Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC!

Lessons from the Climate Anxiety Counseling Booth snuck up on me.

The way Schapira writes—the language and phrases she employs—made this this book feel like it is only intended for a very specific audience. Which is fine—not every book needs to be for everyone. I don't think I can share Lessons with the people in my community and neighborhood who have very different perspectives and hold very different beliefs about the world than me, but that's not really the purpose of this book.

Lessons is for anyone who has ever felt overwhelming despair and hopelessness in the face of climate crisis. Lessons is for anyone who has ever wondered if their choices or life can make a difference. Lessons is for anyone who longs for a richer, more compassionate community with the people around them. Lessons was for me, and it was such a gift in this tumultuous year. I'm certain I'll keep returning to it, amidst more and more tumultuous years.

Really helpful handbook for self-reflection and for those hoping to facilitate groups/workshops for others looking to address climate change and the psychological stress and exhaustion that it is manifesting. The activities aren't groundbreaking, but they do help the reader find their place within the existential threat of climate change and grant a little bit of agency and peace in the midst of the turmoil. Helpful for personal anxiety, but really important for facilitators.

kate is the best at writing/talking about climate stuff without coddling people or being doomsday/"i give up" about it

This book was a wonderful book to read and I am planning to gift this book to the friends in my life. I found this to be an enlightening, enchanting, and often hard to read book about dealing with the anxiety one has from climate and a changing world. I loved how the author included a short "what you can learn in this chapter section" as well as questions and practices to guide you in dealing with and learning about dealing with climate change. 6/5 stars if I could.

I loved this one, and found it an uplifting and informative read! It’s not a science-heavy book, but more of a self-help book about ways we can come together as communities – or across different communities – to deal with the various crises that are coming our way. While the lessons within were learned by the author’s years being involved in climate actions, they could also be applied to other areas of activism or community care.

Kate Schapira has been hearing stories of people’s “climate change anxieties” for a decade now. And more than just talking, she’s also joined some local activists to help fight the things that are threatening their local neighborhoods and jobs. She has learned a lot, and shares some interesting stories.

This book is different from other books on the topic, though, as it’s set up as more of a self-help book! After a story, or deep dive into a specific topic, the author gives you self-reflection questions and ways to practice what you’re learning. Some might encourage you to research more about what’s going on in your area, or think about how your talents could contribute to a larger movement.

Many of the exercises emphasize the idea of community, and the fact that we cannot right our trajectory solely by individual actions. Further, strengthening our bonds with others helps us feel like we’re all in this together, thereby lessening some of the initial anxiety.

She is careful to recognize that her stories are, by default of where she lives, very US-centric. She also recognizes the need to listen to indigenous perspectives, as their histories on this land go back further than others.

I felt that this was a lovely little addition to the current wave of books on this topic. The emphasis on community-building could really be essential reading for anyone, regardless of what societal issues they feel fired up about.

Climate Anxiety
Posted on April 8, 2024 by Jack


Kate Schapira opened the Climate Anxiety Counseling Booth in Providence, RI. Inspired by Lucy of Peanuts comics fame, her sign read “Climate Anxiety Counseling 5 cents: The Doctor Is In.” This led to many conversations with people about climate change and related fears and anxieties as well as anxiety generated by other issues.

The book is Lessons from the Climate Anxiety Counseling Booth: How to Live with Care and Purpose in an Endangered World by Kate Schapira. It is a book offering practical tips and exercises in dealing with these anxieties as well as making a difference. Given that climate change is real and the effects are becoming more severe in recent years, I suspect this book may help a good number of people. I thank NetGalley for allowing me read this before publication. The book is scheduled to go on sale April 9.

I really enjoyed reading this book because climate anxiety is something I have spent time thinking about and probably also dealing with. The concept of a climate anxiety booth is a cool one and I liked hearing all the stories from different people who visited the booth. As someone who works in an environmental field, I think it’s important to be able to learn how to deal with climate anxiety in a healthy way. I enjoyed the questions posed during each chapter of this book, they made me pause and reflect while I was reading. I would recommend this book to anyone who has climate anxiety or to anyone who has people in their life who may deal with anxiety.

Overwhelmed by her strong emotions surrounding climate change, Schapira took the unusual step of setting up a booth (just like Peanuts!) where members of the public could discuss their fears surrounding climate change. The author found that sharing and naming anxious feelings helped a great deal to alleviate them. In this book Kate Schapira offers these experiences as well as exercises aimed at making a difference

Thank you to the publishers & netgalley for the ARC!

as someone with a generalized anxiety disorder, and has chatted with my therapist many many times about my own climate change anxiety, as soon as I saw this title on netgalley I knew I had to read it.

Schapira just gets it-- the feelings of hopelessness, that nobody's listening, and also understands the systemic issues at play. I really appreciated that throughout reading, she points out these barriers involving race, class, colonialism, capitalism, and actively talks about avoiding ecofascist talking points. Many of the exercises were similar to those that I had found worked for me in my own therapy and mental health journey. She also stresses just how empowering it can be to give that stress and grief a name, and calls us to work together and build community. The exercises she illustrates are incredibly helpful, and I am definitely going to purchase a hard copy of the book upon release to annotate and act of exercises with groups.

I am so thankful to Kate Schapira for her work on the climate booth, for seeing this hurt that needs to be addressed and putting out the book to reach more people!

Thank you to Hachette and NetGalley for this opportunity.

First, what an interest story! If you are interested in the Climate (which you should be), then this book provides a great playbook on how to both deal with Climate anxiety, as well as have meaningful conversations with others. While I enjoyed the background and narrative about the climate anxiety counseling booth, I was floored when I realized that this book existed to equip the reader with the tools necessary to navigate these conversations with family, friends, and even strangers.

Highly Recommended.

I really enjoyed this book. As someone who experiences anxiety about the future in regards to climate change, this was a really thought provoking and practical guide to navigating our responses to our changing world.

I especially appreciated that this isn’t your typical individualistic environmentalism. This book, instead emphasizes the need for community and the need to divest from the systems of oppression that got us into this mess in the first place

Thank you Hachette books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was a unique concept and something I have not seen a lot of work on yet, though a very real issue. I found that the stories related in the book and the tips and suggestions for how to move forward are useful to me as I struggle with these same anxieties. I will recommend to friends in the same situation. Thank you!

At multiple times and multiple places around Providence, Kate Schapira sat behind a sign that read "Climate Anxiety Counseling 5 cents: The Doctor Is In." She found this to be an excellent way to invite conversations with strangers about climate change and their fears or concerns, and time and again she heard the same refrain: I'm just one person, what can I do?

In this book, Schapira points out that our emotional responses to the climate crisis can open the way for group action. Once we start where we are, with the people around us, we can learn from each other and find ways together to turn our collective grief and trauma into possibility. And throughout the book, Schapira offers stories about people who have found profound ways to meet the crisis head-on, questions for reader reflections, and practices that can be done alone or in community to help move people from helplessness to empowerment. Some of the possibilities discussed are learning about what the local/community needs might be and where local government is not stepping up, what individuals can offer either in direct action or care for others, how to build mutual aid networks, and how to address structural inequities (among many, many more ideas).

There is, of course, no One Big Thing that will solve all our climate-related problems. But this book offers many ways to help people move from despair to engagement in ways that truly address community needs. Whether you read this on your own and do the work by yourself, or you find a group willing to work together, it's an excellent resource. And as Schapira notes, the anxiety we feel about climate change is a sign of our uncertainty about the future -- which means that our future is not written in stone and that we have the chance to build a more just and livable future if we try.

An additional note: the author's note at the end really struck me as a positive example of how we can work together and respect each other. She gives full attribution to many people throughout the book and gave them the opportunity to have final say over how their words and stories were used in the book, and she also shared the proceeds from the book with those people, who then used that money to fill a need they saw around them. It's a wonderful example of how to use one's privilege to make space for others, and it's something that I hope will inspire others, too.

5 stars. Read it and do some of the work for yourself, share with others, pass it on.

Thank you, Hachette and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.