THE FUTURE WE FEARED IS HERE
When did you first notice ecoanxiety creeping into the consulting room?
I think it was about five years ago, and it was mostly affecting people in their late 20s and early 30s, who were saying that they didn’t think they would ever have children. It was so heavy and impacting quite a number of people. But the thing is, it’s a very tangled argument. I really sympathise with the movement in the UK, and movement in America, and anyone who campaigns against having children until their politicians take action, but sociologically speaking, when you get declining birth rates you don’t necessarily get lighter carbon footprints. In fact, you tend to get higher ones. For example, in Korea, when the birth rates dropped below one, you got huge carbon footprints for each person. So, in wealthy cultures particularly, it seems that society becomes more materialistic when birth rates drop, so it’s not a simple matter of less people equals less damage. Also, with richer ageing populations, migrants are often brought in to care for them, and that can introduce racism and other terrible antagonisms that then become associated with
