The sparkly new Gen Dread team wants to hear from you!
Exciting changes, possibilities, and big ideas ahead
Hi there!
Welcome to Gen Dread, a newsletter about how the climate crisis is making us feel, why that’s happening, and what we can do about it. Subscribe now to find community, comfort, and practical coping strategies from experts all around the world.
2023 exploded into being with a bold change around here: the Gen Dread team expanded! Since it’s Valentine’s Day, we’re going to sprinkle some love on the people behind the scenes of this community, and introduce you to some new folks and the work they do.
Our small crew is already bursting with big plans for how Gen Dread might grow and evolve over the coming year, and so first, we’d also like to hear your thoughts. Would you be interested in seeing things like:
A recurring advice column where we answer a reader’s question each week;
The option of a paid newsletter subscription where you can find bonus material and go deeper on topics that interest you (there will always be a free option);
The option of a paid subscription to a private online community of like-minded people where we have monthly discussion topics or live virtual meetings, perhaps a book club, perhaps some kind of wellbeing toolkit, and where we generally create a space for you to access and be in community not just with us, but with each other?
Let us know what excites and energizes you most!
We’re so grateful to Raffi Cavoukian and the Raffi Foundation For Child Honouring for their generous support of this growing team. Britt and Raffi both feel called to take action that supports young people’s wellbeing in a warming world, and their working relationship evolved to a place where he stepped forward to champion Britt’s work.
And now, a little Q&A with the new Gen Dread team so you can get to know us better.
You may already know our frontwoman, Britt Wray. If you’re new around here, Britt is the person who created this newsletter and is a self-described ‘scholarly activist’. She is a researcher at the Stanford School of Medicine and London School of Hygiene of Tropical Medicine, author of 2 books, former host of a bunch of CBC and BBC podcasts, radio and TV shows, and mom of a cheeky 1.5 year old. She’s a Canadian living in the Santa Cruz mountains in California, in the traditional territory of the Tamien Nation.
Living in a state that experiences its fair share of climate hazards underscores the present nature of the climate crisis for Britt. For the backstory of why she got into working at the nexus of climate change and mental health, read this. Now, she revels in being part of a movement that is creating new norms and taking necessary action to protect and promote planetary health and its connection with people’s mental health in a rapidly warming – and transforming – world. Now let’s pass the mic to our new team members!
SOPHIE KOHN (Writing)
Who are you and where do you call home?
Sophie Kohn! I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, but recently moved to Nelson, B.C., a small city in the Kootenay mountains. Home is somehow both these places. Nelson is the traditional territories of the Sinixt, the Syilx, and the Ktunaxa peoples, and many other Indigenous persons including the Inuit and Métis.
Tell us a bit about your professional background
I’m a writer with a great many creative lives: head writer for CBC Radio, satire writer for The New Yorker, humour writing instructor with Second City, National Magazine Award nominee, personal essayist, children’s book author, environmental wordsmith.
What motivates you to do this work?
My son, who’s 2, running through the forest, laughing at weird bugs, splashing in lakes, so beautifully and intuitively and comfortably entwined with nature, and seemingly so trusting that the earth will always be there to hold him safely and lovingly.
What is most meaningful to you about this work?
To me, this work is such a tangible, satisfying example of how words, placed in the right order, arranged passionately, persuasively, and empathetically, can change someone’s entire day. And if they can change someone’s day, surely they can change lots of people’s days. And if they can change lots of people’s days, maybe they can change lots of people’s years. And if lots of people start changing the values, questions, choices, and concrete actions that define their years, maybe we can change the very frightening trajectory this planet is on.
Given that your work requires you to face the climate crisis head-on day after day, what's one self-care practice you're currently doing regularly?
Crossword puzzles in an alarmingly hot bath.
Walk us through your dreamiest Saturday imaginable!
I get to sleep in (wow, right out of the gate, this fantasy is out of CONTROL). I make blueberry pancakes with my hilarious toddler, who is my very favourite sous-chef, and then we meet up with a group of friends for a hike through an old-growth forest, joking around, laughing, great conversations, deep connection. We end up on a beach somewhere with lots of colourful blankets, guitars and ukuleles, and this amazing community songbook a couple of my friends made, tons of good food and snacks from the Nelson farmers’ market, our bathing suits and towels, and as the sun goes down, we build a big campfire and just sit around talking and singing. Multiple genres of chocolate are involved, and I eventually crawl into bed with a book I can’t wait to reunite with.
ANIS ANNISA MARYAM (Visuals)
Who are you and where do you call home?
My name is Annisa, and I'm the kind of person who recoils in uncertainty when someone asks me where I'm from or where my home is. I was born in Indonesia, my family lives there, so in a sense that will always be my home country? But I never felt rooted in Indonesia, and I always felt strongly that my home should be of my deliberate choosing, so when I chose Canada (and specifically, Vancouver), I thought, phew, finally I can say that Canada is my home now. Yet not quite. This new, complicated layer of being a new immigrant requires unpacking and unlearning one's identity to allow enough capacity and bandwidth to form a bond with a new land, its people and culture. And until that bond feels strong, I know I still have a lot of work to do before I can call it home. So I'm probably most comfortable saying I'm 'working towards' making Vancouver, Canada my home. Vancouver is situated on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Tell us a bit about your professional background.
I began my professional life in Indonesia's bustling art scene, both as a gallerist at Bale Project and program manager at Wot Batu museum. I then earned a yearlong MEXT Japan fellowship as a research student in the Department of Intermedia Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. When I moved to Vancouver in 2018, I was quickly drawn into the fascinating intersection of nonprofit organisations and arts community, which allowed me to work closely with great initiatives such as Cinevolution, The World is Bright (Impact Campaign), Story Money Impact and Inside Green. Currently, I'm working alongside Britt designing and distributing digital content for Gen Dread newsletter and various social media as part of the offerings of coping strategies, stories and resources to support the global community and organisations in moving through ecological distress.
What motivates you to do this work?
This work is a perfect ecosystem for me, because it is a job that allows me to create with Britt, yet the product doesn't stop with her, and goes out far and wide through her many platforms. It takes me along as a part of this big exchange of offerings, where I can both gratefully contribute to, and learn from, these big, inspiring communities around this work. That connection – the give and take – is perhaps the biggest motivation.
Can you recall a specific moment in your career when you thought, “oh wow, the work I do actually really matters.”
When we did our first newsletter and included a link to Trevor Lehmann's “An Imperfect Guide to Career and Climate”. I remember reading the guide and being amazed by how generous he is with all this information, tools and resources. So I made sure to create a beautiful visual of him for the newsletter. That link to Trevor Lehmann's An Imperfect Guide to Career and Climate was clicked on hundreds of times, and helping him get 300+ new readers matters a lot to me.
Given that your work requires you to face the climate crisis head-on day after day, what's one self-care practice you're currently doing regularly?
My dog, Tokyo – she's a small four-way mix of Boston Terrier, French Bulldog, King Cavalier Spaniel and Pug. She's the cuddliest thing on earth, she's like a living stress ball and daily antidepressant for me.
Walk us through your dreamiest Saturday imaginable!
Wake up at 11 AM and have a leisurely coffee and brunch at home with my husband and my dog, with some light jazz playing in the background. It's the summer, so we skip lunch and head out to Kits beach instead for some paddle boarding. Back home in time to get ready for our dinner date at a fine-dining Japanese restaurant for an Omakase experience. We come hungry and of course, the food is amazing, but why is everything so small? Whatever, we end up eating two extra tacos each from the truck outside of the restaurant. Back home before midnight, I make my husband take the dog out before bed even though it is my turn.
Making Waves
You might know Raffi from your “Baby Beluga” days as a kid (and are what he calls a ‘Beluga Grad’, and/or from Round Two of your “Baby Beluga” days now if you have your own kids’). But you might not know that his work extends far beyond being a beloved Canadian children’s entertainer whose songs span the globe. Take some time to learn about his mission of Child Honouring, where he charts nine guiding principles for ethical and healthy living that children need to thrive.
Raffi tells us he was drawn to support Britt’s project in partnership with Small Change Fund because of how it connects climate action, young people’s health and wellbeing. And when those things are moving forward and evolving together in an interconnected way, there’s so much to be hopeful about.
As always, you can share your thoughts and reach the Gen Dread community by commenting on this article or replying to this email. You can also follow along on Twitter and Instagram.
‘Til next time!
I love this so much, I've just stumbled upon it and it resonates so much, and as a Canadian that lives in Toronto, I feel a lot of existential angst about living in what feels like a very "tunnel-vision-y" and unenlightened place. Glad to see other Canadians, what energizes me is the work of Iain McGilchrist - despite being an old white man, his premise puts ALL of the climate crisis and how we feel about it into perspective, and lets recovering atheistic-scientism-materialists understand both why this crisis is happening and why it's so important to build EMBODIED, RELATIONAL COMMUNITIES with people that care about this so we can help and amplify, and build up one another. I want to hear from all of you!! please let's get in touch.
Great newsletter as always! All three options seem great. Also, if there were to be an online community with events and talks, would it be possible to make sure it is accessible to people in different time zones?