EECO Team: Jenny Freeman, Merle Conyer, Akansha Vaswani-Bye and Peggy Sax
Featured Resources
Creative Responses (to the poly crisis)
The Ecoanxiety Cypher: From Climate Paralysis to Climate Movement
Kelly Loftis wrote this paragraph about Jackson Xia, an activist in Las Angeles, United States:
Jackson Xia, a self-named Sustainability Nerd, dancer, producer, and facilitator, applies his passion for sustainability and environmental research in his roles in TV and film production.
What has caught our attention and drive to highlight this Creative Activist, is his work in utilizing “dance as a climate anxiety-relief tool.” He makes the point that “many art forms from street cultures were born as a reaction to an unstable world” and “there is a resemblance with ecoanxiety in terms of living through systemic issues and needing something to help cope, be hopeful, or just maintain mental health.”
Community connection lives in his work, as well as an uplifting of the voices, perspectives, and lived experience of people most acutely aware and impacted by earth’s climate crisis.
Many in this work have written and spoken about the consequences of being disconnected from each other and the world in these unraveling times. Jackson’s work offers a refreshing approach to accessing connection, which can often heavily rely on spoken language. He describes his dance workshop, The Ecoanxiety Cypher, as a way for “dance novices to explore the emotions involved when talking about the climate crisis and discover ways that movement can heal.”
A Regenerative Tree of Life Practice: Nurturing Climate Activists
The creation of collective trees, the use of outsider witnessing, and letter-writing linked people’s lives through shared themes and fostered solidarity within and between the groups located in different locations.
Toward Storying a Life-Sustaining Future
“Climate change (global warming) is just a symptom, like a fever, and not the disease itself. The underlying problem is the ecological emergency, the destruction of our ecosystems, the destruction of our home.” Dr Linda Theyer GTEC reader
Considering ourselves ‘citizen therapists,’ part of a ‘global citizen’s movement,’ we are called to jump outside of the box of ‘business as usual’ practices, to invite awareness and engagement. In these changing, challenging times, how do we find ourselves responding? What frees us from immobilizing feelings or denial, what sparks generative action? We, our clients, and our communities can contribute to the kinds of transformation needed through our circles. As we awaken from ‘the disconnect,’ the trance of the eco-cidal, what does it mean to be eco-sourced instead? Let’s explore counter-stories, liberative narratives, visions of possibility and engagement.
Tuned into our natural surroundings, as we breathe into the work of our times, we find each of us has stirrings and unique gifts to offer. What calls us? What do narrative and collective narrative practices offer?How can we open spaces for inspired resistance, effective protest, regenerative action? Let’s connect with wider circles of environmental and social justice responders. Marginalized and liberative narratives uplifted can shape a world that’s life-sustaining for all and all species. Earth’s calling invites gratitude, grief, curiosity, creative courage, connectedness, fierce love! Here we are!
Getting Inspired
Latest from one of our NT community
David Page is the founder of boycottpollution.org. He retired from the San Francisco Department of Public Health in 2015 after a career as a therapist/social-worker. Since then he’s been active in various anti-pollution efforts.
Around the world, our narrative colleagues are speaking up and taking action. Here are some illustrations:
- Questions for our Times: Narrative responses to climate change by Jenny Freeman
- Eco-Narrative Practices: Re-Storying Our Relationship with the Earth by Ken MacLeod (End of Year Project Paper)
- Narrative therapist, writer and activist Merle Conyer interviewed by Nicole Gruel
- Supporting regenerative activism” group using The Tree of Life with Merle Conyer in Australia (Youtube video and further description are in the EECO Playlist):
- Psychotherapy Networker Blog with Jenny Freeman
- Climate Change, Mental Health and Collective Action: An Interview (Akansha Vaswani with Jennifer Freeman)
- Climate justice and mental health – Think globally, Panic internally, Act locally
- The Rise of Eco-Anxiety by Lauren Docket (P
sychotherapy Networker) - Taking Care to Change Trajectory: Exploring an integrated process of Collective Narrative Practices and Strategic Sustainable Development Masters Thesis
- The Seventh Story: Counter-stories to The Big Six (a Francophone gathering of coaches and therapists working with narrative ideas)
- From our colleagues in Canada, Arden Henley, Mary Kean, and Colin Sanders, here is the Green Technology Institute Reader with free access online. A note from the editor Mary Kean: “I hope you and your colleagues will subscribe with the objective of building out our international village.”
- Resisting the cycle of apocalyptic overwelm: Exploring place, spiritualities and acts of resistance in the face of climate crisis – by Chelsea Size
Resources for Our Envisionment and Activism
“A racist system that values some lives over others creates the sacrifice zones that fuel climate chaos. Only by ending that system can we create a new economy that prioritizes the health of all over the wealth of a few, an economy that doesn’t depend on destroying the ecosystems that humans and wildlife need to survive.” Hop Hopkins, Sierra Club
Organizations for Professionals
Training
For us, our clients, and communities
- The Work that Reconnects
- Good Grief Network
- Queer EcoJustice Project
- Climate Cafe
- Climate Coaching Alliance
- One Earth Sangha
- How to talk to kids about climate change
- Boycott Polution
Books
- Active Hope; How to face the mess we are in without going crazy, by Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone
- more by Joanna Macy et al
- Choosing Earth by Duane Elgin
- Climate: A New Story by Charles Eisenstein
- Journey to Earthland: The Great Transition to Planetary Civilization by Paul Raskin
- Regeneration, Paul Hawken, audiobook
- Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being by Paul Hawken
Articles & Blogs
- What causes are you called to?
- Work that Reconnects
- Various, Hop Hopkins, Director of Organizational Transformation for the Sierra Club
- But the Greatest of These is Love Mary Heglar
- Embodying the Climate Crisis and Climate Stress Lives in the Body by Emily Wright
- Climate Psychology Alliance primer
- Australian Psychological Society. 101 things you can do to help address climate change
- How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change New York Times
Podcasts
- Indigenous Insights Healing Land and Sky
- Dismantling white supremacy to address the climate crisis: Leah Thomas & Hop Hopkins at The Sierra Club.
- Climate Anxiety: How to Turn Worry into Compassionate Action with Renee Lertzman
- Bayo Akomolafe, eco-philosopher, on sacred activism, post-truth and reality
- Climate Change and Happiness with Thomas Doherty and Panu Pikhala
- Climate Conversations: (Climate Psychology Alliance)
Videos
- Leah Thomas, on The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet.
- New York Times Climate Change Collaborative Climate Action for Exponential Change
- Nature is Everywhere: we just need to learn to see it: TED talk by Emma Marris
- For teens: to talk about Climate Change
Music videos: New river theme
- River under the River by Ma Muse
- Dotan – Let The River In – Dressing Room Sessions
- Ibeyi-River https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHRAPIwsS5I
More Music
Related Collabs
-
February 19, 2023 Collab Salon: Supporting Young People Who Are Worried about Climate Change
Today’s young people are some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Significant disruptions are predicted as…
View Details -
February 21, 2021 Collab Salon: Community-based Practices as Response to Earth’s Environmental Crisis and Opportunity
The environmental crisis is increasingly showing up in our neighbourhoods through severe weather events, struggling ecosystems, and the coronavirus pandemic.…
View Details -
March 29, 2020 SPECIAL Collab Salon: Together Enduring COVID-19
This FREE Together Enduring Covid-19 Special Collab was a time for people in our community around the world to get…
View Details -
February 16, 2020 Collab Salon: Narrative Ideas for Inspired Responses to Earth’s Environmental Crisis
What do narrative approaches have to offer these wild, uncertain times? How can we contribute? Can ceremonial and community practices…
View Details
Add Your Contributions!
Do you have something to contribute?
We’ve made it easy with an online form where you can provide us with your text and media files including images, video, PDFs, and links. We look forward to hearing from you and doing our best to add as many contributions as we can to this rich resource! Please remember to honor confidentiality and to ensure permission.
Wilbur Podcast with Kay Ingamells Part 1
