A Future We Can Love

Discover wisdom and guidance to face the climate emergency from the most influential spiritual and environmental leaders of our time, including the Dalai Lama, Greta Thunberg, Joanna Macy, Vandana Shiva, Paul Hawken, Katharine Hayhoe, and Matthieu Ricard.

When the Dalai Lama and Greta Thunberg spoke for the first time in January 2021, millions of people around the world took notice. "It is encouraging to see how you have opened the eyes of the world to the urgency to protect our planet, our only home," the Dalai Lama wrote to Greta before their meeting.

A Future We Can Love shares the words of these two great figures, generations apart, bringing them into dialogue with dozens of visionary scientists, activists, and spiritual luminaries. These include indigenous scholar and artist Lyla June, medical biochemist and author Diana Beresford-Kroeger, climate scientist and Zen teacher Kritee Kanko, interfaith environmental leader Dekila Chungyalpa, Buddhist teacher Willa Blythe Baker, Rabbi Steve Leder, and many more. Through this world-changing conversation, readers embark on a four-part journey toward active hope in the face of the climate crisis: from knowledge of climate science, through the capacity for change, and to the will that is needed and the actions we can take. The book will help you:

• comfort your climate anxiety and metabolize grief or burnout into wonderment and useful energy
• recognize interdependence as key to our well-being and as a lens for understanding both the climate crisis and its solutions
• clarify why feedback loops leave us no time to wait on climate action
• develop your own rituals and practices for connecting to Earth and renewing hope
• overcome common obstacles to speaking and acting clearly on behalf of the human and wild communities most affected by the climate crisis

A Future We Can Love inspires each of us to rise to the occasion to ensure a brighter future for generations to come.

About the Author

Susan Bauer-Wu is an organizational leader, clinical scientist, and mindfulness teacher whose lifework has been dedicated to alleviating suffering and fostering well-being through contemplative wisdom. She is the president of the Mind & Life Institute and previously was the Kluge professor of contemplative end-of-life care at the University of Virginia. She is an avid gardener and hiker who is nourished by trees and animals and awed by our reciprocal connection with nature. She is deeply committed to the care of our planet and to policies and personal actions that will ensure a future we can love for our children and grandchildren. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is also the author of Leaves Falling Gently.