Workshops & Activities
Resources
Activities for Managing Climate Grief and Anxiety
The activities below are short, simple, and can be adapted for a variety of contexts and audiences (including online formats). I’ve found them effective in working with students and activists from multiple backgrounds: physical sciences, humanities, social justice programs and more. For additional strategies, I recommend our book The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators, along with our book website, which features supplemental resources and activities. Also check out Joanna Macy’s book Active Hope and her online resource The Work That Reconnects, adrienne marie brown’s Emergent Strategy, and the curricular modules outlined in Contemplative Approaches to Sustainability (ed. Eaton, Hughes & MacGregor).
Sculpture-based activity
Creative play with sculpture can activate the imagination while helping individuals process and develop new understanding about ecological and climate justice issues in a non-linguistic format. Using modelling clay and one's hands, participants explore subjective responses and experiment with communicating meaning visually through the use of shape, metaphors and form. Especially among those with little to no art training, clay is one of the more versatile and accessible materials for engaging participants.
Spectrum Line of Ecological Emotions
This exercise gets participants moving around the room to introduce concepts like eco-grief, climate anxiety and fear, and other ecological emotions. By moving to points that align with one’s emotional state, different affects are made visible within a group gathering. The activity is adapted from Panu Pihkala.
Rituals of Collective Mourning
Mourning rituals bring visibility to unacknowledged injustice through public expression of outrage or grief. This activity guides participants through the process of creating memorials or rituals to recognize and process climate injustice; when we name and collectively recognize the tragedy of ecological loss, we engage in an ethical protest against modes of thought that trivialize the annihilation of “other” lifeforms.
Activities are paired with suggested readings.
Gratitude Practice
An extensive body of research shows that practicing gratitude has wide-ranging personal and social benefits. A gratitude-based mindset can strengthen relationships, improve physical and mental health, enhance empathy and reduce aggression, increase our happiness and resilience ... and even improve sleep!
This 10-minute, small group activity asks participants to share what they’re grateful for and ultimately identify ways that practicing gratitude can support social and environmental justice. The module is based on activities developed by Joanna Macy in Active Hope and Krista Hiser at the Univeristy of Hawaii.
Seventh Generation
This “deep time ritual” is from Joanna Macy’s “The Work That Reconnects,” and uses role-playing to help us see the impact of our present actions within a larger time frame — including that of humans seven generations in the future. The group is split into present-day and future individuals, with the organizer facilitating a conversation between them to envision how today’s efforts could be experienced two centuries from now.
As radiologist Rosalie Bertell once said: “Every being who will ever live on Earth is here now. Where? In our gonads and ovaries and in our DNA.”
Controlled Breathing
This activity guides participants through 5 simple steps for using controlled breathing to support self-regulation. Science is just beginning to provide evidence that the benefits of this ancient practice are real. Studies have found, for example, that breathing practices can help reduce symptoms associated with anxiety, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and attention deficit disorder.
Manifesto or Mission Statement
This activity from Sarah Jaquette Ray's A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety asks students to write their own "manifestos," outlining why they care about the planet, why they care about suffering, and what they personally are uniquely positioned by skill or passion to do in the world. The declaration of intention and desire serves as a beacon to return to whenever one feels lost or overwhelmed.
Circles of Support
In his book Transformational Resilience, counseling psychologist and environmental scientist Bob Doppelt explains that “in the midst of trauma and stress, it is our family, friends, neighbors, and other members of our personal social support network who are most likely to provide the practical assistance and emotional sustenance needed to stabilize our nervous system.” This activity helps individuals identify personal strengths, skills, resources, and social networks available to them, which are vital to staying centered in the midst of social and ecological adversity. As Doppelt argues, “taking the time to deliberately remember and call on those circles of support is sometimes all that is needed to overcome a stressful situation.”
Outdoor Activity
This activity invites participants to directly engage with the natural world through two outdoor experiences of their choice. Following these outings, participants post a short written reflection on the significance of their experience.
Climate “Survival Kit”
For this project, students work in groups to design a Climate Change "Survival Kit" that helps others navigate the anger, grief, and despair that can arise in the face of our ecological crisis. The project can take whatever form a group deems appropriate (a website or handbook, a proposal for a retreat or support group, a video, an art exhibit). The primary purpose is to help students synthesize, reflect upon, and evaluate the usefulness of various resources they have encountered over the course term.
You’ve Got Mail
This activity helps individuals identify an insight or "a-ha moment" that was especially meaningful to them from your course (or even from a single meeting or workshop), and document that insight as a "reminder" card addressed to their future self. The instructor or facilitator collects those cards and mails them to participants 6 months later to ensure follow-up.
Imagining the Future: Video & Discussion
check back soon….
Workshop
As our climate crisis grows, feelings of anxiety, grief, depression, and hopelessness are on the rise. Yet we cannot expect a critical mass to stay engaged in climate solutions if these feelings result in burnout or despair. This workshop explores the mental health dimensions of climate disruption among different communities and shares practical strategies for building the emotional resilience to cope with loss over the long haul. Participants will be introduced to different methods for navigating eco-anxiety through short writing exercises, personal reflection, discussion, and hands-on group activities (including remote/online formats). The workshop is also designed to lead participants to action. Since meaningful engagement comes in many forms, we’ll explore how to put our unique skills, connections, interests and experiences to work for climate justice. We welcome students and faculty from all backgrounds and disciplines, and seek to create a supportive space where participants can discuss personal responses to environmental injustice and climate disruption without becoming overwhelmed.
Workshop goals:
Explore the emotional impacts of climate change on different groups, including students and young people, activists, frontline communities, scientists, and individuals directly impacted by extreme events.
Examine dimensions of environmental justice and social equity inherent to climate impacts; build capacity for critical thinking to better understand the roots, scale, and interconnection of these problems.
Consider how reflective practices may help individuals manage emotional responses to our crisis. Practice mindful listening and compassion so all participants feel less alone regarding their concerns.
Identify meaningful actions that each participant can take to advance climate justice; expand our powers of moral imagination and develop the creativity to re-imagine and transform social relations and political situations instead of retreating into fear and cynicism.