Eco-anxiety. Climate guilt. Pre-traumatic stress disorder. Solastalgia. The study of environmental emotions and related mental health impacts is a rapidly growing field, but most researchers overlook a closely related concern: reproductive anxiety. Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question is the first comprehensive study of how environmental emotions influence whether, when, and why people today decide to become parents—or not.
Jade S. Sasser argues that we can and should continue to create the families we desire, but that doing so equitably will require deep commitments to social, reproductive, and climate justice. Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question presents original research, drawing from in-depth interviews and national survey results that analyze the role of race in environmental emotions and the reproductive plans young people are making as a result. Sasser concludes that climate emotions and climate justice are inseparable, and that culturally appropriate mental and emotional health services are a necessary component to ensure climate justice for vulnerable communities.
Jade S. Sasser is Associate Professor at the University of California, Riverside, author of On Infertile Ground: Population Control and Women’s Rights in the Era of Climate Change, and host of the Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question podcast.
What motivated you to write this book?
I initially planned to write a different book, mainly focusing on young environmentalists’ thoughts about having children in general. However, a chance conversation led me down the rabbit hole of researching environmental psychology, and specifically the ways climate change is impacting emotions and mental health. When I realized that people of color were often assumed to not be impacted by these issues, and then discovered that such assumptions are based on the fact that we were being excluded from the research, I knew that I had to write this book.
Why is this such an important topic right now? Why do we need to address it?
A lot of people are very worried about climate change, both in terms of its current impacts and the uncertainty of what it will bring in the future. These concerns are strongest among young people, particularly Generation Z and young Millennials—people who are in their reproductive years and actively making decisions about starting families. Climate emotions are impacting those decisions, and will continue to do so in the future, and we need to get an evidence-based handle on what’s going on and why.
This is also an issue of inequality. People of color and low-income communities experience climate impacts more strongly and have a harder time recovering. This impacts their emotions and mental health too, but is often not talked about. I think this discussion needs to be had, particularly for those who care about equity and climate justice.
This is about the present and also the future. What kind of future do we want to create for ourselves, our families, and potential children? Having children in the midst of the climate crisis is important for many people, and they will need new resources and forms of support to manage their own climate emotions while raising resilient children.
People of color are much more likely to feel traumatized by climate change, and to feel fearful and overwhelmed about parenting through this crisis. They should be prioritized in the discussion, not overlooked and left out.
Jade Sasser
What do current conversations about climate change and parenting leave out?
The mainstream conversations are often mired in privilege. They assume there’s one single, universal experience of climate anxiety, or climate sadness and guilt. That’s not true at all. People of color are much more likely to feel traumatized by climate change, and to feel fearful and overwhelmed about parenting through this crisis. They should be prioritized in the discussion, not overlooked and left out.
What was something surprising or unexpected that came out of your research?
I think the most surprising thing was that, despite it all, people of color still express a sense of motivation and determination when it comes to parenting through the climate crisis. That really shouldn’t be a surprise though, given that we have often had to be resilient through incredibly difficult circumstances.
We can’t survive climate crisis with an individualistic attitude. Strengthening networks of care, building resilient communities, and ensuring that children have multiple trusted adults to turn to in challenging times are all important steps to take.
Jade Sasser
How do we move forward to ensure everyone can create the families they desire? What kinds of changes do we need to make?
First, we need to reject the notion that distressing climate emotions are personal, private, or individual. We’re having a collective experience of climate change as a result of the fossil fuel-based political-economic system we’re living in, and our emotions and mental health are impacted by that. Let’s look at the systemic drivers of this problem and focus on taking collective action to respond.
Second, more and more people are having trouble ensuring that they can raise their children in safe and sustainable environments, one of the key pillars of the reproductive justice movement. It’s time to support reproductive justice movements, in order to ensure that we are creating the holistic conditions needed for all people to thrive.
We can’t survive climate crisis with an individualistic attitude. Strengthening networks of care, building resilient communities, and ensuring that children have multiple trusted adults to turn to in challenging times are all important steps to take. Same with finding, and building, a sense of joy and happiness on an ongoing basis.
What will readers grappling with their own “kid question” and feelings of eco-anxiety and climate guilt take away from the book? What hope does the book offer?
People will take away the reality that they are not alone—far from it. They will also hopefully understand that it will help them to talk to trusted others about how they are feeling, and to develop a sense of reproductive resilience if they do go through with having children. They may also want to resist the unjust conditions in which they are thinking about becoming parents, and this could involve different approaches to addressing climate change.
The book is cautiously hopeful, as am I. Our elected leaders and policy makers aren’t doing much to protect us or our future generations, but a lot of activists are. I’m excited by them. I’m excited about the many ways everyday people are standing up and fighting for our lives, our potential children’s lives, and the future of our planet.