Focusing on one of the most significant and critical issues facing the world today, this important book explores multiple aspects of climate change through the use of Jungian symbols and “signs” of this environmental shift, while diving deep into the politics of loss in reaction to climate chaos, uncertainty, and ambiguity.

Despite the imminent threat of ecological crisis, many treat this existential crisis as something that can be pushed to the side, ignored, and denied. The loss of natural habitats, species, land, human life, and health continues, acknowledged or not. Unconsciously, a necessary process of grief is bubbling up from the depths as a reaction to this climate crisis. This grief, often disguised as anger or inaction, can lead to individual and political action if it is engaged consciously and directed with purpose. From forest fires, to melting ice, to bleached coral, and warming oceans, within the chapters of this book, each sign of our changing planet is explored in depth from multiple perspectives. Through this exploration, each is revealed as a Jungian symbol encompassing so much more than we consciously comprehend. Each symbol is brought to life in the context of this political, communal, and individual space of loss, transforming a subversive grieving process into creative, conscious action.

This is essential and accessible reading for those within the fields of depth psychology, environmental sciences, humanities, and politics, as well as anyone wishing to gain more insight into the current climate crisis and their place within it.

Endorsements:

“Sarah D. Norton’s powerful book takes the whole psyche into the existential crisis twenty-first century: the climate catastrophe. By exposing rise of political rage as rooted in unconscious loss and grief, the book provides a map of terrain that we must traverse. For without the exploration of the psychic legacies of colonialism, speciesism, and inequality provided here, real transformation is stuck. Perhaps not surprisingly, Norton shows C. G. Jung as prescient and helpful in unsticking the wheels of change. This book is desperately needed to tell the story of where we are and how to foster necessary forgiveness and hope.”

Susan Rowland (PhD), Pacifica Graduate Institute, author with Joel Weishaus of Jungian Arts-Based Research and the Nuclear Enchantment of New Mexico (2021) 

“This creative and transdisciplinary addition to the Jung, Politics and Culture series engages with core depth issues concerning the climate crisis. Norton explores the unconscious tendrils of grief that entangle so many people in a stifling sense of doom. From mythology and folktales to economics and activism, we experience a hopeful text that takes an enlivening post-Jungian approach to the imagery, symbolism, psychology and politics of climate change.”

Andrew Samuels, Author of The Political Psyche

“Sarah Norton masterfully weaves depth psychology, political analysis, and environmental science together to explore the complex emotional and societal impacts of our climate crisis. With profound insight and compassion, Norton’s transdisciplinary approach offers a unique and vital perspective on one of the most pressing issues of our time. This book is an essential read for anyone seeking to understand and navigate the psychological and universal dimensions of climate change.”

Roula-Maria Dib (PhD), Director, London Arts-Based Research Center, Founding Editor, Indelible, author of Jungian Metaphor in Modernist Literature (2020), and poet, Simply Being (2021)