Gen Z is anxious about climate change, and it’s impacting their family planning — but not always in the ways we might expect.
Jade Sasser, a researcher and associate professor at the University of California, Riverside, started studying the links between climate anxiety, race and reproductive decision-making in earnest in 2020, with a few distinct questions in mind: How much is climate change affecting how young people think about kids? Is it only privileged, white women concerned about climate and kids, as often appears in the national narratives? How much climate anxiety do young people of color feel?
Jade talks with host Anita Rao about the unexpected answers to these questions, which she details in her book “Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question: Deciding Whether to Have Children in an Uncertain Future.” She also talks with Anita about managing climate emotions while making big life decisions and how “the kid question” isn’t just about babies — it’s about what bringing new life into an uncertain world represents.
