How to Be Hopeful - by Elin Kelsey (Hardcover)

About the Book

How to Be Hopeful by Elin Kelsey examines the concept of hope in the context of climate change and environmental challenges. The book presents hope as an intentional and evidence-based response rather than a passive emotion. Drawing on personal experiences, scientific research, and practical exercises, Kelsey explores strategies for cultivating emotional resilience, fostering community engagement, and recognizing the role of both human and non-human actors in environmental action. Topics covered include managing fear, identifying constructive news sources, leveraging individual strengths, practicing respectful interspecies interactions, and building supportive networks. The work contributes to discussions in environmental justice and emotional sustainability, offering readers tools to navigate ecological concerns with a proactive mindset.

Book Synopsis

"How to Be Hopeful is a beautifully executed explanation of why hope is so needed in the environmental space."--Leah Thomas, author of The Intersectional Environmentalist

"Kelsey's nourishing work reminds us that being human and managing complex emotions is a part of the process in healing the Earth and sprouting hope around the world."--Isaias Hernandez, @QueerBrownVegan

"Are you hopeful?" That is the question elin kelsey is most often asked when she speaks to young people about the emotions and anxiety wrought by the climate crisis. How to Be Hopeful is kelsey's answer, an inspiring exploration of hope as an active, evidence-based response to climate change and environmental degradation. Hope is not merely a passive feeling but an active choice, a stance that must be nurtured despite the ever-present sense of despair and hopelessness that often accompanies the state of the world.

Through personal reflections, scientific insights, and practical exercises, How to Be Hopeful emphasizes emotional awareness, community collaboration, and the agency of both humans and non-human species. Some of the practices described in the book include:

• Accepting your fears without fatalism
• Sourcing solutions-focused news and tracking positive trends
• Acting from your unique gifts
• Practicing interspecies etiquette
• Gathering strength from your circles of support

A seminal contribution to the field of environmental justice, How to Be Hopeful empowers readers to confront their own emotional landscapes, engage in collective action, envision a sustainable future, and ultimately, cultivate a hopeful and resilient response to the pressing issues of our time.

Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute

Review Quotes

Finalist for the 2025 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, Self-Help Category

"In my work, I am often asked variations on the following two questions: 'How do you avoid despair when writing about ecological loss?' and 'How do you stay hopeful in the face of the challenges posed by the climate crisis?' The truth is, I do despair. The practice that empowers me to turn my back on despair is acknowledgement and gratitude for the gifts of this beautiful world. Finding our way to courage is always a personal journey. How to Be Hopeful is a practical guidebook that offers powerful tools and strategies for living in strength and cultivating a peaceful mind by acknowledging positive shifts and working toward solutions. This book is a must-read for anyone living with the effects of climate injustice, which is to say, everyone!"
--Rena Priest, author of Positively Uncivilized and sixth Washington State Poet Laureate

"As a young climate advocate, I have spent years navigating despair in policy rooms, protests, and classrooms. How to Be Hopeful offered me something rare: a framework for choosing hope while still holding space for truth. Kelsey's idea of evidence-based hope stayed with me. It does not deny the crisis, it asks us to notice the progress, the possibility, and the people working every day to make things better. In this world that seems to be falling apart, having hope is an act of bravery."
--Lily YangLiu, social media educator and advocate, youth climate negotiator for COP29, director of the Katija Hyoungjoo Neuber Institute, and Top 25 Women of Influence+

"Kelsey's nourishing work reminds us that being human and managing complex emotions is a part of the process in healing the Earth and sprouting hope around the world."
--Isaias Hernandez, environmentalist and educator, @QueerBrownVegan

"With eyes wide open to the environmental problems facing the planet, elin kelsey suggests an unlikely mindset--to choose Hope. How to Be Hopeful provides the guidance and inspiration that I so desperately need to keep doing my work."
--Ginny Broadhurst, director, Salish Sea Institute at WWU

"Hope is a radical act in times like these, and this is a beautifully executed explanation of why it's so needed in the environmental space."
--Leah Thomas, author of The Intersectional Environmentalist

"How to Be Hopeful blends scientific insight with a warm, conversational tone that invites us to courageously reimagine how to confront environmental and social crises--not through despair, but through a disciplined, evidence-informed practice of hope."
--Maddy Hewitt, executive director, Near East South Asia Council of International Schools

"Kelsey thoroughly proves something that could be integral to healing the Earth and all us goobers that live on it: hope is a real, worthy, useable force for positive change. Kelsey's message, laid out very well: We can heal, and the first and most important step is to believe that's true."
--Zane Schneider, Old Firehouse Books

"In How to Be Hopeful, the author offers us "Empowering practices to Overcome Despair and Act for Climate Justice." ... If you are nearing or already across the line into despair, I urge you to stop what you are doing and read this book! It can change your own future even as it urges us all to work toward changing everyone's future."
--Linda Bond, Auntie's Bookstore

About the Author

elin kelsey, PhD, is an award-winning author, speaker, and thought leader. She regularly leads workshops for environmental organizations, youth climate activists, educators, and community groups on hope and the climate crisis. elin has written numerous bestselling children's books, including You Are Stardust, and is the author of Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think Is Critical for Solving the Environmental Crisis. She has served as a visiting fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for the Environment and Society, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Kone Foundation, the Salish Sea Institute, the Cairns Institute, and Stanford University. kelsey splits her time between Monterey, California and Victoria, British Columbia.