ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the contrary, grief and climate change are inextricably entwined. It discusses an argument that we in the affluent West are grieving for the loss of the modern self, and its dependence on a future characterised by hope. Rose encapsulated this as Anthropocene Noir - 'the story without a known ending; the looming sense of fatality; the creeping awareness that nothing can be put right'. There is a lurking anxiety around. The central argument of the chapter is that these emotions need to be expressed and discussed more openly - that people distress needs to be held, and borne - they do return at the end of the chapter to consider the productive potential of 'the work of mourning'. Extreme events such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, bushfires and floods have been experienced throughout human history. Climate change projections are regionally variable but include increased frequency and/or intensity of many extreme events; floods, fires, cyclones.
