Professors of Environmental Studies face a unique pedagogical challenge. They must teach about the immensity of global environmental harm without falling into deep cynicism. Professors can meet this challenge by facing up to their own fears and developing the courage to share insights as honestly as possible. This requires a high level of self-awareness and …
Continue reading “Contemplative Environmental Mentoring Communities”
“Earth Democracy : Connecting the Rights of Mother Earth and the Well Being of All” by Vandana Shiva. We are facing an existential crisis with multiple emergencies. The multiple crises and pandemics we face today—the health pandemic; the hunger pandemic; the poverty pandemic; the climate emergency; the extinction emergency; the emergency of injustice,exclusion, and inequality; …
Christiana Figueres is renowned for having delivered the seemingly impossible. During her tenure as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010-2016, she brought together national and sub-national governments, corporations, activists, financial institutions, communities of faith, think tanks, and technology providers to jointly deliver the unprecedented, historic Paris climate …
Continue reading “A Conversation with Christiana Figueres: The Case for Stubborn Optimism”
“Integrity and Moral Suffering in Relation to the Climate Catastrophe and Health” with Roshi Joan Halifax. Roshi Joan will speak to some of the psychosocial effects of climate change and the role of moral suffering and integrity as we address health issues related to the climate catastrophe. She will briefly explore four valences of moral …
One of the main challenges of the 21st century is to reconcile short-term imperatives—providing for one’s family’s need, surviving the fluctuations of the economy—with the search for life satisfaction in the medium term, and the preservation of the environment for the sake of future generations in the long term. Altruism is the only unifying concept …
Continue reading “Altruism and Wonderment: Towards a Sustainable Harmony”
The climate movement is a people’s movement, it is a global movement, and it is driven everywhere by young dynamic leaders, often Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color. How do they show up as activists and mobilizers, as young women, and as community leaders? How do they address the intersectional layers of injustice they …
Elissa will discuss models of research for climate change mitigation. A “strategic research” (use-inspired) model starts by working with stakeholders from the outset, and helps us identify goals to impact structural change. The Science of Behavior Change initiative at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides a roadmap for high impact methods that also fit …
Continue reading “The Critical Role of Behavioral Science in Climate Change”
Over 85% of the world subscribes to a faith. Over half of the schools worldwide are run by faith institutions. Collectively, faiths are the 3rd largest category of financial investors. And yet, for the most part, they are often not recognized as a stakeholder group by mainstream environmental and climate movements, let alone as a …
Continue reading “Don’t Look Down: How to Build Bridges with Unlikely Allies”
The field of behavioral eco-wellness investigates the choices, behaviors, and habits that contribute to both personal health and environmental sustainability. Eco-wellness can be defined as “living life to maximize health, happiness, and environmental sustainability.” Fortunately, many of the same behaviors that bring mental and physical health also support ecological health (co-benefits). For example, walking or …
Continue reading “Mindfulness, Co-benefits, and Behavioral Eco-Wellness”
We are facing an existential crisis with multiple emergencies. The multiple crises and pandemics we face today—the health pandemic; the hunger pandemic; the poverty pandemic; the climate emergency; the extinction emergency; the emergency of injustice, exclusion, and inequality; dispossession and the disposability of large numbers of humanity—are all rooted in a worldview based on the …
Continue reading “Earth Democracy : Connecting the Rights of Mother Earth and the Well Being of All”
