Becoming Parents at the End of the World: Trauma Narratives, Parenthood, and the Climate Crisis. A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach

Abstract

This article explores the impact of climate trauma on reproductive choices and the imagination of parenthood in the age of environmental crisis. As climate change is increasingly perceived as an existential threat, fear and climate anxiety shape individual and collective decisions, challenging the ethical, emotional, and psychological foundations of becoming – or choosing not to become – parents (Dillarstone et al., 2023). The essay also addresses the phenomenon of pre-traumatic stress disorder (Van Susteren, 2018; Kaplan, 2020), exploring how anticipatory anxiety shapes not only individual emotions but also existential and intergenerational decisions. Through the analysis of newspaper articles, the study investigates how trauma narratives construct a future imaginary dominated by instability, loss, and ecological collapse (Kaplan, 2016; Woodbury, 2019). These narratives often intertwine the fear of extinction with deep dilemmas about reproduction, responsibility, and the transmission of life in a threatened world (Crist, 2020).