You don’t see a lot of self help books on your average “Global Climate Change” reading list, unless you count those helping people attend to their energy use or consumer habits. This one is different. \n\nIn Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, Nhat Hanh (or Thay, as he was known), patiently guides us to take care of ourselves in order to foster our resiliance and streng for the work of taking care of eachother and the world. When it sometimes feels like we face challenges so overwhelming that there is nothing we can do to help, Thay offers wisdom to put that in perspective. I will not soon forget his account of using meditation to overcome despair when working to stop the war in his native Vietnam, another overwhelming, life-threatening and seemingly intractable challenge. \n\nThere is great teaching here on listening compassionately to others whom you may be inclined to fear or hate. This book offered me new tools to keep my cool and seek genuine dialog when talking to people I might see as complicit in the climate crisis or whose reluctance to face it I may resent.\n\nThe idea that surviving global climate change means first dealing with our own anxiety and despair seems both obvious and under-appreciated. My intuition is this book will be most impactful for those already predisposed to buddhist teachings, but Thay’s accounts of political engagement and the interconnectedness of everything . The author of 75 books available in English (his 1992 work Peace Is Every Step is particularly resonant to me), Thay died just days before I am writing this. His legacy is enormous and this book is one epic and generous gift before departing.\n