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