Not having kids because of climate 'cultish', Andrew Castle tells Insulate Britain

29 December 2021, 12:31 | Updated: 3 January 2022, 08:21

IB spokesperson says daughter won't have children

By Seán Hickey

Andrew Castle tells this Insulate Britain member that using climate breakdown as a reason to not have children is 'obsessed' and 'cultish' behaviour.

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Following reports that policing Insulate Britain protests cost the taxpayer over £4 million in 2021, Zoe Cohen of Insulate Britain spoke to Andrew Castle about the organisation's message.

"The means and an end – there's a balance there and I don't think you guys have got it right" Andrew said, pointing out that the public "don't like [Insulate Britain] very much now" after a series of demonstrations on motorways.

Ms Cohen wasn't drawn on the group's popularity: "We're just people who've invested some energy and time in the reading the climate crisis and understanding it, and we understand what being inches away from a 2 degree world looks like."

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The climate activist warned that "billions of people will suffer extreme heatwaves in their lifetime" unless drastic action is taken.

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Ms Cohen went tried to appeal to Andrew's emotion, reminding him of his grandchild when considering the debate on climate breakdown.

She then told LBC listeners: "I've got one daughter, I've not got grandchildren, she won't have kids because of the state of the climate." Andrew couldn't understand the climate activist's point.

"You see, that's a bit obsessed for me."

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"People not bringing children into the world because they're fearful of the future, that for me sounds obsessed and cultish", he argued. "I don't like that. That worries me."

"you think the world's going to end!"

"read some of the peer reviewed papers myself and my colleagues have read"