The Impasse is an exploration of pessimism. If we want to have any hope at all for the future, it must be grounded in a recognition of human limits—a view Scranton calls ethical pessimism. Find us at #HMLondon2025 📚 buff.ly/dInxU0H @histmat.bsky.social @stanfordpress.bsky.social

Impasse: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress by Roy Scranton Review by Walter Cummins Roy Scranton declares that the big moral question for humanity is “how to live in a fragmenting, increasingly incomprehensible world of accelerating catastrophe.” calirb.com/impasse-clim...

"Scranton wants us to face the inevitable with an ethical skepticism that is our best choice." Thanks to Walter Cummins for the great review in the California Review of Books. calirb.com/impasse-clim...

This is pure, unadulterated, irresponsible hopium. Solnit writes "2025 is the year that wind and sun outstripped coal as an energy source," but in fact its all renewables, still dominated by hydropower. And the idea that IJC can enforce ANYTHING is farcical. Solnit's self-delusion is astonishing.

Like I've said before, if you have any doubts about climate change, just go to a super-boring insurance conference and listen to the super-boring panels where they dryly talk about the growing threat of disasters so catastrophic and unpredictable in scope they simply cannot be insured at any price.

Wild how the Fed chair saying that *entire regions of the United States* won’t be able to get a mortgage in the next decade barely registered as a news event

I'm literally just living a normal life while also experiencing a theophany via communication with the satellite called VALIS.

they’re forcing kids to read “the caine mutiny,” because of wouk

Excited to talk about climate change, pessimism, and my new book IMPASSE tonight at The New School, with with Jay Bernstein and Joel Towers. Come out New York! event.newschool.edu/arnholdforum...

I'll be talking about IMPASSE: CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE LIMITS OF PROGRESS in NYC next Thursday, November 13, @thenewschool.bsky.social, with Jay Bernstein and Joel Towers. Register below. event.newschool.edu/arnholdforum...

Proof that climate change is real and horrible: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Here’s the way to think about climate change that I learned from @drkatemarvel.bsky.social: We’re creating an increasingly chaotic and dangerous world, sending our children and grandchildren there, and they’re never coming back.

🌊 TONIGHT 10/21, 7pm PT, @royscranton.bsky.social with Mark Greif Discussing Scranton's new work, IMPASSE: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress @stanfordpress.bsky.social Join us in the bookstore, or register for the livestream here: citylights.com/events/roy-s...

Hey San Francisco! Join me tomorrow night @citylightsbooks.bsky.social to talk about IMPASSE, civilizational collapse, climate change, and pessimism with Mark Greif. citylights.com/events/roy-s...

"The question is not how to avert the end, but how to live ethically through it." Great short review of IMPASSE in @thetls.bsky.social from Rhoda Feng. www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...

"Chat and I have become really close lately,” Taylor said. nypost.com/2025/10/16/b...

Hey Portland! I'll be at Powell's Books tomorrow night talking about IMPASSE and climate change with Omar El Akkad. Come on out. www.powells.com/events/roy-s...

"A dune is never just a dune." Very pleased to have this piece on the Indiana dunes, nature writing, and metaphysics up @emergencemagazine.bsky.social. emergencemagazine.org/essay/strang...

Roy Scranton in conversation with Omar El Akkad Powell's City of Books Thursday, October 16th 7:00 PM "What emerges is a challenging but ultimately hopeful proposition: if we have the courage to accept our limits, we may find a way to embrace our unknowable future."

Hey Chicago! I'm at @seminarycoopbooks.bsky.social at 4pm tonight to talk about climate change, narrative, and IMPASSE with Keith Makato Woodhouse. Come out! www.semcoop.com/event/roy-sc...

TUESDAY, 10/21, 7PM PT— We hope you join us in celebrating the publication of @royscranton.bsky.social's Impasse: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress at @citylightsbooks.bsky.social. For full event details: citylights.com/events/roy-s...

Tomorrow Monday Oct 6, we’ll be talking to @royscranton.bsky.social about Impasse: Climate Change & the Limits of Progress on the @greenhouseuis.net book talk. Join us for the live discussion at 4pm Central European time / 10am Eastern newnatures.org/greenhouse/e...

Misunderstood Malthus The English thinker whose name is synonymous with doom and gloom has lessons for today. By: Roy Scranton daily.jstor.org/misunderstoo... Malthus at PG: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho... #books #economy

Episode 26: The One Where I Can't Remember the Word for Wojack www.indexforcontinuance.com/podcast/epis...

Hey Princeton! I'll be talking with Andrew Cole about IMPASSE this Thursday at Labyrinth Books. It's gonna be great. www.labyrinthbooks.com/events/roy-s...

Review: Impasse by Roy Scranton www.resilience.org/stories/2025...

📅 Weds. 9/10 @ 7PM: We welcome Roy Scranton for a discussion of his latest book "Impasse: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress", in which he argues we must free ourselves from our dangerous & dogmatic faith in progress. He will be joined by Professor Naomi Oreskes. Learn more: buff.ly/Qupjeae

Hey Boston! I'll be discussing IMPASSE with the brilliant Naomi Oreskes at Harvard Book Store tomorrow night at 7pm. Come out! www.harvard.com/event/roy-sc...

I feel seen.

"Its achievement lies not in offering solutions... but in clarifying the nature of the bind we are in and offering a way to live meaningfully within it." Great review of IMPASSE from @stanfordpress.bsky.social at Resilience.org. www.resilience.org/stories/2025...

(NB: IMPASSE is available for 50% off on our website for just a few more days: www.sup.org/books/litera...)

Your 'moment of doom' for Sept. 5, 2025 ~ maladaptive "Our bias toward optimism may be a characteristic of great evolutionary advantage in the long term, but under conditions of global ecological catastrophe has proven highly maladaptive." phys.org/news/2025-09...

"The only way to cross the gap between progressive carbon-capitalist modernity and whatever comes next is to make a leap of faith, committing ourselves to an unknowable future." phys.org/news/2025-09...

"Let’s say it’s a war film, an instance of that dubious and often misunderstood genre." I wrote about Alex Garland's CIVIL WAR for @clereviewbooks.bsky.social. clereviewofbooks.com/youve-been-h...

In his new book, “Impasse," Notre Dame Professor @royscranton.bsky.social advocates for “ethical pessimism" in the face of inexorable climate change, framing it as a “healthy approach to the unpredictability of circumstance, especially in fraught and difficult times.” news.nd.edu/news/in-new-...

"None of the quotations attributed to Infomocracy appeared in the book." A thrilling, scary essay from Lee Konstantinou in the Chronicle. www.chronicle.com/article/peer...

Rice is hiring! "The Department of Art at Rice University is seeking to hire at the Assistant Professor rank a full-time, tenure-track artist and art educator with primary interests in the production of film, video, and/or new media forms…” apply.interfolio.com/171781

Come work with us! "Rice University … seeks applicants for a tenure- track assistant or associate professor position in Medical Humanities, specializing in narrative and/or digital humanities approaches to medicine and health in the 20th-21st centuries." apply.interfolio.com/172836

The deeper problem here is the assumption that there is a "we" doing the thing.

This @royscranton.bsky.social essay has been running through my head ever since I read it yesterday. Trying to wrap my head around ethical pessimism—not just/even about climate change—because optimism is a really hard sell for me these days

New ep w/ @royscranton.bsky.social to discuss Impasse: Climate Change and the Limits of Progress. www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/roy...

"I think it's irresponsible to continue to tell the story of progress, like somehow we're going to tech our way out of it and everything is going to be fine." - @royscranton.bsky.social www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/roy...

@royscranton.bsky.social describes our moment as an impasse. We struggle to narrativize/imagine our path through. Narratives of progress have brought us to this confluence of crises as complex global systems collapse and shift on a hotter, more chaotic world. soundcloud.com/lastborninth...

HOTHOUSE BLOOM reverberates, unfolds, turns fractal, and breaks again and again, tracing the keen edge of consciousness where desire and repulsion merge... Congrats to Austyn Wohlers on a beautiful, bountiful, and harrowing debut!!! www.hubcity.org/books/fictio...

Had a great time talking with @philklay.bsky.social‬ and Jake Siegel on their podcast MANIFESTO about Dark Mountain, Paul Kingsnorth, and the Call of Cthulhu manifesto.fireside.fm/82

Happy birthday to me, @stanfordpress.bsky.social is having a sale! Get your copy of IMPASSE for half off! www.sup.org/books/litera...

It was a real pleasure to talk to @lastbornpodcast.bsky.social about IMPASSE and the limits of progress. www.patreon.com/posts/impass...

@royscranton.bsky.social describes our moment as an impasse. A preview of our discussion. soundcloud.com/lastborninth...

"No one uses 'Malthusian' as a compliment.... Unfortunately, almost everything most people think they know about Malthus is wrong." ‪I wrote about Thomas Malthus for @us.theconversation.com theconversation.com/misunderstoo...

"I presented with Phil Klay and Hilary Plum on a panel organized by Roy Scranton. Judging by the size of the crowd and the number and quality of questions we received, we did a pretty good job...." From March 3, 2014. acolytesofwar.com/2014/03/03/t...