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A review by jmbq_reads
Lessons from the Climate Anxiety Counseling Booth: How to Live with Care and Purpose in an Endangered World by Kate Schapira
5.0
At multiple times and multiple places around Providence, Kate Schapira sat behind a sign that read "Climate Anxiety Counseling 5 cents: The Doctor Is In." She found this to be an excellent way to invite conversations with strangers about climate change and their fears or concerns, and time and again she heard the same refrain: I'm just one person, what can I do?
In this book, Schapira points out that our emotional responses to the climate crisis can open the way for group action. Once we start where we are, with the people around us, we can learn from each other and find ways together to turn our collective grief and trauma into possibility. And throughout the book, Schapira offers stories about people who have found profound ways to meet the crisis head-on, questions for reader reflections, and practices that can be done alone or in community to help move people from helplessness to empowerment. Some of the possibilities discussed are learning about what the local/community needs might be and where local government is not stepping up, what individuals can offer either in direct action or care for others, how to build mutual aid networks, and how to address structural inequities (among many, many more ideas).
There is, of course, no One Big Thing that will solve all our climate-related problems. But this book offers many ways to help people move from despair to engagement in ways that truly address community needs. Whether you read this on your own and do the work by yourself, or you find a group willing to work together, it's an excellent resource. And as Schapira notes, the anxiety we feel about climate change is a sign of our uncertainty about the future -- which means that our future is not written in stone and that we have the chance to build a more just and livable future if we try.
An additional note: the author's note at the end really struck me as a positive example of how we can work together and respect each other. She gives full attribution to many people throughout the book and gave them the opportunity to have final say over how their words and stories were used in the book, and she also shared the proceeds from the book with those people, who then used that money to fill a need they saw around them. It's a wonderful example of how to use one's privilege to make space for others, and it's something that I hope will inspire others, too.
5 stars. Read it and do some of the work for yourself, share with others, pass it on.
Thank you, Hachette and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
In this book, Schapira points out that our emotional responses to the climate crisis can open the way for group action. Once we start where we are, with the people around us, we can learn from each other and find ways together to turn our collective grief and trauma into possibility. And throughout the book, Schapira offers stories about people who have found profound ways to meet the crisis head-on, questions for reader reflections, and practices that can be done alone or in community to help move people from helplessness to empowerment. Some of the possibilities discussed are learning about what the local/community needs might be and where local government is not stepping up, what individuals can offer either in direct action or care for others, how to build mutual aid networks, and how to address structural inequities (among many, many more ideas).
There is, of course, no One Big Thing that will solve all our climate-related problems. But this book offers many ways to help people move from despair to engagement in ways that truly address community needs. Whether you read this on your own and do the work by yourself, or you find a group willing to work together, it's an excellent resource. And as Schapira notes, the anxiety we feel about climate change is a sign of our uncertainty about the future -- which means that our future is not written in stone and that we have the chance to build a more just and livable future if we try.
An additional note: the author's note at the end really struck me as a positive example of how we can work together and respect each other. She gives full attribution to many people throughout the book and gave them the opportunity to have final say over how their words and stories were used in the book, and she also shared the proceeds from the book with those people, who then used that money to fill a need they saw around them. It's a wonderful example of how to use one's privilege to make space for others, and it's something that I hope will inspire others, too.
5 stars. Read it and do some of the work for yourself, share with others, pass it on.
Thank you, Hachette and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.