Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century and it can affect mental health either directly through the experience of environmental traumas or indirectly through the experience of emotional distress and anxiety about the future. Our team has curated a list of resources to help with climate anxiety, build knowledge and awareness, and inspire collective, healthy action.

Awareness of the Current State

• World Economic Forum: What is the PolyCrisis (7.5 min video)
• What is Climate Change? from the BBC Podcast The Climate Question (15 min audio)
• The Albatross Liberation by Brian Martens (10 min read)
• What is Eco-Anxiety? adapted from Inner Green Deal (10 min read) (link to pdf)
• Do You Have Eco-Anxiety? from the BBC (6 min video)

Honoring our Pain for the World

• Surrendering to the Earth: A Guided Meditation by Lama Rod Owens on Sounds True One leads us through a mindful discovery of "Surrendering to the Earth and Air" from his new book The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors. (6 minutes)
• A Meditation on Grief and Injustice by Rachel Ricketts (Injustice of any kind, including justice to our earth and it’s peoples, is exhausting for the body and mind, and it affects all of us differently. Learn to process it in a way that allows for healing. (11 minutes)

The Role of Mindfulness, Empathy & Compassion

• “Healing the Body Politic” from Coming to our Senses by Jon Kabat Zinn (founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction MBSR) (15 min read) (link to pdf)
• What the Mind Has to Do With the Climate Crisis by Christine Wamsler (15 min read)
• How Brain Bias Prevents Climate Action by Matthew King for the BBC (10 min read)
• Look Beyond Borders a 4 minute experiment in “oneness” (5 min video)

Taking Collective Action to Heal our World

• How to Turn Climate Anxiety into Action TED Talk with Renee Lertzman (10 min video)
• Carbon Handprint vs Carbon Footprint with Daniel Goleman (2 min video)
• Climate Change: Can One Person Really Make a Difference? from crowdsourcingsustainability.org (5 min read)
• The Compassion Instinct by Dacher Keltner (UC Berkeley) (10 min read) (link to pdf)
• How to Transform Apocolypse Fatigue Into Action on a Global Scale TED TALK with Perespen Stoknes (15 min video)
• Three Pillars of EcoDharma by Kritee Kanko (leading climate scientist and zen priest at Boundless in Motion). (10 min read)

Poems

• When I am Among the Trees by Mary Oliver (pdf)
• The Word by Tony Hoagland (pdf)
• Ancient Language by Hannah Stephenson (pdf)
• The Albatross Liberation by Brian Martens (pdf)
• Rising Together for ReLOVEution by Thanissara (pdf)

Reflections to Take Into Your Mindfulness Practice

What is my own understanding of the state of our world?

What feelings am I aware of around the state of our world?

How well am I holding this knowledge and these feelings?

How might my practice support me? Support our world?

What is alive for me around the climate crisis, the polycrisis? How am I aware of this?

In what ways do I practice to support myself around the polycrisis?

What are ways am I coping with global hurt and grief that are less skillful? …more healthful?

What one small action I can take to feel a sense of agency?

What do I feel calling and purpose around?

What other like-minded individuals or community groups might I connect with?