Navigating climate change with authors Andrew Boyd and Onnesha Roychoudhuri

82 John Street,Kingston NY 12401

12 March, 2023

Description

Rough Draft hosts this engaging discussion and book event on the greatest issue of our times, free and open to the public! [NEED NEW/EXTENDED DESCRIPTION TO INCLUDE ONNESHA] We will read some passages, laugh some dark laughs, sign some books, gnash some teeth, explore some of our possible futures via oversized flowcharts, not necessarily in that order. The evening will NOT be a boring book reading. It will be interactive, participatory, fun; it'll be a chance to come together and -- aided by gallows humor and some unusual prompts -- reflect on some of the big questions before us. To tackle the climate emergency, we need each other; we need solidarity and laughter and all the rest. We hope to see you there. **Even if you're not able to attend, you may pre-order a copy of the book now (and maybe an extra one for a friend :) ** (Management not responsible for any side effects including existential dread, being galvanized into action, etc.) ------- MORE INFO ABOUT THE BOOK & SPEAKERS: I WANT A BETTER CATASTROPHE: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope, and Gallows Humor Andrew Boyd | February 2023 | New Society Publishers | 416 pages An existential manual for tragic optimists, can-do pessimists, and compassionate doomers With global warming projected to rocket past the 1.5°C limit, lifelong activist Andrew Boyd is thrown into a crisis of hope, and off on a quest to learn how to live with the "impossible news" of our climate doom. He searches out eight leading climate thinkers — from activist Tim DeChristopher to collapse-psychologist Jamey Hecht, grassroots strategist adrienne maree brown, eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, and Indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer — asking them: "Is it really the end of the world? and if so, now what?" With gallows humor and a broken heart, Boyd steers readers through their climate angst as he walks his own. From storm-battered coastlines to pipeline blockades and "hopelessness workshops,” he maps out our existential options, and tackles some familiar dilemmas: "Should I bring kids into such a world?" "Can I lose hope when others can't afford to?" and "Why the fuck am I recycling?" He finds answers that will surprise, inspire, and maybe even make you laugh. Drawing on wisdom traditions Eastern, Western, and Indigenous, Boyd crafts an insightful and irreverent guide for achieving a "better catastrophe." Andrew Boyd is an author, humorist, and climate activist. His new book, I Want a Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope and Gallows Humor is forthcoming from New Society Press in February 2023. He is currently CEO (Chief Existential Officer) of the Climate Clock, a global campaign he co-founded that melds art, science, technology, and grassroots organizing to get the world to #ActInTime. Boyd also co-created the grief-storytelling ritual the Climate Ribbon and led the 2000s-era satirical campaign “Billionaires for Bush.” His previous books include Beautiful Trouble (OR Books, 2012); Daily Afflictions (WW Norton, 2002), and Life’s Little Deconstruction Book (WW Norton, 1998). Unable to come up with his own lifelong ambition, he’s been cribbing from Milan Kundera: “to unite the utmost seriousness of question with the utmost lightness of form.” ________ Onnesha Roychoudhuri is a writer, speaker, and educator with over 15 years of experience working at the intersection of storytelling and social justice. She is the author of The Marginalized Majority: Claiming Our Power in a Post-Truth America, named one of the best books of 2018 by Kirkus Reviews. Onnesha regularly leads writing and storytelling workshops for organizations across the country, including the Moth and the Reproductive Health Access Project, as well as at universities such as San Francisco State University, Rutgers University, Hunter College, Pratt Institute, and Western Connecticut State University, where she is an instructor in the graduate writing program. She is particularly focused on delivering targeted storytelling trainings to advocates working on the frontlines of the fight for social justice and equity. A 2013 fellow at the Center for Fiction, Onnesha’s writing has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, Kenyon Review, n+1, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Boston Review, McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, The Nation, The American Prospect, Salon, and Mother Jones. She is a 2011 and 2012 Pushcart Prize nominee, and has been awarded residencies at Hedgebrook and Blue Mountain Center. ABOUT THE HOST Rough Draft is a bar and bookstore located at Kingston, New York's historic four corners. We are dedicated to providing a fantastic selection of beer, cider, and wine; Counter Culture coffee; local pastries and savory pies; a curated selection of new books of all kinds; and a place for people from Kingston and beyond to come together for reading, drinking, conversation, and nightly events. Please, no outside food or drink—and yes, the books are for sale!