The 2024 Scott A. Margolin '99 Lecture in Environmental Affairs

The 2024 Scott A. Margolin ‘99 Lecture in Environmental Affairs presents Jade S. Sasser, Associate Professor in the Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of California, Riverside.

“No Future for Us? Young People’s Climate Anxiety and the Future of Reproduction.”

Young people are experiencing deep distress and despair over the current state of climate change, its anticipated future impacts, and what this means for the future of life on earth. These concerns about the future viability of life on the planet are, increasingly, shaping how young people are thinking about the future viability of their own reproductive hopes, dreams, and plans—particularly whether and how they might leave a legacy through having children. This talk explores recent research on the mental and emotional impacts of climate change on young Millennials and members of Generation Z, how these impacts shape reproductive plans, and what race and social marginalization have to do with it.

Jade received her PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from UC Berkeley. Her work explores how environmental problems such as climate change and toxic exposures intersect with women’s bodies, health, and reproductive rights. Her first book, On Infertile Ground: Population Control and Women’s Rights in the Era of Climate Change, was published in 2018 by NYU Press, and won the Emory Elliot book award. Her new book, titled, “Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question: Deciding Whether to Have Children in an Uncertain Future,” addresses race, emotional and mental health, and reproductive anxiety in the midst of climate change. She has a podcast with the same title. She lives in Riverside, California, and in her free time, she is a DJ at her campus radio station, KUCR.

The Scott A. Margolin ’99 Lecture in Environmental Affairs takes an interdisciplinary approach to the natural environment and human interaction with it. In 1998, the Environmental Affairs Lecture was named in honor of Scott A. Margolin, of the Middlebury College Class of 1999. In his one year here, Scott established himself as a dedicated student of Environmental Studies, a leader in Environmental Quality and other student affairs, and an outstanding writer. He lives in our memory.