What do you do with despair? That's up to you... Whether you want to talk it out with someone, soak up more information, or become part of a collapse-aware community – we’ve got something for you. Please note that we tried to make an introductory list that was international in scope… but we also have a bias towards English and North American resources. It is very likely that you will find resources/communities that are more relevant, more useful, or closer to you if you perform your own search – but these links are a good starting point.
This is a work in progress, please email venusbytuesday@gmail.com for suggestions and concerns.
Mental Health Resources
– Climate Psychology Alliance Resources for Parents, Educators, and Young People – Figuring out how to talk to children and students about climate change is a common hurdle. And for young people, finding someone to take their concerns seriously or mental health supports they can access can be a challenge. This database has videos, podcasts, reading material, courses, etc.
– Living Resilience: Safe Circle is a free weekly, 90 minute-long, online conference calls for people who desire companionship in the often lonely world of the Collapse-Aware. These support calls were created for people who enjoy the authentic presence of kindred spirits as we face our predicament-laden world together.
– Good Grief Network is a nonprofit organization that brings people together to metabolize collective grief, eco-distress, and other heavy emotions that arise in response to daunting planetary crises. They run 10-step peer-to-peer support groups (discounted if money is an issue; email in). They also have a resource list on their site.
– Surviving the Future courses – Through either self-paced or live online offerings, join Shaun Chamberlin and distinguished guests to explore how our families and communities might change direction before we end up where we are headed. The program was designed to attract diverse participants from every continent on Earth, from 20 years old to 93. This is a paid course but there is flexible pricing and scholarships to make sure finances are not a barrier.
– Climate Therapist Directory (NORTH AMERICA AND UK ONLY) – Not all therapists are equipped to deal with the enormity of climate anxiety. Eco-anxiety/climate grief is a relatively new field of study that has really only been receiving a lot of academic & professional attention in the last 1-2 decades. This is a directory of therapists who: “recognize that the climate crisis is both a global threat to all life on Earth and a deeply personal threat to the mental and physical well-being—the sense of safety, meaning, and purpose—of each individual, family, and community on the planet.”
– Collapse Support is a subreddit where people publicly discuss their feelings and try to support each other with regards to civilizational and ecosystems collapse. Be warned: The despair here is pretty unfiltered and people openly discuss subjects like suicide (though I’ve found the community very kind and encouraging). They also have a Discord community with weekly support chats (you can participate via text only if you’d like).
– The Magnitude of all Things – A Canadian feature-length documentary on climate grief, featuring a variety of viewpoints and lived experiences on the intersection between personal and planetary despair. Recently made free-to-view by the NFB.
Information
– Breaking Down: Collapse is an excellent podcast that takes the complex concepts (such as climate change) surrounding the collapse of modern industrial society and explains them in a way that is very friendly to the layperson. It’s a level-headed and easy to digest introduction to some complicated and difficult topics in a calm (yet serious) tone. Highly recommended if you’re new to this stuff (start with the first 8 episodes). The co-host actually starts out as a skeptic and is slowly convinced. Episodes are about 30 minutes long each and their sources are in episode descriptions.
– The Commons Social Change Library is an “online social change library” that broadly speaking collects information on grassroots organizing and campaigning. They have an entire section on climate grief, with podcasts, books, and networks/organizations to name a few.
– UN IPCC Climate Change Reports – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the United Nations body for assessing the science around climate change. The scientific findings of thousands of scientists and researchers from all over the world are assessed by a diverse and multinational group of experts, who then create reports that summarize the impact of climate change to the ecosystem and to society. It’s quite a lot, but it’s well organized into topics and you can drill down to something you’re interested in (or see their Youtube channel). Note that these reports are not the be-all end-all of climate science!
International Communities
Popular media tells us that surviving social and economic collapse is all about isolating yourself in a concrete bunker while hoarding food and bullets. This is untrue. Surviving and even thriving in our declining world requires cooperation and community at the grassroots level. And many people find that working to better the lives of others helps with feelings of grief and anxiety.
– Deep Adaptation – The Deep Adaptation Forum is an international online space meant to connect people, in all spheres of life, to foster mutual support and collaboration in the process of anticipating, observing, and experiencing societal disruption and collapse. It is privately funded through donations. They maintain an online forum, a network of volunteers, undertake research and advocacy, and have regular events and meetings about a variety of topics; agriculture, educational materials, finance, etc.
– Deep Adaptation affiliated groups – This is a listing of DA groups with more specific focuses, such as parents, specific ethnic groups, specific countries/regions, under 40, women, and so on.
– Extinction Rebellion (XR) is a global environmental movement who uses nonviolent civil disobedience to compel government action against climate change. XR has many groups across the world. Note that civil disobedience is not the same thing as a protest. XR has been criticized for not being anti-capitalist enough and for being more performative than effective. Nevertheless, if you’re looking to get into direct action and you’re not sure where to go, this could be a place to start.
– The Work That Reconnects is a collective of people who aim to deal with the mental health and societal issues arising from the ecological crisis through deep ecology, systems thinking, and nondualistic spirituality. They have an online forum and a worldwide network in many different countries (they’ve been around since the 70s).