My state was just officially declared out of a drought for the first time in six years. That’s good news as we approach annual wildfire season. In some parts of town, insurance is now too expensive or unavailable because of fire danger. Some families are moving away and others face the prospect of never owning their own home. Other regions in both undeveloped and developed countries face floods or catastrophic storms. I’m not a scientist, and neither are most of my readers, but I have what I consider semi-informed opinions about climate change. Believe it’s real or not, but today some families feel like climate change is rocking the cradle.
I recently listened to a podcast by the BBC about how Climate Change is impacting Motherhood. Women from places like Nairobi and India talked about their decisions, “Not just whether to parent, but how to parent in a warming world.”
Climate Change Impacts on Motherhood
What’s the big deal about kids and climate change? Is there a legitimate connection? Do more children “burden” creation? Because of weather events and related outcomes:
- Some women decide not to have children.
- Some women limit how many children they have.
- Some women raise children differently.
- Some women miss having children.
Many moms feel concerned about raising a “climate considerate” child, while admitting they also want their kids to have a happy childhood with vacations, birthday parties, and kid-tech. In underdeveloped or population-pressured nations, some doctors point to premature births resulting from a high degree of pollution and a low quality of nutrition. For moms seeing their regional rice fields inundated by flooding and prices rising, they can’t help but consider whether or not they’ll have a good chance of bearing and raising a healthy child. Whatever you believe about Climate Change, the forces of nature impact family life.
Because of this, one mom said, “Deciding to have children in a climate crisis is scary. Sometimes my heart literally aches with fear.”
Climate Change from God’s View
I wonder what the Garden of Eden was like before sin stirred it up and God locked us out. We know some from reading the account in Genesis. Since then, the same Enemy that suggested to Eve that she could do better than what God designed has continued to suggest the same to us. The chaos is real. A steady visual diet of the worlds floods, storms, and famines can keep us in a place where our hearts ache with fear.
Even so, chaos in creation hasn’t done away with God’s direction for people to have “dominion” as the world’s caretakers. The more we know of Him, the more we should lean in to His mandate to manage what He made. When natural world disasters and trends lead to distress, we can hold on to truths that stay with us out of Eden.
- God sends families into the world to populate it. (Genesis 1:28 & 9:1)
- Children are a gift from God and a reason for joy.
- If we need wisdom, God will give it to us when we ask.
- Parents are instructed to teach kids about living well while living well.
“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion … ,” God said. He knew we would face the storms and the stress of living out of Eden in a world changed by the disruption of sin’s curse.
- How big would families be?
- How healthy would they be?
- How many resources would it take to raise a family?
- How happy of a childhood could the kids of the world expect?
Subduing a changing world creates a lot of work. Family life in a changing world stirs up a lot of worry.
What Doesn’t Change with Climate Change
Nevertheless, as Adam and Eve left their garden home to grow a family, our Maker knew all future families would live in a less than perfect world. Changes in climate, food quality, resource availability, and every other facet of creation would make us mindful of our frailty and give us a desire for our Creator’s care. As we sit beside the cradle of the next generation, we can be sure that God’s interest and tender involvement have not and will not change.
