Agent Orange, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the Virginia Tech massacre, the 2008 financial crisis, and the Deep Horizon gulf oil spill: each was a disaster in its own right. What they had in common was their aftermath -- each required compensation for lives lost, bodies maimed, livelihoods wrecked, economies and ecosystems upended. In each instance, an objective third party had to step up and dole out allocated funds: in each instance, Presidents, Attorneys General, and other public officials have asked Kenneth R. Feinberg to get the job done. In Who Gets What?, Feinberg reveals the deep thought that must go into each decision, not to mention the most important question that arises after a tragedy: why compensate at all? The result is a remarkably accessible discussion of the practical and philosophical problems of using money as a way to address wrongs and reflect individual worth.
Climate engineering is a dystopian project. But as the human species hurtles ever faster towards its own extinction, geoengineering as a temporary fix, to buy time for carbon removal, is a seductive idea. We are right to fear that geoengineering will be used to maintain the status quo, but is there another possible future after geoengineering? Can these technologies and practices be used to bring carbon levels back down to pre-industrial levels? Are there possibilities for massive intentional intervention in the climate that are democratic, decentralised, or participatory? These questions are provocative, because they go against a binary that has become common sense: geoengineering is assumed to be on the side of industrial agriculture, inequality and ecomodernism, in opposition to degrowth, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and climate justice. After Geoengineering rejects this binary, to ask: what if the people seized the means of climate production? Both critical and utopian, the book examines the possible futures after geoengineering. Rejecting the idea that geoengineering is some kind of easy work-around, Holly Buck outlines the kind of social transformation that would be necessary to enact a programme of geoengineering in the first place.
"Sepsis strikes up like a fire in the forest, kills quickly, switching off the lights of life in hours, tearing limb from limb, leaving a shaking and humiliated half of you alive to grin and bear it like a wounded animal." The true story of a couple whose love is tested to its limit after their perfect life falls apart in a single moment. When Tom puts his small daughter to bed one chilly December evening, he has everything he could ever want - the house of his dreams, the life of a writer, a beautiful wife and a second baby on the way. By the next morning all of this is in jeopardy as Tom succumbs to the devastating illness that is sepsis.This is the incredible story of a family coming to terms with a life-changing diagnosis while battling to hold their family and their marriage together.
"In defining rapturous superabundance, Gordon explicates the tension between Apollonian principles of preservation and orderly boundaries (Exemplified in Aristotle's theory of tragedy) and an ecstatic Dionysian energy (essentially a manifestation of will) that ruptures boundaries. Aristotle denied this disruptive element by focusing on tragedy as a rational framework for redefining moral boundaries. Nietzsche seized on it as the core of his theory of tragedy."--BOOK JACKET.
How do you cope, let alone rebuild your life after a series of trials, stressful difficulties, and traumatic experiences? Is there life after tragedy, and how do you move forward into a meaningful life filled with purpose and identity? Noted author, James W. Goll, takes us on his personal journey of facing three bouts with cancer, the death of his beloved spouse, becoming a single parent, overwhelming debt, intense sorrow, being left with many profound questions—all while being exposed to public scrutiny as he carried on a global ministry. James shares his story and unpacks wisdom gained when the bottom fell out of his world. In Finding Hope, learn how you can:Catch the little foxes that lead to downward spiralsNavigate through the stages of forced changeMaintain your faith that God is good no matter what comesTell your heart to sing againNever, never, never give upBecome a hope ambassador, and much moreDeeply personal and intensely practical, Finding Hope will give you useful tools whether for yourself or someone you love. You can rediscover life after tragedy!
As a developmental psychologist conducting research on the impact of the 2005 Atlantic Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Katie Cherry logged thousands of miles in her car and hundreds of hours interviewing survivors, and along the the way she learned a few things about variables that matter after a disaster. In this work, she presents objective, research-based findings together with case illustrations and direct quotations from Katrina survivors. Six evidence-based principles of healing are presented. The overarching premise of this work is that the coastal residents who survived Katrina have a message of hope and healing after disaster. Their lives demonstrate that survivors of any disaster can regain a sense of joy in daily living after a catastrophic disaster or other life altering tragedy.
In the spring of 1996, Lou Kasischke joined renowned climber Rob Hall's Mount Everest expedition. When he said goodbye to his wife, Sandy, he knew he faced major physical and mental challenges against rock, snow, ice, avalanches, and extreme high altitude to climb the highest mountain in the world.What Lou didn't know was that he also stood at the threshold of a living hell. Six weeks later near the top, things went wrong. Lou and his fellow climbers faced a challenge even greater than the mountain -- the internal struggle about what to do when you are close but out of time. There were no second chances. Decisions were made. Some lived. Some died. It was the worst tragedy in Mount Everest history.Lou wrote his account of the events 16 years ago in the aftermath of the tragedy, but only now is he ready to let it go. He tells two stories. One is about the historic events. His perspective and analysis about what happened and what went wrong have never been told, and his account differs markedly from what others have written. The truth in the story depends on who is telling it. Lou Kasischke believes that some of the truth may never be told.Lou also tells a very personal story about how he came back home. An inspiring story about where to go for inner strength when facing a tough decision. A story about his wife Sandy's part in his survival. A story about what he heard, after the wind -- the voice of the heart. A love story.
“Inspiring, tragic, and at times heart-rendingly funny.” —People Unsentimental, unexpectedly funny, and incredibly honest, Tragedy Plus Time is a love letter to every family that has ever felt messy, complicated, or (even momentarily) magnificent. Meet the Magnificent Cayton-Hollands, a trio of brilliant, acerbic teenagers from Denver, Colorado, who were going to change the world. Anna, Adam, and Lydia were taught by their father, a civil rights lawyer, and mother, an investigative journalist, to recognize injustice and have their hearts open to the universe—the good, the bad, the heartbreaking (and, inadvertently, the anxiety-inducing and the obsessive-compulsive disorder-fueling). Adam chose to meet life’s tough breaks and cruel realities with stand-up comedy; his older sister, Anna, chose law; while their youngest sister, Lydia, struggled to find her place in the world. Beautiful and whip-smart, Lydia was witty, extremely sensitive, fiercely stubborn, and always somewhat haunted. She and Adam bonded over comedy from a young age, running skits in their basement and obsessing over episodes of The Simpsons. When Adam sunk into a deep depression in college, it was Lydia who was able to reach him and pull him out. But years later as Adam’s career takes off, Lydia’s own depression overtakes her, and, though he tries, Adam can’t return the favor. When she takes her own life, the family is devastated, and Adam throws himself into his stand-up, drinking, and rage. He struggles with disturbing memories of Lydia’s death and turns to EMDR therapy to treat his post-traumatic stress disorder when he realizes there’s a difference between losing and losing it. Adam Cayton-Holland is a tremendously talented writer and comedian, uniquely poised to take readers to the edges of comedy and tragedy, brilliance and madness. Tragedy Plus Time is a revelatory, darkly funny, and poignant tribute to a lost sibling that will have you reaching for the phone to call your brother or sister by the last page.
