Solastalgia: An Anthology of Emotion in a Disappearing World

A striking, resonant collection. I can’t think of another anthology of environmental writing that focuses so explicitly and directly on emotional responses to what’s happening—to specific, tangible aspects of what’s typically called 'the Anthropocene.’ Solastalgia succeeds tremendously in richly presenting these varied responses. Taken collectively, the essays are strangely comforting in the sense of community and shared angst and vision they imply.

A timely and exciting book full of beautiful, incisive writing, Solastalgia promises to make a substantial addition to the growing body of environmental humanities works on emotional responses to ecological change. As writers continue to engage the pressing issues of global climate change and biodiversity loss, creative nonfiction is uniquely suited to this task of investigating new and emergent emotions.

The essays gathered in this collection provide intimate looks at beloved places—the birds and hills, the skies and first snowfalls—even as the places shift and change. It’s brave to write into the vastness of our climate crisis and still understand the role of celebration. These authors offer the full complexity of what it means to love a place while it’s being forever shifted. They provide witness and beauty and a way forward, despite despair.

With a soul that follows the science, Solastalgia shows us why fully embracing our grief and anger for the earth’s wounds that humans have wrought is a necessary lifeline for becoming whole again in a broken world.