Generation Dread

Hailed as “marvelous” (David Wallace-Wells), “courageous” (Naomi Klein), “intriguing” (Gabor Maté), and “deeply compelling” (Adam McKay), this book is an illuminating roadmap to staying sane amid climate despair

Climate-related fears and anxieties are on the rise everywhere. As with any type of stress, eco-anxiety can lead to lead to burnout, insomnia, and an ever-present haze of dread. When researcher Britt Wray found herself thinking about having a baby, to these anxieties was added the crushing worry of how her future child would deal with the planetary health crisis that her generation will leave behind.

In Generation Dread, Britt Wray seamlessly merges scientific knowledge with emotional insight to show us how to maintain a balance between fear and hope while sitting with uncertainty about the planet. A crucial first step is grieving what is happening and mourning ecological losses, which can help us find clarity of purpose. In truth, our deep feelings of anxiety and dread are a healthy response to the troubled state of the world.

Weaving insights from therapists, research, and personal experience with creative coping strategies, Generation Dread brilliantly illuminates how we can learn from history, from our own emotions, and from each other to survive—and even thrive—in a changing world.

About the Author

Britt Wray, PhD, is the leading researcher on the emotional and psychological impacts of the climate crisis. She is a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, where she investigates the mental health consequences of ecological disruption. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, and Globe and Mail, among other publications. She has hosted several podcast, radio, and TV programs with the BBC and CBC, is a TED Resident, and writes Gen Dread, a newsletter about staying sane in the climate crisis: gendread.substack.com.