From not having kids to battling anxiety: Climate change is shaping life choices (USA Today)

[bronxiteforever]

For some, ignoring climate change is not an option. It’s real, and preventing global warming from getting worse is a driving force in their lives.

Elizabeth Lawrence and Elinor Aspegren, USA TODAY
7:00 a.m. EDT Aug. 14, 2019

...As global warming – the gradual increase in temperature of the Earth's atmosphere –accelerates, people are grappling with the idea that disastrous conditions may appear as soon as 2040. The reality of this potentially existential crisis greatly impacts the way some people, especially those who have dedicated their lives to stopping climate change, make life decisions – whether that’s going vegan, living in a certain part of the country or deciding against having children. It even impacts their mental health.

...Psychotherapist, ecotherapist and author Linda Buzzell who is from Santa Barbara, California, has struggled with "eco-anxiety" herself. "I think it's beginning to dawn on us that we're not going to be here very long if our habitat is basically killed off and dying," she said.

The first thing Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, did was start riding her bike to work. Then she replaced her light bulbs, her sister’s light bulbs and her parents’ light bulbs with LEDs. Her next step was reducing the flying she did by 35%. She also calls herself an aspiring vegan.

“After 2016, which brought the heat-related death of much of the coral reef I’ve worked at for 20 years and then the election of this administration, I kind of had to find another gear of climate engagement,” Cobb said. Cobb said she’s usually met with amazement when telling people about her lifestyle changes. She’s one of the few people in her neighborhood with solar panels on her roof, whose expenses have left her husband “with his jaw on the floor,” she said. Cobb noted the government doesn’t make it easy for people to lead more climate friendly lives.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2019/08/14/climate-change-global-warming-shaping-life-choices/1887870001/
It is a long read.
Article focuses on young people who are fighting for the good fight.

[bobbieinok]

1. My son, now 50, pretty much decided not to have kids because of what he learned about climate change

He says it's not just the weather effects.

He believes strong man tyrannies will inevitably arise to protect resources, fight off 'others' trying to take what's 'ours'. He sees Trump and others now coming to prominence as just the beginning. He thinks it's only going to get worse, and he doesn't want to condemn any descendants to such a life.