I Want A Better Catastrophe

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Andrew Boyd. I Want a Better Catastrophe - Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humour. New Society Publishers. Gabriola Island. 2023.

Author explores research, figures, resources, interviews, reflections, and a dash of poetry so you can chart your contribution to the contemporary era.

Contents

  • Acknowledgements
  • Prologue: It's the End of the World, Now What?

1. Impossible News

  • We are where?!
  • Why it's so hard to hope these days
  • How do you fix a predicament?
  • 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
  • Should I tell people how bad I think it is?

2. The Five Stages of Climate Grief

  • You have to go through all five stages of climate grief, except they're not stages, there's more than five, and you might have to walk backwards
  • 1 - Denial: the wisdom of denial
  • 2 - Anger: We can win! We must! We won't?!
  • 3 - Bargaining: Is it now yet?
  • 4 - Depression: Despair is our only hope
  • 5 - Acceptance: We must awaken to our burdens
  • 6 - The Sixth Stage: Gallows humour
  • Interview: Meg Wheatley - Give in without giving up
  • Can I get my Buddhism with a side of strategy, please?
  • Flowchart: Navigating Our Climate Predicament

3. Existential Crisis Scenario Planning

  • It's not the end of the world; it's only the end of our world
  • We have to learn how to die as a civilization
  • How do you want to decline?
  • Don't worry, we're not heading of a cliff, just down a sharp, slippery slope
  • Houston, we have a super-wicked problem
  • What's a meta for?
    • Humanity is a Virus
    • We're Addicted to Oil
    • We're on a Train Headed for a Cliff
    • We're at War
  • The road to catastrophe is paved with other catastrophes
  • Extreme Sisyphus
  • I want a better catastrophe
  • Interview: Gopal Dayaneni - We're going to suffer, so let's distribute the suffering equitably
  • Sartre is my whitewater rafting guide
  • Same storm; different boats

4. How to be White at the End of the World

  • We're all in this together. Not!
  • How do I sing my story?
  • Can I lose hope when other people can't afford to?

5. Is There Hope?

  • Flowchart: Is There Hope?
  • Hope in the, like, really dark
  • Pessimism of the intellect; Optimism of the will!
  • You don't need to "save the world"; it's already made other plans
  • I dedicate myself to an impossible cause
  • Interview: Joanna Macy - Be of service not knowing whether you're a hospice worker or a midwife
  • "What aileth thee?"
  • Interview: Jamey Hecht - Witness the whole human story through tragic eyes
  • Your job at the end of the world is to become a happier person
  • The climate crisis is an existential Rorschach Test

6. What is Still Worth Doing?

  • What would Paul Kingnorth do?
    • Withdraw
    • Preserve non-human life
    • Get your hands dirty
    • Insist nature has intrinsic value
    • Build refuges
  • It's never too late to fail to save the world
    • Market-based solutions
    • "All of the Above"
    • "No Regrets" Strategies
    • Drawdown
    • Transition Towns
    • Just Transition
    • Degrowth
    • Deep Adaptation
  • Why the fuck am I recycling?
  • We have met the enemy and he is us. No, them! But also us. But mostly them.
  • No need to choose between mitigation, adaptation, and suffering; just get good at all three (especially suffering)
  • We need to do the impossible, what's merely possible is gonna get us all killed
  • Interview: adrienne maree brown - How do we fall as if we were holding a child on our chest?
  • Dystopia: If the Zombie Apocalypse comes the Day After Tomorrow will Max still be Mad?
  • Utopia: Our Afro-Indigenous-Trans-Eco-Socialist Futurism can beat up your Capitalist Realism
  • Interview: Robin Wall Kimmerer - How can I be a good ancestor?

7. Experiments on the Verge

  • What do I love too much to lose?
  • Step into the river
  • Line graph your way beyond "Progress"
  • Let go of your iPhone
  • Give pessimism a chance
  • What would Marcus Aurelius do?
  • Homo notsosapien
  • Vent your contradictions!
  • Imagine your utopia
  • Hold a group meeting in the halfway house of your soul
  • Are you a YES or a NO kind of person?
  • Let the eyes of the future bore uncomfortably into your skull
  • Should I bring kids into such a world?

Another End of the World is Possible

  • Hope and hopelessness, both
  • AEOTWIP!
  • Epilogue: Now is When You Are Needed Most
  • Epi-Epilogue: Passing the Torch
  • Appendix: Stuff You Can (Still) Do
    • Warrior
    • Engineer
    • Healer
    • Prepper
    • Good Neighbour
    • Policy Ninja
    • Storyteller
    • Rebel
    • Artist
    • Philosopher
    • Seer
    • Elder
    • Timekeeper
    • Trickster
  • Figure References
  • Flowcharts Bibliography
  • Notes
  • Index
  • About the Author
  • About New Society Publishers