A Victoria youth joins a national and global movement pledging not to have children in the midst of a climate crisis.

Emma-Jane Burian, 17, held a press conference at the back steps of the Legislature on Monday, alongside five other conferences held across the country, to launch a new movement, NoFutureNoChildren. The Victoria teen pledged not to have children due to the environmental state of the world.

Youth taking the pledge are hoping politicians will start taking the climate crisis seriously and build towards a future where they feel secure in bringing children into it, according to Burian.

"I am taking this pledge not out of fear, of which I have plenty, but out of hope that today leaders will wake up and hear our call, that they will actually do their jobs and will realize the truth in all of us screaming, 'that if there's no future then there will be no children,'" said Burian.

The fears that Burian has are shared by many. In total, 190 Canadian youth have already taken the pledge along with and hundreds of others from around the world.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report last year stating that the world has only 12 years to stop a 1.5C rise in global temperatures. According to the UN, a rise of anything beyond 1.5C would cause severe flooding, drought, extreme heat and the displacement of millions. 

Burian has been a part of climate action strikes that have taken place on the front steps of the Legislature every Friday for the last year. Since then, she has spent considerable time coming to the decision to join the pledge. 

"As a seventeen-year-old I should not have to worry about having or not having children," said Burian.

"Yet, it has become my responsibility because the adults are not adulting. We've seen the science many time over for years and so when I say, 'adults aren't adulting' I mean they're not respecting scientists. They're not respecting us as youth to have a livable future and I think they really need to pay attention to that and they really need to start respecting us and respecting science."

The Victoria teen says she is expecting criticism but asks that the feedback be directed towards what she and other pledgers are doing, and not to make it personal. 

"But I really hope that other people will just see and listen and try to understand the science for themselves because really it's important that we're all educated on this and that we all learn together," said Burian.