What can I do, no matter how big or little?

Earth’s Environmental Crises and Opportunities for Change

“To be hopeful means to be uncertain about the future, to be tender toward possibilities, to be dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of your heart.”

— Rebecca Solnit

Re-Authoring Teaching identified a dozen Hot Topics guiding our narrative training activities. With the dramatic signs of climate change everywhere, we renamed  Earth’s Environmental Crises and Opportunities for Change (EECO) as a BURNING Topic. We want to  highlight various initiatives and resources that can help you and your clients answer the question, What can I do, no matter how big or little? How can I show up?

Jenny and Akansha met on the bluff of Puget sound in late May 2022, to work on this shared commitment. Eagles and osprey wheeled by at eye level as we sat, exalting with them in the dancing artscape of clouds, water.  This is the deep home of the Suquamish, ‘people of the clear salt water.’ In all this beauty, we both felt uplifted, lucky to be alive. We spoke of the Southern Orca Pod,  felt Shadow time and remembered the mother from this pod who carried her starved-dead baby on her back for 17 days for the world to witness. We feel you mama Orca. In these crazy times, the losses and possibilities are so tender and so strong.

In this spirit, we embark on our community’s EECO initiative.  Our team has contributed to, researched, and gathered refreshed resources to offer our clients, ourselves, & wider communities, (Bookmark our page for easy access) centered on the following themes:

  • From narrative colleagues around the world: publications/collabs/ courses/consultation group
  • General mental health resources and education for practitioners
  • Climate Justice from an Intersectional Lens
  • Resources supporting young people
  • Resources for activism—taking it outside the room.

This news blog and annotated resource is the first in a series to support you in this work.  Our current featured resource is Regeneration, a website described as a “response to the urgency of the climate crisis.” Scroll down to learn more and watch a brief video.

We are wondering how are you and the people in your life and work doing? What possibilities are you exploring. Let’s hear from each other.

With love of our breath-givingly beautiful planet

Jenny Freeman (Berkeley USA), Merle Conyer (Sydney, Australia),  Akansha Vaswani-Bye (Seattle, USA) & Peggy Sax (Vermont, USA)

EECO Team

What Brings You Joy?

Consider what you’re good at, what you love, and what needs help. Your climate sweet spot is where those things intersect. Marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has created this Venn diagram to help people find their place in climate action. (Courtesy The All We Can Save Project)

Breakthrough Questions

How do you or I respond to a mounting public and mental health crises as ‘the temperature’–literal and metaphoric–goes up, shapes the wild winds, rain and her patterns, dwindling ice, bees, food, and water security? People are not all in the same boat: the injustices of the extractive economy are rooted in racism, and now with climate crisis, manifest in disposable communities. Naming collective problems, creating collective healing, regenerative justice– what healing part can we and our clients play? Do we have reasonable hope?

The Psychotherapy Networker in 2019 and The New York Times in 2022 made forays, with “Climate Change Enters the Therapy Room.”  How can we show up? Here are some questions that we invite you to consider as you delve into the Earth’s Environmental Crises and Opportunities for Change.

  • Have there been moments when the world at large swept into your meetings? Like in the pandemic, in massive fires or other disasters, when BLM protests rose up?
  • Did this throw a different light on concerns, aspirations, or hopes? Did ‘business as usual’ maybe feel surreal?
  • Have any of your clients been showing up with concern and distress about the environment?
  •  What helps you and me find ground and even joy, to be eco-sourced in love of Earth, while navigating grief and difficulty?
  • Is Charles Eisenstein’s “the beautiful world our hearts know is possible” really possible?
  • Have any unexpected discoveries  or breakthroughs emerged through these shared experiences?  We want to hear from you.

Featured Resource

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Regeneration

Regeneration is a website described as a “response to the urgency of the climate crisis." Watch Paul Hawken, founder of the project, describing why local change matters and how we, as individuals, can think about climate change. Included on the website are challenges and solutions that can spark stepping into agency.
Read More

Future Blog Posts

Look for our upcoming blog topics:

  • Responding to the Climate Crisis with ‘The Tree of Life’ practice.
  • A foray into a regenerative psychotherapy.
  • Domains of engagement for therapists and community workers.
  • Youth and climate change.
  • Navigating communications with others about ‘the climate.’
  • A look at what ethics guide us through troubling times on the planet.