I Want a Better Catastrophe

No cover — Andrew Boyd: I Want a Better Catastrophe (EBook, 2023, New Society Publishers, Limited)

eBook, 417 pages

English language

Published Feb. 14, 2023 by New Society Publishers, Limited.

ISBN:: 978-1-55092-776-4

(1 review)

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 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 …

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 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.

3 editions

screamsbeneath reviewed I Want a Better Catastrophe by Andrew Boyd

Conflicted, but absolutely recommend

4 stars

This book seriously started out as a 1 star for me that almost found itself in the did not finish pile. I find many of my perspectives amd unserstanding of the climate science to align with the author, so why was this almost a flop for me and what changed it?

Well to start with what didn't work, it really comes down to my expectations. I was expecting a journalistic approach of here's how we're all fucked and the inventive ways some revolutionary thinkers have devised to make a different inspire of everything. What ended up being presented was a multi-year process of churning breakdowns and rediscoveries that color the overarching narrative with a grasping for logic where there is none and a generous helping of turning away from reason because it doesn't match their personal worldview. So many contradictions abound, I felt very unsympathetic. I'm not a lifelong activist; …

This book seriously started out as a 1 star for me that almost found itself in the did not finish pile. I find many of my perspectives amd unserstanding of the climate science to align with the author, so why was this almost a flop for me and what changed it?

Well to start with what didn't work, it really comes down to my expectations. I was expecting a journalistic approach of here's how we're all fucked and the inventive ways some revolutionary thinkers have devised to make a different inspire of everything. What ended up being presented was a multi-year process of churning breakdowns and rediscoveries that color the overarching narrative with a grasping for logic where there is none and a generous helping of turning away from reason because it doesn't match their personal worldview. So many contradictions abound, I felt very unsympathetic. I'm not a lifelong activist; I'm an introvert that does the best to manage my own impact and live up to my values to the best of my ability. So many of these appeals just fall entirely short for me. It was the interviews with some pretty extraordinary folks that kept me wngaged long enough for my opinion to gradually shift. I can appreciate the tone, and maybe it was more telegraphed than I was able to pick up on, this person has been on the front lines their whole life and this is something too large to fully come to terms with. Especially when it challenges everything they have lived and fought for their entire lives. This shift in my mind was enough to endear me to the more personal musings presented. I could have done with the gallows humor, I didn't find much of it funny or useful.

Many ideas within this book will stay with me for a long time and I have an expanded list of books to pursue based on the interviews. Many of the salient points for me touch on a more human approach: how to be kind and gentle to others in the face of large scale disaster, how to facilitate community that is resilient and kind, and how to change one's relationship to what is normal, what is comfortable, what is just. The interviews and discussions inspired by them made this book for me. I'm happy to have requested my library purchase a copy, and even happier to see there's a wait list for it. It's a book I'll be buying for others in my life as gifts. There are so many ideas in this book worth exploring as we all face a very uncertain future. Whether we look at it or not, great changes are coming and we have a chance to influence the outcome.