Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis By Britt Wray
A meaningful read about how to cope with climate anxiety. Wray provides a nuanced examination of the climate crisis with thoughts on how to build resilience at the individual and community level. 296 I’ve worked in climate change communication, education, and interpretation for almost 20 years, and this book was, in my opinion, quite brutal in its presentation of various situations and facts. I struggled to get through it even though I am exceedingly familiar with 90% of its content. I was hoping for a good reference for students and friends who come to me for advice and information. This book is not that.
If you are not prepared for the stark slap in the face that is the harsh data and analysis of this book, this could upend any tenuous hold you have on your mental health as relates to climate anxiety and similar emotional states. I do not recommend this book for someone looking for solace or direction for action in the climate sphere. There are other books and articles that do it much better and more in tune with the appropriate psychological nuances. 296 This is such an important book for anyone who cares about climate breakdown (which should be everyone). Britt Wray draws on the wisdom of a variety of people who study the intersections of psychology and climate change, and details many strategies that people can use to cope with their climate emotions and use them to fuel action rather than become overwhelmed. She thoughtfully analyzes power and privilege when it comes to dealing with the effects of the climate crisis, including the ways that it was created by capitalism, white supremacy, and colonialism, and interviews a wide variety of people about how we can do the internal work necessary to fuel our external activism. Highly recommended! 296 How does one evaluate such a book, let alone recommend it to someone else? Which begs the larger question: what draws someone to such a book (since it's a far cry from entertainment and, frankly, it's a relatively heavy topic.)? The answers are all intertwined and lead to two different points:
On the one hand, if you think (and, of course, read) a lot about climate change, you probably know all about the Hickman (and colleagues) study: Climate anxiety in children and young people...: , see, generally, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/la... - which means you're almost certainly already familiar with all (or many) of the issues/concepts in Wray's book, in which case she performs a valuable service pulling them together (and, of course, adding a wealth of important context). And, yes, Hickman (and her research) are featured throughout.
On the other hand, the book isn't for everyone, and if the preceding paragraph didn't describe you, I'm in no position to indicate whether this would be a good place to start (or not).
Did reading the book ease my mind or make me feel better? No, not necessarily.
Did it help recalibrate my place or balance on the spectrum on the oft-polarized scale of doomers-to-hopers? Nah
Is it likely to inform, and do I expect it to improve (at least somewhat) my approach in pitching climate change related policies in my teaching/speaking? Maybe, if not, more likely than not.
It's a very good book, and I'm glad I read it. I have a disproportionate number of pages dog-eared, so I'm not truly done with it yet.
Part of me is curious to hear others' reactions to the afterword, which I didn't find (terribly) surprising (or, um, ... what's the right word? uplifting). I also expect I'm not the author's target demographic, but, what do I know? In large part, I applaud the author's (intellectual and moral) modesty in concluding that: There is no way to wrap this up in a bow [and there's n]o clever conclusion to adequately reflect the messy complexity.... 296 As someone who suffers daily from the affects of climate anxiety, I really needed this book. I only wish it had turned out to be more helpful. It was effective in helping me see that I’m not alone in my fear, anger, and grief, but it was a struggle to get through. It felt disjointed and rambling. I felt like I was on a confusing roller coaster: “yes, things are terrible, but wait don’t be so upset or else you’ll make it worse, but don’t be too happy because that isn’t realistic, the world is ending but it’s not really.” ….okay?! It made my head spin. I can’t say I really took away anything practical from this book. I did learn some trendy new words to describe my overwhelming feelings of dread and despair (sigh). 296
An impassioned generational perspective on how to stay sane amid climate disruption.
Climate and environment-related fears and anxieties are on the rise everywhere. As with any type of stress, eco-anxiety can lead to lead to burnout, avoidance, or a disturbance of daily functioning.
In Generation Dread, Britt Wray seamlessly merges scientific knowledge with emotional insight to show how these intense feelings are a healthy response to the troubled state of the world. The first crucial step toward becoming an engaged steward of the planet is connecting with our climate emotions, seeing them as a sign of humanity, and learning how to live with them. We have to face and value eco-anxiety, Wray argues, before we can conquer the deeply ingrained, widespread reactions of denial and disavowal that have led humanity to this alarming period of ecological decline.
It's not a level playing field when it comes to our vulnerability to the climate crisis, she notes, but as the situation worsens, we are all on the field--and unlocking deep stores of compassion and care is more important than ever. Weaving in insights from climate-aware therapists, critical perspectives on race and privilege in this crisis, ideas about the future of mental health innovation, and creative coping strategies, Generation Dread brilliantly illuminates how we can learn from the past, from our own emotions, and from each other to survive--and even thrive--in a changing world.
Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis
Standing out among the myriad of books on climate crisis, Generation Dread offers a refreshing approach towards accepting climate anxiety and turning dread into constructive action.
In many ways, Generation Dread was just what I needed at the exact right time. (I've consumed way too much negative info on climate change in the weeks prior to reading this book.) While most works on climate change mention a need to act, Generation Dread is the first book I've read that actually put this call-to-action into a realistic perspective – in such a way that it might actually mean something to the individual reader and change them.
Generation Dread did the impossible and actually gave me a sliver of hope for the future. Especially impressive is its entire internal discourse on having children (or not) in the age of climate crisis. It made me reconsider stances that have been deeply ingrained in my mind for a long time.
Lots of the insights and advices are rather metaphysical, which makes it feel like a self-help book at times. But in the end, maybe this is just what we need, facing this insurmountable-seeming challenge. Generation Dread's cautious optimism as well as its affirmation of the value of every single person contributing to a better future make it a book every anxious Millennial or Zoomer should read. 296 This is a good book if you are looking for dozens of psychological and psychiatric terms to describe feeling anxious about the climate, or possibly if you are seeking to understand someone in your life who has expressed such anxious thoughts. As far as practical advice or any epiphanies for dealing with climate anxiety on your own, this book leaves much to be desired. 296 This was not the book I thought I was picking up. I thought this would be an exploration of eco-anxiety and how to deal with it. There were a few interesting bits and pieces here and there – that activism is not a solution to the anxiety although it's certainly a good thing by it self, that people suffering from climate change dread are not generally people already suffering from other (irrational) types of anxiety, and the discussion of whether how to try and stay positive when the data doesn't show anything to be positive about. But those bits and pieces were buried in a horrible structure with most time spent reiterating how eco-anxiety feels. I think most people picking up this book already know what it feels like. It's clear the author is also suffering from it, but if I wanted to hear people's worst thoughts about the future I don't need to read a book that promises to talk about it on a meta-level.
All in all, this reads like a draft that's been written very chaotically and then thrown together to quickly publish it, without spending the necessary time on the editing process and sometimes this reads like an essay collection. Considering the author writes a newsletter about the topic, I can't help but think a lot of it was arranged around already written sections that she tried to fit together.
The authors weird fixation on being white while POC people have been suffering more under climate change (and general wealth inequality) just came off really strange, like she was just trying to shoehorn it in without having real points to make. You'd read something like “POCs are going to suffer more from from climate change” once and think yes, very important point. But with every time she brings up the same point again and again in different words, I found myself thinking if there was something else she needed to say on the topic and not just get over her own complex. She claims most climate activists are white and middle class and that this is a bad thing and that we need a different approach (which would entail what exactly?), only then to portray POC activists who do important work. So how come they started doing activism? Maybe there would have been a chance to dive deeper into the topic, but she doesn't dare to take it. She only muses superficially. A complaint I had throughout the book.
The only logical structure of the book was the one I found most annoying, a very navel-gazey discussion about the author's struggle whether to have children or not. In the beginning of the book she explains her reasons for not wanting to bring children into the climate chaos-ridden world with her parents and her brother berating her and telling how sad it is she's missing out on the “best feeling ever”. Then in the last chapter, she's having a child because... something something hope something, but really “because I wanted to”. I completely understand people who have hope in the future and decide to have children. I don't understand people who write a whole book about their anxiety and their almost certainty how bad the world is going to look in 20 let alone 50 years of time and bow to pressure of family and surroundings (and if she didn't mean to imply that, why did she put the pressuring in her book in the first place?) and “my own personal feelings trump my future child's well-being”. What an infuriating section to read.
Overall: such an important topic and what a poor execution! This is neither a how-to-guide to when you're dealing with eco-anxiety yourself, nor is it a in-depth discussion of the phenomena itself. It's one woman's feelings about her own eco-anxiety with the loose attempt to connect it to other people's anxiety. 296 **144th Climate Book**
The book's real strength, and why I gave it four stars, is the acknowledgement of the value and role of the full range of human emotions in the face of the climate crisis. I've tried for years(/decades) to walk the line demanded of climate communicators: don't scare people! emphasize hope! inspire people! talk about the utopian future we can build! avoid moralizing! if you slip up and cause fear or shame in your audience you are directly responsible for our imminent collapse (not the fossil fuel companies, perish the thought)!
Do you know, the only way to do this is to lie? I don't like lying. I think our current situation is terrifying and that fear (and shame) are reasonable responses.
Britt Wray is very supportive of feeling the dark stuff and being willing to face it, and that is fully deserving of four stars on its own. Also she is a clear writer with a good style.
Much of the background information was repetitive for me (caveat: this is my 144th climate book; I wasn't expecting to learn much new about climate change itself, or the socioeconomic issues surrounding it). It all seemed reasonably accurate and a good summary to me.
My one frustration is the treatment of government, but that's a pretty significant frustration. I've worked for many government agencies in my career, as well as the private sector, and I've volunteered and worked with non-profits, and humans are the same everywhere. People don't go into environmental careers in the government because they hate people and want to block progress and kill people. Yet that is the general tone here (to be fair Wray's book is not alone in this). Actions are focused on internal activism (i.e. therapy, which is a great thing to do, but not effective, and my own experience shows I think that you can do a lot of good work even if you feel like shit) and small group actions on a neighbourhood or household level.
Aiming activism at the policy/legislative work that would make the large-scale changes we need is not given the treatment it needs; instead, her view of this is pessimistic (no one is coming to save us, etc.). Particularly after working in a government agency for 2 1/2 years of a pandemic where I saw my colleagues bust their asses and burn out responding to crises and doing their best to support people, it just pisses me off.
I recommend the book, but not on its own, and not for policy solutions. It's a solid guide to climate feelings, but for the what to do conversation, look elsewhere. 296 A book that I'm inevitably going to be coming back to over and over again over the next several years, and one that I'll be happy to revisit. I expect it won't be long until my life is dotted with post-its quoting passages as reminders of what to hold dear and how to fight for it. 296