Life After Doom Playlist
If you're reading or about to read Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, here's a playlist.
This World is So F*d Up, by Michael Franti - the song shows up a few times in the last few chapters of the book - two versions. First the original ...
Then this version from Shannon Leigh:
Maybe When We're Gone, a song I wrote that my friend Fran McKendree recorded shortly before his passing. The "we" in the song are our fellow creatures.
Bruce Cockburn's Beautiful Creatures, 2 versions ... one from Hawksley Workman, one from Bruce:
Here's Cockburn's original, with art by Gullerud
You Don't Have to Know the Way by the Lyndsey Scott (another song mentioned in the book):
Burn the White Flag by Joseph:
Seminole Wind by John Anderson has a special connection for me, as I live on Seminole and Calusa lands.
MaMuse offers We Shall Be Known in this beautiful setting ...
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What can I do as an individual?
People who have not yet finished my new book Life After Doom might want to "cut to the chase" and ask, "What can I do as an individual about our current situation of multi-crisis, including (but not limited to) climate change and ecological overshoot?"
Those who read (or listen to) the whole book will understand why this question has many dimensions to it, and "cutting to the chase" can actually be a form of bypassing some needed understandings and change in us. In other words, how can I change the situation? can unintentionally lead us to miss this question: how can I change so I bring a better version of my to our current situation?
Still, I'm glad for anyone who is asking what they can do to make a difference.
I love what Bill McKibben often says: "The most important thing an individual can do right now is not be such an individual." In other words, instead of thinking that your individual actions alone can "fix" our problem, you can join a movement ... become part of what I call in the book Team Earth ... and band together in groups of two or three or ten or twenty (to learn and support one another as islands of sanity and constructive action).
Then those little bands of two or three can participate in larger movements -- like Bill McKibben's Third Act or Blessed Tomorrow and its partners or the Sunrise Movement.
I also love what Katharine Hayhoe recommends:
Start a conversation about why climate change matters and what people like us can do about it
Join a climate action group (like those above)
Consider where you keep your money ... and move your money (and investments) to ethical funds. [I recommend you check out Divest Invest.]
Spark ideas for change at work or school
Hold politicians accountable
Reduce your personal footprint AND make your actions contagious by talking about them. (If you want suggestions on reducing your personal energy footprint, you'll find great resources at EcoAmerica. It is hard to generalize, but here are the kinds of decisions that are most helpful, in order of impact: live car free, shift to an electric vehicle, fly less (especially long haul flights), use renewable energy, use public transport, increase your home's energy efficiency, switch to a vegan diet (or begin by reducing meat consumption), get a heat pump, improve your cooking equipment, improve your home heating.
And ... of course, VOTE for candidates who take our relationship to the Earth seriously, and encourage others to do so as well. (That means to refuse to vote for climate-denialist candidates and parties.)
I also recommend staying informed by paying attention to journalists who "get it" and following good climate podcasts. You'll find other recommendations and resources in the Appendices for the book that you can download here.
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Life After Doom: Resources for Audiobook Listers, and for Groups and Individuals
In Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, I offer a "Dear Reader" section at the end of each chapter. It can be used by individuals for reflection, journaling (written or audio), and other forms of contemplative engagement.
It can also be used to as a resource for reading groups. (See also Appendix 2, available below.)
You can download the Dear Reader section for each chapter here:
The print version of Life After Doom contains 6 appendices. Three of them are not well suited to an audiobook format, so we are making those appendices available here for folks who listened to the audiobook. In the PDF below, you’ll find:
Appendix 1. Best Resources for Our Predicament (See below for updates.)
Appendix 2. Using this Book for Small Groups, Classes, Sermon Series, and Retreats
Appendix 4. Your Plan.
Appendices for AudioBook Listeners PDF
Chapter 21 provides readers with guidelines for action. Here is an excerpt from that chapter:
Since the book went to print, many excellent new resources have been released. I will occasionally add new recommended resources here:
Thanks to Jessica Serrante for her absolutely beautiful podcast series with the sage-saint Joanna Macy, We Are the Great Turning: https://resources.soundstrue.com/we-are-the-great-turning-podcast/
An in-depth, well-produced documentary on climate change, civilizational collapse, and energy: https://youtu.be/U1scdUrhH5o?si=SE9fzxerNcJK2iIt The final words are a quote from Pierre Tielhard de Chardin.
Three philosophers on the psychological drivers of our current situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6V0qmDZ2gg&t=3s
You can order Life After Doom here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250893277/lifeafterdoom
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I’ll be at Greenbelt Festival this August – see you there? #GB24
Instagram: @greenbeltfestival - https://
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Friends in and around Guelph and London, Ontario, Canada!
I'll be speaking in your neighborhood on May 10 and 11, 2024. I hope you can come!
(PS: These are the only scheduled events in Canada where I'll be speaking about my new book, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart.
For information on the Guelph lecture the evening of May 10,
see https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/life-after-doom-an-evening-with-brian-mclaren-tickets-828450256017
University of Guelph, Stone Road East, Guelph, ON, Canada
50 Stone Road East Guelph, ON N1G 2W1 Canada
For information on the London lectures on May 11,
see https://wesleyknox.com/mclaren-lectures/.
Wesley-Knox United Church,
91 Askin Street, London, Ontario N6C 1E7, www.wesleyknox.com
As we face the realities of climate change and related ecological crises, and grapple with political and social instability, many of us feel overwhelmed and wonder how to respond. In these interactive lectures based on his new book, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, and his 2022 book Do I Stay Christian, author, activist and public theologian Brian McLaren will explore the complex relationship between Christian faith and its host civilization, and how robust spiritual practice and a vibrant faith community can help people face possible futures, engage in a constructive and sustaining hope, and live from love rather than fear, denial or anger. Brian will examine four scenarios for the years ahead, anticipate some rough air, and imagine safe landings on the other side of this time of transition.
For full information and registration, visit www.wesleyknox.com
Supported by Broadview Magazine: www.broadview.org
For a downloadable poster:
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