Won’t You Please, Please Help

When the science writer and occasional CBC personality Britt Wray started thinking about having a child — a desire she felt deep in her bones — she experienced an unexpected “sense of grief and despair.” What would it mean to bring new life into the world when our leaders are “walking with open arms into ecological dead zones”?

Reproductive anxiety is just one of the many forms of so-called eco-distress discussed in Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis. In 2021, Wray conducted a global survey of 10,000 people aged sixteen to twenty-five and found that 45 percent had experienced a negative impact on daily activities like eating, concentrating, and maintaining relationships. Almost 40 percent indicated “they were hesitant to have children.” Overall, the mental health effects of ecological destruction are on the rise. According to a British poll from...