Climate Anxiety and Kid Questions: Exploring the Roles of Ra

Climate Anxiety and Kid Questions: Exploring the Roles of Race and Gender Presented by Jade. S. Sasser, University of Califorina, Riverside February 24, 2025 at 1:30 PM on ZOOM

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A growing body of evidence demonstrates that young people, particularly in Generation Z, are experiencing a range of distressing emotions in response to climate change. One aspect of this research pays particular attention to how these emotions impact both desires and plans to parent children, now and in the future. However, these studies assume that all young people are alike and that demographic differences, such as race and gender, are unimportant. Is that true? How do differences in identity and lived experience shape experiences of climate anxiety and reproductive plans? My new book, Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question: Deciding Whether to Have Children in an Uncertain Future (2024, UC Press), explores the question: how do race, gender, and social vulnerability factor into climate emotions and parenting plans? And how can a linked approach to reproductive and climate justice better address young people’s concerns?