Eco-Anxiety Workshops
Welcome
The workshop will be led by Dr. Kim Smith, Sociology instructor at Portland Community College and Co-Founder of GPSEN.
Kim Smith received her Ph.D. in sociology from Indiana University, specializing in environmental sociology and social movements, and has taught sociology at Portland Community College (PCC) since 1996. She is a co-founder of the Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network (GPSEN), a Regional Center of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCE) acknowledged by United Nations University. She supports program development and outreach efforts, in addition to mentoring RCEs around the United States. She has represented the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at multiple international conferences, including Rio+20 and the UNESCO World Summit on ESD. She is committed to offering hope for a sustainable future through education, professional development, and civic engagement.
Workshop sponsors
Thanks to the workshop sponsors: Portland Community College, ASPCC and GPSEN. Special thanks to Grace Grace, Director of Eco-Social Justice for ASPCC at PCC Rock Creek, for her leadership and advocacy.
Eco-Anxiety: Facing Climate Change Together
This guide includes resources for the two workshop series:
Eco-Anxiety: Facing Climate Change Together
Session One: Unpacking Climate Change and Eco-Anxiety
Thursday, March 4, 2021, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Session Two: Climate Grief - Strategies for Hope and Resilience
Thursday, April 8, 2021, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Session One: Unpacking Climate Change and Eco-Anxiety (preparatory materials)
- Bill Nye’s Global Meltdown (44 minute video)Bill Nye, the famous science guy, is feeling down. He’s visiting his therapist – Dr. Arnold Schwarzenegger – wondering why he just doesn’t feel like himself. He feels as if a horrible weight is on his shoulders, and life seems so empty, so meaningless. The therapist listens sympathetically, and diagnoses the cause: Bill is suffering from grief. Climate change grief.
- "How scientists are coping with ‘ecological grief’" by Steve SimpsonArticle in The Guardian, Jan. 12, 2020
- Shifting the Psychology of Climate Change Denial, by Dr. Craig Chalquist (35 minute video)
Unpacking Climate Change and Eco-Anxiety (additional resources)
- Is This How You Feel? The ScientistsHand-written letters by scientists answering the question: How does climate change make you feel?
- Transformative Education for Climate Action: Climate Change EmotionsResources for educators addressing climate change emotions, curated by Sarah Jaquette Ray and Nicole Seymour
Books
Session Two: Climate Grief - Strategies for Hope and Resilience (preparatory materials)
- Renee Lertzman, TedTalk - How to Turn Climate Anxiety into Action (14 minute video)It's normal to feel anxious or overwhelmed by climate change, says psychologist Renée Lertzman. Can we turn those feelings into something productive? In an affirming talk, Lertzman discusses the emotional effects of climate change and offers insights on how psychology can help us discover both the creativity and resilience needed to act on environmental issues.
- Kendra Ward. (2021) "How to Awaken Our Ecological Psyche", YES! Magazine.Article from YES! Magazine.
Climate Grief - Strategies for Hope and Resilience (additional resources)
- "It's the End of the World as They Know It - The distinct burden of being a climate scientist"By David Corn, published in Mother Jones magazine
- Beyond Doom and Gloom: Include Solutions to Climate ChangePractical steps we can take to promote clean energy, from the AASHE, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education
- Climate Solutions: Civic Engagement and Energy (2 minute video)Encourages students to engage in political advocacy for a clean energy future
- Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global WarmingProject Drawdown® is a nonprofit organization that seeks to help the world reach “Drawdown”— the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.
- Greater Portland Sustainability Education Network (GPSEN)A United Nations acknowledged regional center of expertise on education on sustainable development.
- Mind the Climate Literacy GapFrom Climate ECOS, The Climate Education, Communication and Outreach Stakeholders Community
- The Psychology of Climate Change Communication"A Guide for Scientists, Journalists, Educators, Political Aides, and the Interested Public" by Columbia University’s Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. 54 page pdf.
- Yale Program on Climate Change CommunicationThe program's mission is to advance the science of climate change communication, help leaders communicate more effectively, and increase the public's understanding of climate risks and opportunities
Books
- All We Can Save -Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate CrisisProvocative and illuminating essays from women at the forefront of the climate movement who are harnessing truth, courage, and solutions to lead humanity forward. Edited by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson
- Chakras:A Beginner's Guide to the 7 Chakras and Their MeaningsFrom Healthline website
- Coming Back to Life: The updated guide to the work that reconnectsThe original Coming Back to Life book by Joanna Macy has helped people transform denial, despair and grief in the face of the social and ecological challenges of our time. This new, completely updated edition repositions the classic work within the context of deepening global crises and the cognitive, spiritual and perceptual revolutions occurring all around us.
- Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global WarmingDrawdown, edited by Paul Hawken, has become a seminal text on climate solutions, drawing on humanity’s collective wisdom about the practices and technologies that can begin to reverse the buildup of atmospheric carbon by mid-century.
- Fields of Green: Restorying Culture, Environment, EducationField of Greens is an anthology of articles that imagine a future filled with care, compassion, hope and courage.
- The Great Work: Our Way Into the Future,By Thomas Berry. One of the most eminent cultural historians of our time presents the culmination of his ideas and calls for us to experience creation as a source of wonder and delight rather than a commodity for our personal use.
- The Psychology of Environmental Problems: Psychology for sustainabilityThis textbook demonstrates how eight major approaches in psychology can be applied to create a more sustainable society facing environmental threats.
- Truth Mandala - the Work that ReconnectsRitual for honoring our pain for the world, by recognizing fear, sorrow, anger and need. Part of practices developed by Joanna Macy.
Portland Community College resources
- Earth Week at PCCJoin PCC students for Virtual PCC Earth Week, April 19 - 25, 2021. Includes films, activities, social media and prizes!
- PCC counseling resourcesPCC offers free, short-term counseling to currently enrolled students (excluding Community Education). Service eligibility begins two weeks prior to a given term. In counseling, we discuss personal concerns students may be facing and work with students to develop new ways of addressing concerns. Many concerns are addressed within eight sessions or less.
- Climate GriefResource list, part of the PCC library Climate Change research guide.
Contact Us
This guide is maintained by Roberta Richards, rrichard@pcc.edu.