Reproducing in Climate Crisis

• Main Authors: Roberts, Celia, Rasmussen, Mary Lou, Allen, Louisa, Williamson, Rebecca
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Policy Press 2023
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781529226843.003.0002

What does it mean to be pregnant or take care of a newborn during climate crisis? How is the current state of the planet changing people’s experiences of reproduction and kin? This book tells stories about people’s experiences of reproduction during the catastrophic Australian bushfire season of 2019–2020, in which more than 8 million hectares – one third of the country’s forests – were burnt. Analysing interviews with pregnant women (and sometimes their partners) as well as various experts, participants’ photographs and drawings, and our own stories of living through this crisis, this book delves into the details of life during an extreme climate event that was immediately followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapters discuss breath, bushfire smoke and the technologies associated with assessing smoke-related risks, new formations of care and kin, and participants’ thoughts about what it means to have children in these circumstances. Engaging with First Nations and other scholarship on fire, we critically introduce the notion of the Pyrocene to describe our current era, and propose our new term, Pyro-reproduction, to articulate the entanglements of reproduction, kin and climate crisis.