Eco-Distress Resources for Art People
Compiled and drawn by Andrew Harrell.
Last updated September 2026.
I first printed this zine in 2024. It’s normal to be in distress because of the reality of the climate crisis and other global problems. The level of access we now have to information and prediction and any corner of the world, and the time we have to ruminate on it. The deliberate manufacturing of helplessness, and the stigma and shame at losing to it for a day or a year. Overwhelmed, filled with rage, embarrassed, graceless, soul sick, catharsis-sick, hopeless, manically optimistic, the essence of pure despair, desperate for balance, hypertense and steaming, paralyzed in bed, rotting away. Pick a headline and decide whether feeling one of those is a reasonable reaction. There are many better and more comprehensive resources for dealing with this. These are some that have helped me. Use them well, and make good art. Don DeLillo: “Writers must oppose systems. It's important to write against power, corporations, the state, and the whole system of consumption and of debilitating entertainments.”
GOOD GRIEF NETWORK
I found a new source of community through the Good Grief Network. Its programming includes online peer-to-peer spaces for discussing the polycrisis.
I’ve met other people around the world who have feelings and ideas that have comforted me in their familiarity and challenged me in their novelty. I’ve learned that feelings like anxiety about the climate crisis are not pathological. I’ve gained space and focus to process emotions and investigate new ways of living.
One of my favorite parts of GGN is how it encourages seeking a “balance between unrealistic optimism and resigned nihilism.” And there is always an emphasis placed on art and beauty, down to each meeting ending with a poem.
Visit the Good Grief Network website.
EMERGENCE MAGAZINE’S PRACTICES
Emergence Magazine has developed a collection of practices that “offer meaningful ways of connecting to the living world.”
They are available both online and in printed booklets.
My favorite is “Encountering Trees.”
Visit the Emergence Magazine “Engage” webpage. The practices are at the bottom.
AIDAN KOCH
Aidon Koch is an artist, graphic novelist, and tattoo icon doing lots of cool things.
One of those things is IFIAAR, or the Institute for Interspecies Art and Relations, which you will probably enjoy.
But I want you to check out Koch’s ENVIRONMENTAL COMICS project. On the website, you will find worksheets that guide you in seeing from different perspectives, and in making your own environmental comics.
Visit the Environmental Comics website. Look for “worksheets.”
THE SCHOOL FOR LIVING FUTURES
is an “interdisciplinary, experimental school dedicated to creating new knowledge and possibility for our climate-changed future.” And it is local to Durham.
Its online archive provides chances to hear from people existing at the intersection of climate and art. Check it out.
Visit the School for Living Futures speaker archive.
MOVIES RULE!
NRDC and GOOD ENERGY have each created resources for screenwriters on creating climate stories. They’re an interesting read for anyone, especially if you are looking for guidance on creating art or stories about climate that influence social and civic attitudes.
i am not sure how many of these movies they would promote; these are for the existential horror fans
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (2022, Cronenberg)
tags: consumption, pollution, radical new bodies
FIRST REFORMED (2017, Schrader)
tags: harrowing, sublime
MELANCHOLIA (2011, von Trier)
tags: inverted cosmic pessimism
NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND (1984, Miyazaki)
tags: perseverance, clairvoyant, chef’s kiss
If your knowledge of Miyazaki as an environmental filmmaker ends with Princess Mononoke, you need to hurry and watch Nausicaä. The comic takes things even deeper.
ESSAYS AND PODCASTS
These are calibrated to challenge as much as to comfort, inspire, and inform. They can all be found online.
The Times Are Urgent: Let’s Slow Down
Bayo Akomolafe
The Times Into Which We Were Born (audio)
Dougald Hine
Home is Always Worth It
Mary Annaïse Heglar
Why Climate Change Threatens Our Inner Life and Survival
Janis L. Dickinson
Cultures of Energy Podcast
Dominic Boyer and Cymene Howe
Why Do We Cling to Art in Apocalyptic Times?
Roy Scranton