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I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor - Paperback | Diverse Reads

I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor

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An existential manual for tragic optimists, can-do pessimists, and compassionate doomers

WITH GLOBAL WARMING projected to rocket past the 1.5°C limit, lifelong activist Andrew Boyd is thrown into a crisis of hope, and off on a quest to learn how to live with the "impossible news" of our climate doom.

He searches out eight leading climate thinkers -- from collapse-psychologist Jamey Hecht to grassroots strategist adrienne maree brown, eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, and Indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer -- asking them: "Is it really the end of the world? and if so, now what?"

With gallows humor and a broken heart, Boyd steers readers through their climate angst as he walks his own. From storm-battered coastlines to pipeline blockades and "hopelessness workshops," he maps out our existential options, and tackles some familiar dilemmas: "Should I bring kids into such a world?" "Can I lose hope when others can't afford to?" and "Why the fuck am I recycling?"

He finds answers that will surprise, inspire, and maybe even make you laugh in this insightful and irreverent guide for achieving a "better catastrophe."

AWARDS

  • BRONZE 2023 Living Now Book Awards: Social Activism / Charity

ISBN-13: 9780865719835

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: New Society Publishers

Publication Date: 02-14-2023

Pages: 416

Product Dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.10(d)

Andrew Boyd is a writer, humorist, activist, and CEO (Chief Existential Officer) of the Climate Clock, a global campaign that blends art, science, and grassroots organizing to get the world to #ActInTime. He also co-created the grief-storytelling ritual the Climate Ribbon and led the 2000s-era satirical campaign Billionaires for Bush. Andrew's previous books include Beautiful Trouble: A Toolbox for Revolution, Daily Afflictions: The Agony of Being Connected to Everything in the Universe, and Life's Little Deconstruction Book: Self-Help for the Post-Hip. His lifelong ambition, cribbed from Milan Kundera, is "to unite the utmost seriousness of question with the utmost lightness of form." Andrew lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Prologue: It's the End of the World. Now What?

Chapter 1: Impossible News
   Interview: Guy McPherson "If we’re the last of our species, let’s act like the best of our species.”
   Interview: Tim DeChristopher “It’s too late— which means there’s more to fight for than ever.”
Chapter 2: The Five Stages of Climate Grief
   Interview: Meg Wheatley —“Give in without giving up.”
Chapter 3: Existential Crisis Scenario Planning
   Interview: Gopal Dayaneni — “We’re going to suffer, so let’s distribute that suffering equitably.”
Chapter 4: How to Be White at the End of the World
Chapter 5: Is There Hope
   Interview: Joanna Macy — “Be of service not knowing whether you’re a hospice worker or a midwife.”
   Interview: Jamey Hecht — “Witness the whole human story through tragic eyes.”
Chapter 6: What Is Still Worth Doing
   Interview: adrienne maree brown — “How do we fall as if we were holding a child on our chest?”
   Interview: Robin Wall Kimmerer — “How can I be a good ancestor?”
Chapter 7: Experiments on the Verge
Chapter 8: Another End of the World Is Possible

Epilogue: Now Is When You Are Needed Most
Epi-Epilogue: Passing the Torch
Appendix: Stuff You Can (Still) Do