A follow-up on the Navigating Climate Grief Workshop: additional resources and an invitation
Last Saturday I hosted an online gathering called Navigating Climate Grief, and it warmed my heart. I wondered if anyone would come to an event with “grief” in the title, since the Western world likes to sweep that subject under the rug and since my shoulder greatly limited my ability to sit at my laptop and engage in a solid level of promotion. In all fairness, spending time promoting events online is not the most exciting part of being self-employed.
But the gathering reminded me how much I love connecting with people and sharing something meaningful—and how it’s something we all need.
Here’s the thing: you can know something logically, but that’s not the same as knowing it emotionally. That’s when theory becomes practice, when practice becomes embodied and lived.
I know grief is held in our bodies. I know stress manifests as tension in my jaw, in my shoulders. I know that anxiety creates a hot ball of turmoil in my stomach.
Processing those feelings is how we can bear witness without falling apart—how to bear witness and care for ourselves, our communities, and how to actually be able to make a difference. Making a difference is what makes bearing witness… bearable.
Something that has really struck me regarding climate grief is that it cannot exist without things we love in the world. That’s what we grieve: the loss of things we love. We are connected to each other, to the entire community of life and life-sustaining forces, and that’s why it’s so hard. But it’s exactly that connection that gives us strength to do something about the woes and horrors in this world.
On the toughest days, I take a moment to tap into that connection. I remember that two things can be true: this world is full of vibrant cultures, beautiful waterfalls, majestic sea creatures, gorgeous sunsets, and feelings of love, belonging, and care. And yes, they are all being harmed. But they are still here, and many of them can be protected, while other things, like culture, are what we create. Our grief shows us what we care about and what we are connected to.
After the holidays, I plan to start a community care group where we tend to our grief. This includes the challenging work of acknowledging our losses and our sadness, anger, etc. and moving through it in healthy ways; but it also means finding joy and rest in our resistance, and exploring what makes that possible. This kind of work is essential for anyone who has centred their career on healing the world, whether it’s through science, the humanities, or even volunteering. Processing our grief and providing mutual support is key to our well-being as individuals and as a community. It’s key to burnout prevention and to engaging in the joys of being alive.
If you’re struggling with the state of the world, I hope you’ll consider joining. Below are some resources I’m sharing based on what we discussed in the workshop. Whether or not you join us, I hope these are helpful to you.
Wishing you a wonderful week. Resources below.
Navigating Climate Grief: a community care group survey - if you’re interested in joining the group, this survey is the first step, but doesn’t require commitment. Share the love and pass along this post to others who might be interested in the group or benefit from the resources below.
Imagine Climate - a mini-series podcast of guided meditations taking you around the world to envision a future where we got everything right. This helps build your radical imagination capacity to start living the future you want right now.
The Green Dreamer: Tending Grief and Rebuilding our Capacities to Sense More Deeply (Episode 429) - I just discovered this podcast and cannot recommend this episode enough. It covers how to bear witness in the age of social media, grief processing, and the guest shares her favourite grief practice. It appears on most podcast platforms, so check your preferred one!
How to Find Joy in Climate Action - Dr Ayana Elisabeth Johnson is a major influence on me, and the title of her TedTalk here says it all. She is also an editor of “All We Can Save” and its sequel, “What if We Get It Right?” which also has a podcast by the same name.
Weaponise Your Privilege - my most popular Substack post on Artist at Law. It covers taking action for meaningful change that suits your knowledge, capacity, and personality.
Spinning Out: Climate Change, Mental Health, and Fighting for a Better Future by Charlie Hertzog Young - this book came up in the discussion and covers a wide range of approaches to maintaining our mental health that often hinge on taking action because the very things harming our mental health are actually external systems, not just brain chemistry gone awry. And that means we can do something about it, together.
If you attended this free gathering or any previous free event and want to show your support for Tara’s work and help keep free content coming, you can Buy Tara a Coffee. She loves coffee.