A new resource for these unthinkable times
Support for those impacted by the wildfires plus our fresh name and resource hub
Hi you,
The wildfires across Southern California have brought overwhelming devastation, with thousands of structures incinerated, at least 24 dead, and a paradise lost. Every hour brings news of more wreckage, and I’m heartbroken for everyone affected. Further down you’ll find a list of wildfire-specific mental health and wellbeing resources for this moment of profound disorientation.
As a recent New York Times headline read, “Los Angeles Is Starring in an All-Too-Real Disaster Story”. Some climate experts have confided in me that they’re harbouring a dark, private feeling of “I told you so”, where no satisfaction can be found. Many are aghast, grief-stricken, in shock. Others, numb. Given the sensational qualities of this latest climate disaster and the conditions creating it in our political climate that’s rife with villainous characters, I wouldn’t believe how bad our state of dysfunction had become if it were in a novel or fictional film (“too on the nose”, “cheap drama”). I keep coming back to the idea that this is all unthinkable, which reminds me that some of the most needed solutions lie outside the realm of thinking, in the dimensions of feeling and relating.
Introducing Unthinkable, our new name and resource hub
The thing is, we’ve had the very best thinking devoted to solving the climate crisis for decades, and yet, emissions are still going up, disasters are compounding, and more people are becoming climate refugees. I believe that the climate movement needs more approaches that go beyond narrow technocratic and scientific thinking, that venture into the felt, behavioral, psychological, somatic, imaginative, and generative possibilities of moving –and healing– hearts and minds. As a nod to this idea, this newsletter is getting a new name that will be used from today onwards, and that name is: Unthinkable. While I love Gen Dread and the irreverence of it, it’s tied very closely to my book about climate anxiety Generation Dread, which came out a couple years ago. With this newsletter, I want a more expansive name to explore what’s emerging in the spaces of climate-mental health and transformational resilience-building for the polycrisis, that doesn’t only tie back to that book.
But there’s more!
Unthinkable is also the name of a new climate-mental health platform I’ve built with Rae Oquirrh Dial. It provides tools, education, and media that can help us build strength and resolve as we prepare for disasters and psychologically recalibrate to our fast-changing planet with courage, creativity, and hope. This newsletter will remain the narrative heart of our work, but we’ll be adding new supports ongoingly at the new site.
As a kickoff project, we’re excited to share Unthinkable’s Resource Hub with you today, which aims to become the world’s most comprehensive library of resources for supporting individuals and communities with climate-related mental health challenges. What’s there now is just a start, and we recognize there are many good resources still missing from what’s currently listed. But given the pain surfaced by these latest wildfires, we wanted to send this out now in case it can be useful to anyone while it’s still a work in progress. The Unthinkable Resource Hub collects tools, courses, media, therapies, programs, books, podcasts, meditations, experiences, professional organizations, and more that are emerging all over the world to protect mental health and wellbeing in the climate/polycrisis, saving you from scouring every corner of the web for good information when you need it.
Pending future funding, we have plans to build a much more sophisticated version of the resource hub, so that users are provided personalized supports that suit their lived experiences, climate impact exposures, demographics, and interests. If you’re a funder and would like to support this goal, please get in touch.
We invite you to check out and share the resource hub widely to those who may need it.
Wildfire resources for our friends in Southern California
For those of you experiencing the wildfires firsthand, or for those of you looking to support friends or family, we’ve gathered some wildfire-specific resources to share. Some of these come via clinical psychologist and researcher Adrienne Heinz, PhD, who you may recall from our previous interview about how her community in Sonoma County, California approached collective healing after a disastrous wildfire. We’ve heard from some people in LA that they have found that piece useful for this overwhelming time, and we hope you’ll check it out if you’re in need of ideas for how you’re going to cope with the aftermath of these fires.
Tips for sanity (based on Dr. Heinz’ personal experience):
Release expectations of productivity - it's nearly impossible to stay focused when your community is burning and people are suffering
Reduce trauma exposure - limit news consumption to what you NEED to know
Minimize smoke exposure - vacate polluted premises and head for cleaner air
Maintain guardrails - sleep, sunlight, movement, nourishing food, hydration, social support
Find activities that distract and bring comfort
Remember your humanity - it's okay to cry
Comparative suffering isn't helpful - everyone is hurting
Hold onto hope - innovation is often born from disaster, as is emergent and creative leadership, and stronger community ties
Mental Health Resources:
Coping with the emotional impact of wildfires from the National Center for PTSD
How to talk to kids about wildfires:
If you’re planning to support those who are impacted from afar, Dr. Heinz suggests:
1. It can be helpful to check in. It can be comforting to know that others are thinking about you and want to lend their support during a difficult time. An example: “I’m so sorry for what has happened to your community. There aren’t really words to describe how sad this is. Can I send your family a meal tonight? I’m here for you and will keep checking in. No pressure to respond.”
2. Offer concrete ways of helping like lodging, gift cards, meals, childcare.
3. Give them grace. They may not be able to respond for a number of reasons.
4. Refrain from phrases that minimize or invalidate their experience, like “At least you’re alive,” or “Everything happens for a reason.” Just because someone didn’t lose their home, doesn’t mean they aren’t hurting. The entire community is still enduring a stressful and likely traumatic event.
Consider donating to these organizations if you have the means:
Project Camp - trauma-informed camp for kids while schools are closed
World Central Kitchen - angels feeding communities during disaster
We hope that some of the resources listed above and in our new resource hub can be a practical support to you or someone you love in the aftermath of these terrible wildfires and beyond, as we face down the long march of climate change and what the climate futurist Alex Steffen calls “the age of discontinuity.” Collective healing isn’t just possible, it’s essential for building transformational resilience in a world increasingly shaped by crisis. We can make that process a lot more joyful and effective, together.
In community,
Britt
i absolutely love how Gen Dread is evolving to meet the current level of disaster relief needed. If one more person asks a climate crises refugee if they are rebuilding in a trauma field of scorched earth, i would rather join you than scream. My heart is breaking for my former homeland and for all of the coast lines and water ways that are drying up because yes, folks, we have reached the 1.5 "tipping point" Can we gather a book club or somehow join our Substack communities to support Unthinkable? Me and Bodhi and the Muse are all in so keep me posted about how we can best navigate as a community!
Now more than ever we need to see ourselves as one big community working together. This is not an isolated event , this is a harbinger of what’s ahead. We are all family. We must act like it.