An exhilarating, globe-spanning exploration of how we are living with uncertainty and loss in the face of climate crisis

“For years, emotion had no seat at the table in climate discussions, but the language of ecological grief adds weight to the science, statistics, policies, and politics of climate change. It makes it clear what is at stake—and what’s at stake are our lives as we know them.” —Michaela Cavanagh, writing for Undark

As the floods and fires keep coming, climate anxiety has become the background noise of modern life—present but unprocessed, urgent but paralyzing. In How to Reckon with the End of the World, award-winning journalist Micaela Cavanagh takes us on a journey through the distractions, defense mechanisms, survival strategies, and mourning rituals we use to face—or fend off—the climate crisis. In a work of extraordinary environmental reportage, she writes from climate change’s frontlines.

In the plush exhibition hall of the oil industry Olympics, we’re privy to a masterclass in greenwashing from a cadre of extra-candid petro-dignitaries. In an old army barracks-turned-eco-bunker deep in the east German hinterland, Cavanagh harvests vegetables and learns how to prepare for the apocalypse from a posh vegan climate doomer. In the world’s greenest country, she rallies with climate activist Greta Thunberg and Indigenous activists on the pristine lawns of Norway’s parliament, fighting an unlikely enemy: wind turbines.

In this globe-spanning journey of discovery through the distractions, defense mechanisms, survival strategies, and mourning rituals we use to face—or fend off—the climate crisis, Cavanagh guides readers across the emotional spectrum—from grief, anxiety and doom to acceptance, hope and joy—with a series of dispatches from climate change’s frontlines.