#also some environmental remediation- leaning gardening stuff recs... I find that always fills me with purpose even while carrying the grief

[summersfirstsnow]

Some things about finding joy in the natural world and conservation that didn't press on bruises too painfully for me but also didn't ignore the reality of life in a climate-change ravaged world:

Underland by Robert Macfarlane isn't ecogrief specific but can help if you want to revel in what remains a bit

The Arbornaut: A Life Discovering the Eighth Continent in the Trees Above Us by Megan Bowman

Swamplands: Tundra Beavers, Quaking Bogs, and the Improbable World of Peat by Edward Struzik

Some words from some folks in environmental or environment-adjacent fields that engage head-on:

seconding Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by the inimitable Robin Wall Kimmerer: the audiobook especially is phenomenal (the author reads it herself and it's wonderful... you can hear her smiling sometimes) it helped me so much when I was struggling with environmental grief toward the end of my degree, the author brings her knowledge as a Pottawatomie woman, a botanist, and a parent to her work in a way that's just beautiful

Changing Tides: An Ecologist's Journey to Make Peace with the Anthropocene

All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, & Solutions for the Climate Crisis: edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Katharine K. Wilkinson: this is an essay collection from a variety of authors about engaging with climate grief as well as climate solutions

Hi friends.

I'm looking for suggestions on what you read, write, and do to deal with eco grief. Usually my brand is "cautious optimism, on purpose, to stave off despair." It hasn't been working lately.

Favorite authors? Favorite essays? What things make you feel less powerless and like you're watching an unequivocal, massive, total train wreck that you are also on?