Climate Anxiety and Spiritual Resilience

A deeply felt manifesto . . . [Crawford O'Brien] draws from a refreshingly broad range of traditions to explore how readers can acknowledge their ecological despair without being consumed by it. Believers and environmentalists will find much-needed hope here. * Publishers Weekly *
I talk a lot about the need for a spiritual revolution in response to the crises of our time. Suzanne Crawford O’Brien takes us to one of the clearest places that revolution is needed: our relationship with the Earth. Climate Anxiety and Spiritual Resilience reminds us that healing the planet will require not only science and policy—but a transformation of the human spirit. * Rainn Wilson, actor, podcaster, producer, director, and author of Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution *
This is a generous and open-hearted book, and it will be a great resource for people trying to figure out how we make our collective way through an overheated century. -- Bill McKibben * author of Here Comes the Sun *
Climate Anxiety and Spiritual Resilience is a wise, grounded companion for anyone feeling the emotional weight of a warming world. Suzanne Crawford O’Brien weaves together spirituality, justice, and kinship with deep compassion. The book steadies the heart while inviting us into right relationship with one another and the living Earth. -- Leslie Davenport * author of Transforming Climate Anxiety: A Workbook for Courage, Clarity, and Collective Action. *
When conversations in the classroom or with friends turn to climate change or the broken political systems wreaking havoc on the Earth’s ecosystems, it is easy to devolve toward despair. In Climate Anxiety and Spiritual Resilience, Crawford-O’Brien provides a thoughtful reframing of climate change as a spiritual problem, and furnishes readers with a rich array of ideas and practices that can help them respond with meaning and moral resolve. Drawing on a wide range of scholarly voices, religious traditions, and indigenous spiritualities, her honest, heartfelt prose guides readers toward an affirmative power to make the futures they want for themselves. -- Evan Berry * Senior Global Futures Scholar and Professor of Environmental Humanities, Arizona State University, USA *
This book brings soul and ceremony to the heart of climate distress. O’Brien offers a rare weaving of the sacred and the practical and reminds us that spiritual resilience is not a retreat from the world’s suffering, but a profound act of re-engagement with life, justice, and community. -- Steffi Bednarek * Founder and Director of the Centre for Climate Psychology and Editor of Climate, Psychology and Change, UK *
This book has so much to teach and to remind us all. The introduction tells us it is “a trail guide for those of us who know that restoring the world is sacred work.” If you don’t know that yet, please read the book and be convinced. Then join me in gratitude for the wisdom Suzanne Crawford O’Brien has gathered in these pages. She presents a wealth of spiritual resources to expand our understanding of climate action. She encourages us to be our full selves, including facing our grief, anxiety, and other challenging feelings about the state of the world. She introduces us to dozens of ancestors and scholars who have found ways to turn such feelings into positive change. She offers hope that we can keep moving toward a better life in and with this earth. The trail ahead is not easy, but it will be easier, more joyful, and more inspiring with this book as a guide. -- Kevin J. O’Brien * Professor of Religion, Pacific Lutheran University, USA *
This is an important and timely book. Crawford O'Brien draws from a wealth of spiritual traditions, but most especially those of Indigenous and marginalized groups who have already survived world shattering events. She uses their wisdom to provide practical steps for engaging in effective self-care in response to climate anxiety, and, just as importantly, teaches us how to engage with those traditions so we can all learn from each other, grow in our understanding, and promote effective actions in response to climate change and anxiety. * Lawrence W. Gross, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Endowed Chair of Native American Studies, University of Redlands, and author of Anishinaabe Ways of Knowing and Being (2016) and Native American Rhetoric (2021) *
As climate change fuels fear and despair, this deeply inspiring and remarkable book offers healing and hope. With heartfelt passion and empathy, the author uniquely and skillfully integrates science, religion, and Indigenous wisdom to remind us that the climate crisis is also a crisis of sacred relationships, inviting us to restore our relationship with one another, the living Earth, our ancestors, and the Divine. * Imam Jamal Rahman, author of Spiritual Gems of Islam: Insights & Practices to Enlighten the Heart & Mind (2013) and Fragrance of the Qur'an: Reflections on Verses of Beauty and Wisdom (2025) *
A warm and gifted storyteller, Suzanne Crawford O'Brien skillfully bridges modern schisms between inner and outer worlds, mind and heart, politics and spirituality, public and private, to show how we can heal ourselves in healing our world. Full of heart and honesty, grounded in the author's experience and expertise, this is a deeply necessary book for sustaining and inspiring positive participation in the times we are in. Read, share, discuss, and above all practice what is so generously and warmly shared here in its pages. * Sally Gillespie, author of Climate Crisis and Consciousness: Reimagining our World and Ourselves (2020) *
This book reminds us that when the world feels like it is ending, it’s time to double down on what gives us life—which includes the rituals, ceremonies, and spiritual habits that ground ourselves in goodness. The Indigenous genius and spiritual practices that have held our ancestors together remain reliable roadmaps for processing and transforming our anxiety into harmony and action. Crawford O’Brien beautifully weaves together insights from her own life, Indigenous and religious studies, and neurological/psychological studies in accessible, even humorous prose. Crawford O’Brien invites us to try on contemplative exercises and accessible actions that have proven to be good medicine for processing challenges beyond our control. I will be recommending this book to my students in Indigenous theological studies! * T. Christopher Hoklotubbe, Harvard University Divinity School Director, The Indigenous Theological Circle *
As a career sustainability professional, I've read dozens of books on "how to save the environment." Most are perfunctory and repetitive, filled with similar calls to action (reduce, reuse, recycle), and packaged for specific audiences (consumers, industry experts, young people, etc.). Climate Anxiety and Spiritual Resilience is radically different and truly refreshing. It asks us to stop and listen—to the earth, to our ancestors, to each other—and embrace a spirit of interconnectedness. We can build the world we desire if we cultivate a ceremony of hope through our everyday acts within our communities. How beautiful is that? It doesn't cost a dime, it can be done by anyone, and it might even save us from ourselves. Pick this book up, breathe it in, and choose hope. * Amy Hall, owner, Hudson Valley Books for Humanity, and former VP, Social Consciousness, EILEEN FISHER, Inc. *
In these times most humans know the gradual but deadly consequences of galloping climate change. Tragically, the largest polluters and powers that be are denying there is even a problem. It is easy to feel defeated. In Climate Anxiety and Spiritual Resilience, we learn we are not alone. This book envelops us in voices from spiritual traditions that survived colonial exploitation and extractive financialization—the same forces driving climate change. Crawford O'Brien shows us how to listen respectfully to those who carry this life-giving secret for us all: that all our work is in connection. * Libba Pinchot, co-founder of ClimateUnBound.org and Pinchot University, and author of Learning with Corporate Sustainability Leaders: Systemic Barriers and Collaborative Openings to Addressing Climate Change *