🎧 Navigating Climate Anxiety with Dr. Britt Wray
I speak with the author of "Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety" and founder of the nonprofit, Unthinkable Earth.
In a world facing the looming crisis of climate change, it's essential to address not only the environmental impacts but also the mental health challenges that arise from eco-anxiety, grief, and despair. This week on Foodie Pharmacology, Dr. Quave speaks with Dr. Britt Wray, Director of CIRCLE at Stanford Psychiatry, a research and action initiative focused on Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership and Emotional wellbeing in the Stanford School of Medicine. Britt is the author of two books; her latest ‘Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety’, is an impassioned generational perspective on how to stay sane amid climate disruption. She explains that eco anxiety, though uncomfortable, is a rational response to environmental degradation and stresses the importance of acknowledging these feelings as part of our human connection to the planet. The discussion also covers generational perspectives on climate anxiety, the importance of building resilience and hope through action, and the creation of Dr. Ray's nonprofit, ‘Unthinkable Earth’, designed to support mental health in the face of climate challenges.
About Britt
Britt Wray, PhD is an author and the Director of CIRCLE at Stanford Psychiatry, a research and action initiative focused on Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership and Emotional wellbeing in the Stanford School of Medicine. Britt is the author of two books; her latest Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety, is an impassioned generational perspective on how to stay sane amid climate disruption and was a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Award. She is the recipient of the 2023 Canadian Eco-Hero Award and top award winner of the National Academies Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications, given by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Britt holds a PhD in science communication from the University of Copenhagen and completed her postdoctoral training in Planetary Health from Stanford Global Health. She also holds a Climate Psychology Certificate from the California Institute of Integral Studies in California. As a science communicator, she has hosted several podcasts, radio and TV programs with the BBC, NPR, CBC, has spoken at TED and the World Economic Forum, and is a Chicago Council on Global Affairs Next Generation Climate Changemaker. Britt is also the creator of Gen Dread, a newsletter about staying sane in the climate crisis.
Learn more!
Subscribe to Britt’s newsletter
Check out her nonprofit, Unthinkable Earth
Read her books
Listen to the interview
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Yours in health, Dr. Quave
Cassandra L. Quave, Ph.D. is a Guggenheim Fellow, Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, and award-winning author of The Plant Hunter. Her day job is as professor and herbarium curator at Emory University School of Medicine, where she leads a group of research scientists studying medicinal plants to find new life-saving drugs from nature. She hosts the Foodie Pharmacology podcast and writes the Nature’s Pharmacy newsletter to share the science behind natural medicines. To support her effort, consider a paid or founding subscription.
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I wonder if it would decrease Dr. Wray’s climate anxiety to know that worldwide, the lethality of river floods decreased 84 percent, from 412 deaths per flood in the 1950s to 67 deaths per flood in the 2010s.
Downloaded and ready to listen to soon, thank you! Very important topic and I'm happy you are highlighting it :)