You're listening to the LRB podcast. I'm me and Christ, and welcome to the last episode in a special four-part series exploring the intersection of climate chaos and

reproductive justice. In our previous episode, I spoke with writer and historian Alison

Bashford, and together we explored some hard questions about the history of population control

and the enduring power of its critique. Today, feminist scholar Jade Sasser joins the podcast

to explore the relationships among the climate crisis and women's reproductive freedoms, health, and activism, and how these relationships are already evolving as we head into an increasingly uncertain future.

She is Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UC Riverside, and her work focuses on gender, climate justice, and

reproductive politics. She also works on questions around gendered access to household energy

in the global South and how the climate crisis shapes our emotions about and the ways we create

the future. Her book, on infertile ground, population control Control and Women's Rights in the era of climate change

analyzes the shifting role of environmentalists in shaping activism and international policy advocacy

focused on population and babymaking. She is currently working on a book that investigates the

impacts of climate change, racial injustice, and other existential threats on reproductive

decisions. It's an honor and a pleasure to have her as our guest today. Jade, welcome to the LRB

podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very much interested in your new research

with young people around reproductive anxiety. But before we get into that, I'd be glad to talk a bit

about your previous work on population and environmentalism. Sure. That would be great.

So in your book on infertile ground, you critique the ways population control narratives from the 20th century

are being repurposed in the 21st century in the field of international development.

You show how wealthy private donors, NGOs, scientists, and youth activists have all helped

to re-center population in environmental debate. Could you talk a bit about your research for that book?

Yes. So that book was my dissertation research for my PhD.

I became particularly interested in those issues when, as a Peace Corps volunteer,

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