Читать книгу Shaped by Snow. Defending the Future of Winter онлайн

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We laugh, but a heaviness lodges in my chest at his words. As silly as it may sound when I say it aloud, the risk of losing a child deters me from even wanting to have one. Any child I have could witness a World War III over access to fresh water, islands and cities disappearing beneath the ocean, and a refugee crisis the likes of which the planet has never seen. She might see the western United States experience a drought that could turn the Salt Lake Valley into a dust bowl. Her children may never see glaciers in their lifetimes. And, with more precipitation in the American West falling as rain rather than snow, my grandchildren may never get the chance to learn how to ski, or to catch a snowflake on their sleeve.

We emit carbon during our lifetimes, leaving our footprint on the earth’s climate. It’s unavoidable living in the United States, where our buildings and transportation systems and economy are powered by fossil fuels. But the biggest carbon footprint you can leave as an individual is having children. By one estimate from a study conducted by Oregon State University in 2009, “under current conditions in the United States … each child adds about 9,441 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the carbon legacy of an average female, which is 5.7 times her lifetime emissions.” If that child has more children and grandchildren, that number grows. By choosing to have children, we give choices to others to continue our carbon legacies.