Go Back

Page Count:416
Images:Black & White Images + 3 Page Foldout
Dimensions: 6 × 9 × 1.02 in
Publication Date:February 14, 2023
ISBN:9780865719835
Author:
Audiobook Narrator:Chris Baetens
Audiobook Length:12:16:46

I Want a Better Catastrophe

Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor

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.”

Book Awards

BRONZE | 2023 Living Now Book Awards: Social Activism / Charity
GOLD | 2024 IPPY Awards: Current Events II (Social Issues/Humanitarian)

Earn up to 40 Points.

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 leading climate thinkers — from collapse-psychologist Jamey Hecht to grassroots strategist adrienne maree brown, eco-philosopher Joanna 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. From storm-battered coastlines to pipeline blockades and “hopelessness workshops,” 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 in this insightful and irreverent guide for achieving a “better catastrophe.”

Table of Contents

Coming Soon

Accessibility Information

Product Page Accessibility Display

Conformance Status: EPUB Accessibility Compliant | WCAG level AA Compliant
Screen Reader Compatibility: Designed for an optimal screen reader experience and fully accessible to persons with disabilities.

Content Enhancements

Alternative Text for Images: Descriptive text is provided for all images, ensuring visual content is fully accessible.
Table of Contents: Easy, direct navigation through a clean, structured table of contents.
Reading Order: Enforces a logical and consistent reading order for sequential, uninterrupted content consumption.
Page List: Includes an accurate page list for physical book page referencing and exact academic citation synchronization.
Structural Navigation: Built with a clear hierarchical layout for easy content traversal and section hopping.
Semantic Structure: Employs appropriate semantic markup to ensure absolute text clarity, meaning, and text-to-speech accuracy.

Reading Optimization

Unrestricted Formatting Preferences: User-configured assistive tools, custom typography scaling, line-spacing modifications, and native reading application options are never locked or disabled.
Color Independence: Textual layouts, data states, and links use distinct styles or symbols so that color changes are never the sole method of conveying critical information.
High-Contrast Design: Typography contrast levels comfortably exceed standard baseline parameters to reduce eye strain under any lighting environment.
Non-Visual Accessibility Support: All non-decorative editorial text and data visualizations are optimized to support reading entirely without sight.
Language Tagging: Embedded text attributes direct text-to-speech engines to use correct pronunciation defaults automatically.
Blank Page Removal: Unnecessary blank pages are completely eliminated to ensure a streamlined, smooth reading flow.

Contact Information

For further information or questions contact [email protected]

Meet the Author

author 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 RevolutionDaily 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.

Articles from the book

You Might Also Like

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “I Want a Better Catastrophe”

Related Categories

About the Publisher

New Society Publishers has been a leader in sustainable living books since 1980. Our books are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper to support the health of the planet.

B Corporation, SDG, and FSC Mixed Paper.
Select your currency
Secret Link