The AGH joins forces with Epic Books and Toronto-based author Britt Wray to discuss her recent book Generation Dread and her ongoing research into the emotional and psychological impacts of the planetary health crisis.

Learn how to recognize climate-related fears and anxieties and use these feelings to become an engaged steward of the planet.

Tickets:
General: $15
Student/Senior: $14
AGH Member: $13

Britt Wray (Author): is a writer and broadcaster researching the emotional and psychological impacts of the planetary health crisis. Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, she is the Lead of the Special Initiative of the Chair in Climate Change and Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in science communication from the University of Copenhagen. She is the author of Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Washington Post, Guardian, and Globe and Mail, among other publications. She has hosted several podcasts, radio, and TV programs with the BBC and CBC, has spoken at TED and the World Economic Forum, and writes a newsletter about finding active hope on the far side of climate despair: gendread.substack.com.

Molly Hayes (Moderator): is a national reporter for The Globe and Mail, with a focus on issues relating to crime and social justice. She joined The Globe in 2017 as the inaugural recipient of an investigative reporting fellowship through the Canadian Journalism Foundation. Since then, she has covered subjects such as organized crime and police accountability, tow truck turf wars, and intimate partner violence. Her 2022 series with colleagues on IPV and femicide received the Landsberg Award, for coverage of women’s equality issues. The series was a finalist for multiple other awards, including the National Newspaper Award for Project of the Year. Molly was also a previous finalist for the Landsberg Award in both 2020 and 2021. Before joining The Globe, Molly spent five years as a reporter at the Hamilton Spectator. Molly won the 2014 Goff Penny Award for Canada’s top newspaper journalist under 25.

Generation Dread Finding Purpose in an Age of Eco-Anxiety (Book Description): Climate and environment-related fears and anxieties are on the rise everywhere. As with any type of stress, eco-anxiety can lead to burnout, avoidance, or a disturbance of daily functioning. In Generation Dread, Britt Wray seamlessly merges scientific knowledge with emotional insight to show how these intense feelings are a healthy response to the troubled state of the world. The first crucial step toward becoming an engaged steward of the planet is connecting with our climate emotions, seeing them as a sign of humanity, and learning how to live with them. We have to face and value eco-anxiety, Wray argues, before we can conquer the deeply ingrained, widespread reactions of denial and disavowal that have led humanity to this alarming period of ecological decline. Weaving in insights from climate-aware therapists, critical perspectives on race and privilege in this crisis, ideas about the future of mental health innovation, and creative coping strategies, Generation Dread brilliantly illuminates how we can learn from the past, from our own emotions, and from each other to survive—and even thrive—in a changing world.