September 27th. Find the climate strike near you.
- Sign the petition asking our elected officials to act like we’re in a climate crisis. Because we are!
- Support the student strikers organizing — AKA me — by following us on instagram @climatestrikecanda. Find the pledge and read our stories at www.nofuturepledge.ca
Greenpeace Canada is part of a network of workers, artists, Indigenous leaders, scientists, youth, and people directly impacted by climate catastrophe — from cities and towns, businesses and communities, working beyond our political differences and in solidarity with Indigenous peoples — who want to ensure a safe world for our children and all generations after that.
Discussion
- Stop the Mountain pipeline - Sort and put away metal fixtures and racks separate when you throw away them in the big department store.
I hear ya about not having babies. Though keep in mind that now with Roe vs Wade is no longer the law, there will be more babies in the US the will not be wanted and in need of a home. It is my hope that people who do want children and do not want to bring them into this world, they will help the unwanted children and adopt them from our own country.
Emma you are absolutely right and having kids is not the be all and end all anyway.
I am 53 years old and I chose to not have children in the 1980s to present . I did this due to my worry of the state of the world at that time. I knew it could only get worse, and it has.
Hi Emma, I heard you speak today on 'What on Earth". I agree that your future is very dismal, and I am trying to do something about that, because I am a grandmother dedicated to my children and grandchildren ,of all living beings. Emma, I am sending you a significant energy solution that is rarely mentioned in the media or even by alternative energy advocates. I believe the reason is that it doesn't drive industry profits - like solar or wind. This technology designed in Vancouver, B.C. has been quietly proving itself to be a self-paying local solution that all urban areas can utilize. Here is some of the information and the links for you to continue the research and the education of the public. I have been writing of it for years - perhaps it is too sensible and low-profile! SEE: Studies show that 55% of Vancouver’s carbon emissions come from buildings. What local self-supporting energy system eliminates 60% of the commonly-used building heating and hot- water carbon emissions of LNG, hydro and coal fuel, while it provides 70% of the area's heating requirements annually? Thermal sewage waste heat capture. For 10 years Vancouver's False Creek Thermal Energy Utility has proven that a cities most demanded-upon energy requirement solution is a 24/7, renewable energy-loop 365 days a year provided by a resource that humans create themselves . Teamed up with SHARC Energy Systems, this thermal energy technology has gone international supplying heat and hot-water from small-scale neighborhoods to industrial complexes. Why haven't all of B.C. cities utilized this technology? Why has this local, efficient and consistent energy resource technology not been subsidized? Nationally and globally, humans using their sewage and waste hot water could create their heating, cooling and hot water requirements. This technology that can be retrofitted and installed in new neighborhoods and industries world-wide, would eliminate a significant amount extraction, usage and transportation of fossil-fuels, thus carbon and methane emissions. Sewage is also being studied by UBC to create transportation fuel (37% of urban transmissions), ( poo-buses in the UK). Also steam electricity was/is produced (from manure and biomass in Denmark or Holland). Sewage is an expensive, environmentally dangerous addition to any water way. At this point in time, even the salt-water minerals cobalt, nickel and lithium can be taken from salt-water to create long-lasting batteries. I ask, why not capture even minute medical waste ingredients of steroids, hormones, etc. from the sewage water, so that pure water can be released into our water ways ( chinook salmon smolts are dying because of sewage toxicity , even thru secondary systems. Chinook salmon support the Orca whales diet -who are starving at this present time) So let's embrace our expensive and deadly human sewage problem as an energy resource and turn our waste into a life-saving solution. Vancouver's Greenest City Initiative -has started this process, and they are expanding this system thru the city. SHARC Energy Systems is perfecting this technique. SHARC writes that "by 2025, a 100% of all urban new and replacement heating and hot water systems could be zero emissions!" I would like you to be able to have children, and your children to have grand-children as well. With love and caring, Susan
Habitat encroachment/destruction is a separate but related issue from/to climate destruction. Too large a mass of people, whether or not they are destroying the climate, will serve to push other species out of their natural habitat and to the brink of or to, extinction. Negative population growth should continue until there is an agreed-upon number of homo sapiens to other species, i.e. carrying capacity.
Emma: Please do not lose hope. I am an inventor working on a new clean energy generator to solve climate change. My project promises a preindustrial atmosphere by 2050. My project promises so much that no one will help. At Gravcore energy we are trying to R & D a New Clean prime mover. I work sparatically at my research as i do not have any funding to support it. I have talked to every prime mover company and government in the english speaking world to no avail. My problem is that i need a working prototype to get funding but I need funding to get the working prototype. I will continue to design and build as a lone wolf or atleast until funding shows up. But I am making progress. Don't give up cause i have not given up yet.