If you give a shit, well, you’ve probably had at least a few moments where the enormity of what’s in front of us has challenged your mental health in some way.

I can’t imagine there are many folks listening to this show who’ve never felt the heaviness of our climate future, of our climate present.

There’s a lot of guilt, a lot of shame, a lot of shame about that shame, a lot of furious action – we’re here, aren’t we.

And running parallel alongside all of those emotions is the dread of what’s being done out there, about the lack of action, and for the people who are taking action on the frontlines of the future, giving it their all.

But, as Dr. Katharine Hayhoe says, we have to talk about it. 

Not just what’s happening, but how we’re dealing with it. 

How we can recognize it and move forward, for ourselves, together, for the planet, for the people who will come after us.

My guest today is Dr. Britt Wray.

Britt is the author of the fantastic new book “Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis”, an impassioned generational perspective on how to stay sane amid climate disruption.

Britt has a Ph.D. in Science Communication from the University of Copenhagen and is the author of "Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics and Risks of De-Extinction."

She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (sure, why not both?), where she researches the mental health impacts of climate change on young people.

Britt is also the author of Gen Dread, the first newsletter that shares wide-ranging ideas for supporting emotional health and psychological resilience in the climate and wider ecological crisis.

I have learned so much from Britt of late, and her book is a tremendous source of empathy and courage.

I think you will find us both baring a bit of our souls and our beliefs in this conversation, and hopefully, some ways we can all cope and build a radically more supportive world – for everyone.

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INI Book Club:

• Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis by Britt Wray
• Greek Myths by Gustav Schwab
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Follow Britt Wray on Twitter
• Follow @gen_dread on Instagram
• Gen Dread Newsletter
• Climate Awakening
• Climate Café
• Good Grief Network
• Work That Reconnects
• Climate Psychology Alliance
• Climate Psychiatry Alliance

Follow us:

• Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
• Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
• Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
• Edited by Anthony Luciani
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
• Artwork by Amrit Pal