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I Want a Better Catastrophe Andrew Boyd

I Want a Better Catastrophe By Andrew Boyd

I Want a Better Catastrophe by Andrew Boyd


£18.69
New RRP £21.99
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Summary

Reeling from a crisis of hope, lifelong activist Andrew Boyd seeks out today's leading climate thinkers, from collapse-psychologist Jamey Hecht to Indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer. If it's the end of the world, now what? he asks, as he steers us through our climate angst in search of a better catastrophe.

I Want a Better Catastrophe Summary

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

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

With global warming projected to rocket past the 1.5 DegreesC 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 of today's leading climate thinkers - from activist Tim DeChristopher to collapse-psychologist Jamey Hecht, grassroots strategist adrienne maree brown, eco-philosopher Joana 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. Boyd's journey takes him from storm-battered coastlines to pipeline blockades and hopelessness workshops. Along the way, 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. Drawing on wisdom traditions Eastern, Western, and Indigenous, Boyd crafts an insightful and irreverent guide for achieving a better catastrophe.

This is vital reading for everyone navigating climate anxiety and grief as our world hurtles towards an unthinkable crisis.

I Want a Better Catastrophe Reviews

Urgent, sobering reading.
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review

The most realistic yet least depressing end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it guide out there.
-Foreword Reviews, starred review

The book is stunning. By delivering its devastating news in imaginative, engaging, and sometimes even hilarious ways, it marks the emergence of a new and genuinely exciting kind of realism.
-Brian Eno, musician and environmentalist

A profound meditation on how to live in a world on the brink of collapse. Boyd moves gracefully beyond the usual talk of hope and despair to provide a startling vision of a future shaped not only by chaos, but also by compassionate care.
-Jenny Offill, author, Weather and Dept. of Speculation

A heartfelt and humorous take on how to show up at 'the end of the world as we know it'.
-Britt Wray, PhD, Human and Planetary Health Fellow, Stanford University and author, Generation Dread

I Want a Better Catastrophe is unlike anything else I've ever read about climate change, and how to keep living through it. For a start it's extremely funny. It is also angry, passionate, curious, honest, surprising, and very well-researched. Beyond its signature gallows humor, it brings a kind of deeply felt gallows love for the beauty and wonder of the world, and how we must fight to defend it.
-Nick Hunt, co-director, Dark Mountain Project, and author, Outlandish

Time is clearly short-but I Want a Better Catastrophe proves it's never too late for a good laugh, a good cry, and a good call to action!
-Bill McKibben, author, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon

Through expert interviews, compassionate analysis, and deliciously dark wit, Boyd beats a path through the messy emotional and psychological terrain we must travel in order to face the future.
-Onnesha Roychoudhuri, author, The Marginalized Majority

A rowdy, taboo-busting get-together of climate emergency thinkers.
-Josephine Ferorelli, co-founder, Conceivable Future

A must read for its wit, and for the insights it offers.
-Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky

About Andrew Boyd

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

Additional information

NGR9780865719835
9780865719835
0865719837
I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor by Andrew Boyd
New
Paperback
New Society Publishers
20230214
416
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a new book - be the first to read this copy. With untouched pages and a perfect binding, your brand new copy is ready to be opened for the first time

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