How to Cope with Climate Worry: A Book to Help You Breathe Again

Change in climate isn’t just something happening “out there” in the planet. It’s something happening inside us, too.

The more facts I learn about current weather pattern shifts, the more I understand how devastating future impacts could be. I feel the inner turmoil myself—fear, helplessness, wondering about my grandchildren’s future.

If extreme weather events concern you too, here’s a book I just finished that can help you move through these feelings: Facing Climate Anxiety by Jon Gorman, PsyD.

It’s not designed to educate you about heat waves or changes in growing seasons. There are other books for that. But instead, this one gives you skills to navigate your internal changes as external changes occur around you.

What This Book Clarified for Me

Gorman begins by acknowledging something we know but don’t always want to admit:

Ignoring the trends won’t make them go away. It only keeps us in the dark.

Yet cognitive dissonance is real. When the world feels like it’s on fire but everyone around us is acting normal, it’s easy to tell ourselves: “Maybe it’s just me. Maybe things aren’t really that bad.”

But the book reminded me that our emotions are healthy signals, not overreactions. The anxiety, grief, and even anger we feel alert us that something precious is at stake. Our emotions are not the enemy.

Scientists have done, and are doing, their part. They’ve given us the data. What we need now is behavior change, emotional resilience, and community support.

What I Loved Most

This book does not tell us to get rid of our climate anxiety.
Instead, it teaches us how to stay present with it, learn from it, and let it guide us toward meaningful action.

Here are a few practical takeaways I want to practice more:

• Connect to nature regularly
  Even small, daily moments outside help build resilience.
• Talk about climate feelings
  Research shows most people are concerned—even if they aren’t saying it out loud.
• Choose direction over scale
  Moving in the right direction matters more than the quantity of actions you take.
• Practice community-level self-care
  Kindness, connection, and shared purpose are antidotes to despair.
• Reframe hope
  Wishful thinking isn’t helpful, but grounded, active hope rooted in values is.

Why I Recommend Others Read This Book, Too

If you’ve ever felt alone in your worry about the climate, paralyzed by the immensity of changes that need to be made, or even guilty for not doing more yourself, this book can help you feel less alone and more peaceful.

It reminds you to also seek out positive environmental news (we are making progress in some areas!), practice gratitude, make room for joy, and prioritize relationships.

Being kind not only toward people but also to our planet is a win-win for everybody.

As Gorman reminds us,

“The antidote to despair is not false hope.
It is connection, empathy, feeling understood, and knowing you are not alone.”

After all, for better or worse, we are in this together.

Do you have some climate anxiety, too? What helps you?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

More resources on the climate:

• Climate content for purpose, courage, and hope
  This is a wonderful collection of resources at Katharine Hayhoe’s substack. She includes suggestions for books, podcasts, and newsletters.
• Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World
  This is Katharine Hayhoe’s book, which I heartily recommend. I learned so much in it about the harm we’ve been doing to our planet, but more importantly, what we can do about it.
• Life After Doom: A Journey of Hope Amid Climate Chaos
  Brian McLaren’s book was extremely helpful to me. It considers how to live with wisdom and resilience through all the possible outcomes, from everything is fine to total annihilation of the planet. I wrote more about it here.
• Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet
  This Hannah Ritchie book gets into more of the scientific data about our changing climate AND what we can do about it. It gave me hope—my review is here.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review
copy of Facing Climate Anxiety

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