I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor

(Paperback)

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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'.

An existential manual for tragic optimists, can-do pessimists, and compassionate doomers

With global warming projected to rocket past the 1.5C 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 humour 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.

Reviews

"Urgent, sobering reading."
Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"The most realistic yet least depressing end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it guide out there."
Foreword Reviews, starred review

"The book is stunning. By delivering its devastating news in imaginative, engaging, and sometimes even hilarious ways, it marks the emergence of a new and genuinely exciting kind of realism."
Brian Eno, musician and environmentalist

"A profound meditation on how to live in a world on the brink of collapse. Boyd moves gracefully beyond the usual talk of hope and despair to provide a startling vision of a future shaped not only by chaos, but also by compassionate care."
Jenny Offill, author, Weather and Dept. of Speculation

"A heartfelt and humorous take on how to show up at 'the end of the world as we know it'."
Britt Wray, PhD, Human and Planetary Health Fellow, Stanford University and author, Generation Dread

"I Want a Better Catastrophe is unlike anything else I've ever read about climate change, and how to keep living through it. For a start it's extremely funny. It is also angry, passionate, curious, honest, surprising, and very well-researched. Beyond its signature gallows humor, it brings a kind of deeply felt "gallows love" for the beauty and wonder of the world, and how we must fight to defend it."
Nick Hunt, co-director, Dark Mountain Project, and author, Outlandish

"Time is clearly shortbut I Want a Better Catastrophe proves it's never too late for a good laugh, a good cry, and a good call to action!"
Bill McKibben, author, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon

"Through expert interviews, compassionate analysis, and deliciously dark wit, Boyd beats a path through the messy emotional and psychological terrain we must travel in order to face the future."
Onnesha Roychoudhuri, author, The Marginalized Majority

"A rowdy, taboo-busting get-together of climate emergency thinkers."
Josephine Ferorelli, co-founder, Conceivable Future

"A must read for its wit, and for the insights it offers."
Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky

Author Bio

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 Revolution, Daily 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.