“A gutsy, honest, vibrant and ultimately optimistic piece of work, inspiring inner and outer action on both a personal and planetary level. “
Alistair Taylor Prana Ecotherapy”
Independently published December 2025 Ouch! so hot off the press! Premiering the work of OK Doomer at Woodford Folk Festival this December 2025/January 2026.
OK Doomer is shorthand for the idea that we humans cannot simply give in to a powerful cultural meme that ends in catastrophe. As with OK Boomer, Ok Doomer … your time is now over. Opposition to doomerism is not only necessary, but importantly, it is cathartic as it addresses the direct causes of our emotional distress. With the use of Earthcentric reflective thinking, participatory artworks, poetry, and creative writing, this book shows the multitude of ways that good Earth emotions can negate the forces that generate the edifice that doomerism is erected on. That edifice is shockingly real, but it is not the only possible future for humanity. Kerryn Coombs-Valeontis has assembled the materials needed for us to take the path away from doomerism to that of boonerism. OK booner? Your time has come.
Here, in ONE work, is a survival kit to turn Doomer depression and despair into psycho-emotional and ecological healing, growth and resilience.
Dr Glenn A Albrecht, author of Earth Emotions: New words for a new world.
Kerryn Coombs-Valeontis shares her process of opening up to what she thought was a private eco-anxiety and ecological sorrow. She realised they are collective and the healing is collective. She shares how this process of not looking away, but holding the gaze was healing,
Kerryn Coombs-Valeontis is an Educator, Art Therapist, Ecotherapist. poet and author. She has co-authored Nature Heals An Introduction to Nature-based Therapy in Australia and New Zealand. She is a sessional lecturer at Nan Tien Buddhist Institute in Arts Therapy and Mindful Nature Connection. She founded EartHeart Ecotherapy offering online courses and collates Ecopoiesis, an annual online flourishing of Eco-selves. She also runs poetry therapy workshops for climate anxiety and ecological sorrow. Her first collection of poetry (in parentheses) was launched in August 2023.
In many ways Eco-anxiety is a healthy response, especially when it comes from our love of life (biophilia).
Dr Matthew Adams Brighton University
ABOUT OK DOOMER
Climate events are shocking many of us with their ferocity, speed and extremes. OK Doomer reflects a personal journey through the emotional aftermath, whilst growing a deeper understanding of my overwhelm and ecological sorrow, ultimately enabling my participation in life again.
Categorized, ridiculed, and too often dismissed as ‘doomerism’, the research is emerging on the emotional responses to climate events; climate overwhelm is real, cumulative, and potentially devastating. Left unacknowledged or ignored, it can lead to numbing and/or a sense of dread of the future, both a shutting down from life.
Evidence and experience -informed and filtered through the experience of extreme climate events, OK Doomer includes 35 both contemplative and expressive ideas for groups and individuals, with reflective prompts for sharing and or journaling. Compiled from some of the world’s leading researchers and practitioners on the human response to climate change.
A poetry section is included, with guidance for working with poems and the complexities of climate overwhelm.
When we regard climate anxiety as an individual problem, it positions not being concerned about the climate crisis as the healthy norm. And this supports the continued societal silence on discussing the emotional impact of climate breakdown.”
Dr Gareth Morgan, a clinical psychologist and co-chair of the Association of Clinical Psychologists’ Climate Action Network
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"In 2022, five floods came meters from my home, on the heels of a nearly three-year global pandemic. I experienced climate anxiety and ecological sorrow as an accumulation of intermittent, non-linear waves of anxiety, sorrow and rage, that was impacting my everyday life and relationships. Climate researcher in the UK, Dr Matthew Adams (2023) expects an increase in complex emotional responses.
Leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, diabolical black summer fires burned out of control for many months that took lives – human, animal, bird, insect, and more. Record-breaking drought fueled the fires we all watched firsthand or on TV. The permanent smoke that blanketed many of our cities and towns went around the world. Just before the fires, on Australia’s major Murray-Darling River system, a million Murray cod piled up around puddled rivers, rotting. This incremental build-up to the floods filled me with accumulated rage, disgust, grief, and fear that mirrored a frozen state of post-traumatic stress disorder. (PTSD) And the very word disorder seemed to blame me for my “dis-order.” This did not help. This accumulation took me a while to untangle.”
“I was truly delighted reading ‘Ok Doomer’- Kerryn managed to write a book of hope in the midst of a global climate emergency. The book does not turn away from difficult themes, but through humour, art making, poetry and connecting to the earth shows the reader a way to contemplation and action. Kerryn’s own wisdom and experiences are supported by the voices of writers, poets, ecologists, philosophers and artists, creating a space in her book for scientists and mystics to shake hands. The activities offered are simple and deep, encouraging the reader to go outside, but always giving options should that not be possible. The breadth of themes and activities is astonishing- Kerryn has gathered stories and activities including plastic pegs, star gazing, phosphorescence, dancing with hedgehogs and many more.
Kerryn’s writing is kind, warm and informative. This book is a great resource for anyone wanting to engage deeper with our flawed world and the wonderful planet which hosts us.
Bettina Evans Lecturer, Creative Arts Therapy Aotearoa/NZ ”
“Reading Doomer was a lovely, gentle friend that made me feel held and at ease”
From the forward by Dr Nadine Levy Nan Tien Buddhist Institute AustraliaOk Doomer would make a unique, meaningful, and healing gift for anyone who has been through climate events.
$60 AUD + $10 postage in Australia.
Email for your invoice today. (Email at bottom of page) International orders welcome - postage added to your invoice.
EACH of 35 activations includes;
Theme
Suggested locations for groups or individual contemplation and journalling
Reflection and sharing prompts
Creative and expressive ideas for processing aspects of climate overwhelm, eco-anxiety, and ecological sorrow, with suggestions including earthart making, collaborative sculpture, a variety of written expression etc.
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