I’m asking this seriously, especially of the people who think we’re boned as far as climate goes. Don’t have any kids or nieces or second or third cousins? Best friend’s kid asks your opinion. Don’t have any friends? Shut up and answer the question; don’t fight the hypothetical, because it’s not the point.
I plan to raise the little one without a strict argument one way or the other, because it’s not my goal to brainwash young kids. I’m an engineer who will raise a scientist, economist, doctor, or engineer (hopefully). Therefore, any instruction will be along the line of critical thinking (regardless of source, and especially if I’m the source).
On the other hand, I don’t think we’re “boned,” so maybe I’m not the best test subject. We have money and technology and a very good incentive to survive, so that covers the gamut of my daughter’s hopeful career options.
If she shows an aptitude for liberal arts, art, or something non-productive like that, then I’ll just teach her to join the throngs of non-rational people and scream about it on Reddit rather than doing anything about it.
Do you think you’re in the pit or something? :dubious:
Waste and conspicuous consumption is immoral. Being frugal is its own reward. Big things such as transportation choices and efficient energy use and not remodeling your kitchen every two years is more important than recycling and avoiding plastic bags and straws.
Charming answer :rolleyes:
My kids all know how to operate a firearm, they know how to do basic mechanic stuff, they know basic/intermediate concepts and practices for home electric, plumbing, and construction. This spring we’re going to start experimenting with aquaponic gardening, and if that goes reasonably well, we’ll look into raising fruit trees that way. Long term goal is to farm about an acre with garden veggies & fruit trees, and see if we can keep a bee hive alive and confined in the greenhouse (as a hedge against colony collapse).
These are all good things to know anyway for all kinds of reasons, even if climate change turns out to be a Chinese hoax. But if all the predictions are correct, one could do worse than to know how to feed, shelter, and protect oneself & tribe.
And just for fun…I have a liberal arts education. All about breadth of knowledge over narrow depth. I’ll come looking for an engineer when it’s time to manage the water at the aquaponic farm.
To be adaptable and realize there is not anything in this world that can not disappear, break or be taken away, but that does not mean that life ends with it and to figure out how to thrive when it does and not grow dependent on it. But also depend on God, who loves him, and will make a way for him, and there is a reason for these things, and a reason he can learn to understand why.
I will advise my kids not to live next to the ocean, or in a low-lying area prone to floods. Other than that, climate change as we know it will not be the end of us. Warm climate zones are likely to expand or march northward from the equator (or southward), so challenges and opportunities will emerge. Drought will become/is common in some areas, so water conservation will be discussed, as well as conspicuous consumption. We’ve already shown them the benefits of a small, efficient car. Arm them with knowledge is all you can do, so they can make their own decisions. We do not want them in the corner curled-up and sucking their thumb, but we also want them to know we think climate change is real and people are causing it.
I do what I do with anything…I talk to them about it, especially if they bring it up. Which they do, since their grandpa tells them a load of horseshit, IMHO, and they ask me for my take. I don’t harangue them or anything like that, be we discuss the issues to be best of my limited ability, including my take on why things don’t get done faster, why we don’t all just go to electric vehicles or solar/wind power and where things are headed, at least IMHO.
I don’t think we are boned, but I think we are in for some rough times ahead. That said, I think that the real way to deal with this is through the market, and I think that’s what’s going to have the biggest actual impact. That and demographics. Sadly, these forces aren’t going to let us off the hook with the least impact…but I think that, eventually, it’s going to peak and start to go down, just like the population bubble.
I’ll just tell the kid that the living will envy the dead, and he or she will know only wretchedness and suffering, and that the killer comet that finishes off humanity will be a blessing.
:eek: Uhh,I hope that’s a joke. You realise a honey bee colony needs to bring in something along the lines of 150lb of honey to survive a year, plus pollen, plus propolis; where are they going to get that from in your greenhouse? If they’re foraging outside, which they’d have to do to stand the faintest chance, they’ll be mixing with other bees and catching whatever off them anyway.
They’re also notoriously tricky to keep as even an indoor display hive with good access to the outside, high temperatures really aren’t good for them at all.
Colony collapse is only even an issue in the US (and it’s probably caused by an insecticide/management/varroa complex interaction, not a simple disease as such), if you reach the point where Apis mellifera, which after all are a European species, actually somehow become extinct in the States, people are gonna just import more from one of the disease free countries, of which there are a few.
Incidentally, in the early 1900s, the UK honeybee population dropped 85% in a year or so due to a disease epidemic, it was back up in numbers within a decade once a resistant strain was found. They can rebound pretty impressively.
Regarding the OP, depends on the age of the kids. Scaring toddlers is a very different proposition to answering direct questions from an older kid. I’d try and help them find and recognise unbiased information, if hey were older and I could. Helping them learn to research is more useful than telling them stuff.
Don’t have children, and the future holds nothing but misery.
Mine are young adults, but we still talk about stuff, life advice, etc.
I tell them it’s unwise to invest long-term in a drought threatened area. I think one of the strongest effects of climate change will be the large scale relocation of water. We have built up a large infrastructure based on water being in certain places, in predictable amounts. I think systemic weather pattern changes will move water in ways that our infrastructure is not designed for, and eventually render some areas uninhabitable.
Specifically, I counsel strongly against buying a house in the southwest area of the US, and in southern California especially. When Mead finally goes dry, there isn’t any easy way (that I can see) to provide water to these areas. As an oldster, I may not live to see it, but they will definitely see a large scale migration out of the southwest, with the accompanying financial disaster as previously overpriced homes become unsellable.
I also advise them to pay close attention to elevation if they decide to locate to any coastal areas or near rivers. I think the weather extremes are likely to cause flooding or storm surges in ways we’re not prepared for.
This whole “personal responsibility” argument is a smokescreen. It’s massive companies that are fucking things up.
So teach your kids that unbridled capitalism is evil.
I’m not sure whom I’m meant to have pitted, or otherwise insulted. My answer is perfectly rational.
My kids are young enough that talking is a challenge but generally the plan is to live in areas of lower population with high predicted rainfall. I’d like to move to the Cour D’alene area about the time the youngest goes off to college and I’ll be encouraging them to get useful technical degrees that can find them employment away from the coasts or deserts.
I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that he is taking issue with the italicized part of your original comment.
However, I’m going to step in and stop this hijack. Take it to another thread or the Pit, but we will not debate the “productivity or value” of those who gravitate to the arts in this thread.
Thanks for the heads up. I know shit about keeping bees happy and all the clues I can get are valuable. As I said, though, it’s a bit in the future and I have time to get most of the details right before releasing the bees into paradise/hell (depending on how much I get right). Look for my IMHO thread, coming in 2023. 
I’m also curious about totally wild indigenous bee species which might be lower maintenance and not have quite the dietary requirements of a hive of Eurobees.
I’m so glad I don’t have kids, the world they are going to inherit will be hellish.
I think your last sentence is probably the best one- I’m going to try and make my kids aware of how to tell what’s not a good bang for your buck (straws, light bulbs) vs. what’s actually meaningful (how you get to work/how efficient your car is, insulation).
And in general, being environmentally responsible is already a pillar of our parenting. Not in a “sustainably grown natural rubber bike tires” kind of way, but in a way that stresses not wasting things, and reducing/reusing/recycling when possible.