‘I am starting to panic about my child’s future’: climate scientists wary of starting families

“There is this constant sense of impending loss and I just didn’t want to have to transfer that to my child.” Environmental scientist Dr Shobha Maharaj stands in front of the coastline in San Fernando, Trinidad, where coastal stabilization works have been done, in an attempt to preserve the coastline. Photograph: Kelly Ann Bobb/The Guardian

“I had the hormonal urges,” said Prof Camille Parmesan, a leading climate scientist based in France. “Oh my gosh, it was very strong. But it was: ‘Do I really want to bring a child into this world that we’re creating?’ Even 30 years ago, it was very clear the world was going to hell in a handbasket. I’m 62 now and I’m actually really glad I did not have children.”

Parmesan is not alone. An exclusive Guardian survey has found that almost a fifth of the female climate experts who responded have chosen to have no children, or fewer children, due to the environmental crises afflicting the world.