Recycling, washing clothes at 30°C and switching to energy saving bulbs are all touted¹ as ways to help the environment.

废物回收利用、用30度的水洗衣服、使用节能电灯等方法都被认为可以帮助改善环境。

But if you really want to save the planet, one of the best ways is to not have children, according to a study.

但是一项最新的研究表明，如果你真的想要拯救地球，最好的办法就是不要生孩子。

Researchers said that bringing new life into the world is easily the most destructive thing you can do to the environment.

研究人员表示，将新生命带到这个世界可以说是你能够对环境做出的最简单、但是却最具破坏性的事情了。

By not having a child, the carbon footprint of an individual living in a developed country would be reduced on average by an extra 58.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, based on current emission² rates.

根据目前的碳排放率来计算，如果没有孩子，生活在发达国家的人的平均碳排放量每年将减少58.6吨。

This is the biggest impact of all possible actions you could take.

这是你所有可能采取的行动中能够带来的最大影响。

The team from Sweden's Lund University came to this conclusion after conducting an analysis of the things individuals can do to produce less greenhouse gases.

来自瑞典德隆大学的研究团队得出了该结论，他们对个人减少温室气体所能做到的事情进行了分析。

But they found that while we are told to recycle, no government in the western world is advising its citizens to limit their number of offspring.

但是他们发现，虽然我们都被告知要回收利用废品，但是西方没有一个政府建议其公民限制后代的数量。

The study found that the other three main choices people can make in order to cut the amount of carbon dioxide they produce are to eat less meat, get rid of their car, and fly less.

该项研究还发现，人们可以减少碳排放的其他三项措施包括少吃肉、不开车、少乘坐飞机。

Lead author Seth Wynes – who does not have any children – said: 'There are so many factors that affect the climate impact of personal choices, but bringing all these studies side-by-side gives us confidence we've identified actions that make a big difference.

主要作者塞思·温斯（其本人没有任何子嗣）表示：“在个人选择方面，能够影响气候的因素有很多。但是对所有这些研究进行对比审查之后，我们确信已经发现了影响最大的因素。”

'We found there are four actions that could result in substantial decreases in an individual's carbon footprint: eating a plant-based diet, avoiding air travel, living car-free, and having smaller families.'

“我们发现有四种方法可以大幅减少个人碳排放：少吃肉、少乘坐航班、不开车、少生孩子。”

He added that these actions 'have much greater potential to reduce emissions³ than commonly promoted strategies'.

他还表示，这些方法“在减少碳排放方面，比那些一般推广的策略具有更大潜力”。