Halifax, Nova Scotia, September 16th 2019– Local community member Julia Sampson is taking the No Future Pledge to not have children until the government takes serious action to counter the climate crisis. The No Future Pledge is launching this September 16th, meant to coincide with the day that parliament comes back into session. Already, two hundred youth have signed. Julia Sampson is joining young people across Canada in pledging not to have children out of fear for their futures.
With climate change threatening every aspect of life, the youth of today are facing a world that is increasingly unsuitable for life. In BC, wildfires have become so prevalent that some scientists are calling it a ‘fifth season’. In Ontario, ‘once in a hundred year’ floods have started happening every year.The average age to have kids in Canada is around 30, but when young people in Canada are 30, they will be seeing unprecedented shifts in climate, food insecurity, heat waves, air pollution, economic collapse, and mass migration. When the children of now are 30 we will all be living in a global crisis.
Emma Lim, a school striker with Climate Strike Canada created the pledge to be both an expression of fear and a plea for action. “As a descendant of survivors of the holocaust, the idea that my children might again face the worst of what humanity has to offer scares me more than anything else”
The threat of climate change requires our government leaders to take urgent action before it is too late, and as children and young people who have been walking out of school for a year, this pledge encompasses the desperation and frustration they feel.
My name is Julia Sampson, I am 17 years old and I am pledging to not have children because of the climate crisis. We are already seeing the effects of the climate crisis that will only get worse. I am terrified for my future and I don’t want to bring a child into the world with that fear. I am striking so that I can have a future and a child. I want a family, I love children, but I can’t imagine bringing a child into a world that is falling apart. I am striking for my unborn child that may never be, and I will continue to do so until we get climate justice for all.
“I will not have children until I KNOW they will have a livable future.”
