About the Book:
The challenges we face can be difficult even to think about.
Climate change, depleting global resources, economic upheaval, and
mass extinction together create a planetary emergency of overwhelming
proportions.
The book Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in
Without Going Crazy shows you how to ease your "eco-anxiety"
and strengthen your capacity to transform your "eco-grief"
into positive action so that you can respond with unexpected
resilience and creative power.
Drawing on decades of teaching an empowerment approach known as
the "Work That Reconnects", veteran ecologist Joanna
Macy and co-author
Chris Johnstone, a specialist in the psychology of
resilience, happiness and positive change, guide you through a
transformational process that strengthens us and deepens our resolve.
Johnstone and Macy call this "Active Hope", which is
different from just being hopeful. It requires actually taking action
to change what you're feeling anxious about. This process equips you
with tools to face the mess we're in and play your role in the
collective transition, or "Great Turning", to a
life-sustaining society.
What people say:
"Books
about social and ecological change too often leave out a vital
component: how do we change ourselves so that we are strong enough to
fully contribute to this great shift? Active Hope
fills this gap beautifully,
guiding readers on a journey of gratitude, grief, interconnection,
and, ultimately, transformation." — Naomi Klein,
Canadian author and social activist
"To
the future beings of the twenty-second century, Active
Hope might
turn out to be the most important book written in the twenty-first."
— Bill Plotkin,
American psychologist, wilderness rites guide, and ecotherapist
"More than any book I've read,
Active Hope shows us the true dimensions of this
crisis, and the way our heart and actions can be part of the great
turning toward healing. Please read this book and share it with
others — for your own awakening, for our children, and for our
future." — Tara Brach, American psychologist and
proponent of Buddhist meditation
"Active Hope is
a brilliant guide to sanity and love." — Roshi Joan
Halifax, American Buddhist teacher, anthropologist, and social
activist
"If you have despaired for our
world, and if you love life, Active Hope will be
for you an extraordinary blessing." — John Robbins,
American social activist, humanitarian, and author of the
international bestseller Diet for a New America
"Active
Hope is not just a book but a gateway to transformation."
— Jim Douglass, American theologian, peace activist, and
author of JFK and the Unspeakable
About the Author:
Joanna Macy (1929-2025) was
an American environmentalist writer and teacher who pioneered
workshops that helped people deal with eco-anxiety over the future of
the planet, and develop a fresh way of experiencing the world. Her
teaching and 12 books drew on Buddhism, general systems theory, and
deep ecology. She was also a leading voice in movements for peace,
justice, and a safe environment. Her wide-ranging work addresses
psychological and spiritual issues of the nuclear age, the
cultivation of ecological awareness, and the fruitful resonance
between Buddhist thought and contemporary science.
Chris Johnstone is a British
medical doctor, author, and coach who worked for nearly twenty years
as an addictions specialist in the UK National Health Service. A
former Senior Teaching Fellow at Bristol University Medical School,
he trains health professionals in behavioural medicine and runs
courses exploring the psychological dimensions of planetary crisis.
