From Climate Warehouse
Mark Morano
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-09-11/climate-anxiety-and-the-kid-question
Author: Jade S. Shockwave
Excerpt: Jade S. Sasser is an associate professor in the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of California, Riverside. Her research explores the relationship between reproductive justice, women’s health, and climate change, and she is the host of the podcast Climate Anxiety and Children’s Issues. The following is an excerpt from her new book, Climate Anxiety and Children: Deciding whether to have children in an uncertain future, published earlier this year.
These respondents had more knowledge about climate change than most. They are all college educated; most of them either grew up or have lived in Southern California for some time; most have taken environmental studies courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.
Their experiences as members of marginalized groups shape their experiences of climate emotions such as anxiety, fear, and trauma, as well as hope and optimism. Paying closer attention to the emotional and mental health of communities of color, including how they plan for reproduction, will be an increasingly important component of climate justice in the United States.
…
Melanie is a 26-year-old Native American woman who grew up on the Navajo Reservation and in Southern California. Her ideal is to have a big, happy family, but certain aspects of the world give her pause, so she struggles with whether it's morally justifiable to have children.
“I thought I probably wouldn't have kids, even though I did want kids,” she noted. “Just because, with everything we're seeing going on in the world, it doesn't seem fair to involve someone in all of this against their will.”
Melanie's feelings about climate change include a general sense of powerlessness and lack of control over other people's actions, which translates directly into her fears about parenthood: “With climate change, we are the driving force behind the collapse of things, but at the same time, the planet It's going to do what it's going to do…so…it almost feels a little shameful to want to have a baby.
Relevant
