AS SPECIES DISAPPEAR and climate change accelerates, a small but growing group of activists, artists and writers across the world is embracing mourning as transformative ethical and political work. Their approaches are wide-ranging, from public funerals and vigils for departed species to acts of civil disobedience that take the form of mass ‘die-ins’ representing the extinction crisis. What these disparate efforts share, however, is the goal of dwelling with ecological loss in some way, aiming to cultivate a richer sense of our damaged planet, to take responsibility and perhaps to move forwards in a new frame of mind.

We, the authors of this essay, have become fascinated by this effort to tap into the reservoir of cultural practices associated with death, dying and loss and to adapt and redeploy them in response to a deepening planetary crisis. At the same time, each of us has found ways in our own lives – through creative, community-based and political practices – to explore and express our own sense of grief for what is being lost, while making space for others to do the same. We’ve done this through writing, making, teaching, curating, campaigning and more. As a result, we’ve ended up spending a lot of time thinking about, and ultimately dwelling with, grief.