It's hard enough to get your head around the fact that Granny is dying and that we may have to sort out her personal affairs. So, it's no wonder that we struggle to get our heads around the fact that mother earth is dying too. Heavens above, we might have a lot more sorting out to do. Thinking and talking about death is hard. Are you ready to face the fact that our mother is dying? Wendy's previous book, Surviving a 'New Norm', created by Loss and Bereavement: moving from Trauma to Insight, told how Wendy moved forward from the traumas and bereavements in her own life. The two central messages in Mother is Dying adapt her understanding and experience of the effects of trauma and bereavement to those that will occur during the slow demise of humanity on our planet, as she sees the future, which is a highly plausible vision. Mother is Dying has both pessimistic and optimistic tones and the change in climate change throughout the world is now critical. The distinctive contribution of Mother is Dying is asking us to consider now the emotional trauma of climate change and the losses it will bring. It is understanding the way that people will react to the major changes in our lives brought about by climate change - the outcome of global warming - that is so important to finding ways to reduce the impact of those consequences. If trauma and bereavement are our reactions to future climatic changes, how should we respond? What can we, as individuals do? Wendy is an idealist at heart, describing how both individuals and society need to adapt to the dangers of global warming that lie ahead. One of the delights of Wendy's book are the ideas for what we can do both individually and in our local communities and these permeate her writing. I am less sanguine than she is; her actions are necessary, but will they be sufficient? The responses to climate change require holistic whole-world concerted actions in a rapid timescale. Mother Earth will survive, but will humanity survive with it? What will you do to make a difference? DR DAVID WHITE MBE, Biologist, The Cavernoma Alliance.
