I Want a Better Catastrophe

Eine Gute-Laune-Lektüre ist „I Want a Better Catastrophe“ von Andrew Boyd mit Sicherheit nicht. Es ist nicht einmal ein „Wir schaffen das, wenn wir uns anstrengen!“. Es ist ein „Es wird dunkel werden, sehr dunkel. Wenn wir uns anstrengen, haben wir aber zumindest Kerzenlicht.“

Am Anfang des Buchs stellt sich Boyd der unvermeidlichen Realität, die die Klimakatastrophe in den nächsten Jahrzehnten bedeuten wird: große Teile der Erde werden unbewohnbar werden, die Zivilisation, die wir heute kennen, wird sich nicht länger halten können und wir werden unermessliches Leid erleben. Wie, fragt sich Boyd, lässt sich da noch ein Sinn im Leben finden.

So interviewt er unterschiedliche Menschen, die sich zu genau dieser Frage Gedanken gemacht haben, und reflektiert diese Gespräche für sich. Mich als Leser hat er damit tief … beeindruckt(?), getroffen (?), ja, verunsichert. Denn die Fragen sind ernst und wir als Gesellschaft tun alles, diese Realität zu verdrängen, wo wir lernen müssten, unseren eigenen Niedergang zu betrauern.

Dabei arbeiten Boyd und seine Interviewpartner*innen viel mit Metaphern, von denen zwei besonders bei mir nachhallen: „Hospice Earth“ und „Witnessing our own sunset“. Ja, so ein Buch ist das…

This book seriously started out as a 1 star for me that almost found itself in the did not finish pile. I find many of my perspectives amd unserstanding of the climate science to align with the author, so why was this almost a flop for me and what changed it?

Well to start with what didn't work, it really comes down to my expectations. I was expecting a journalistic approach of here's how we're all fucked and the inventive ways some revolutionary thinkers have devised to make a different inspire of everything. What ended up being presented was a multi-year process of churning breakdowns and rediscoveries that color the overarching narrative with a grasping for logic where there is none and a generous helping of turning away from reason because it doesn't match their personal worldview. So many contradictions abound, I felt very unsympathetic. I'm not a lifelong activist; I'm an introvert that does the best to manage my own impact and live up to my values to the best of my ability. So many of these appeals just fall entirely short for me. It was the interviews with some pretty extraordinary folks that kept me wngaged long enough for my opinion to gradually shift. I can appreciate the tone, and maybe it was more telegraphed than I was able to pick up on, this person has been on the front lines their whole life and this is something too large to fully come to terms with. Especially when it challenges everything they have lived and fought for their entire lives. This shift in my mind was enough to endear me to the more personal musings presented. I could have done with the gallows humor, I didn't find much of it funny or useful.

Many ideas within this book will stay with me for a long time and I have an expanded list of books to pursue based on the interviews. Many of the salient points for me touch on a more human approach: how to be kind and gentle to others in the face of large scale disaster, how to facilitate community that is resilient and kind, and how to change one's relationship to what is normal, what is comfortable, what is just. The interviews and discussions inspired by them made this book for me. I'm happy to have requested my library purchase a copy, and even happier to see there's a wait list for it. It's a book I'll be buying for others in my life as gifts. There are so many ideas in this book worth exploring as we all face a very uncertain future. Whether we look at it or not, great changes are coming and we have a chance to influence the outcome.