photo by Jorge Vera
Climate-distress specialist Brittany Rivers, LMHC, and I had a great time presenting on climate emotions at The Lynx Books, in Gainesville, on 9/2. Despite it being Labor Day, 20+ people showed up, including my dear friend and mentor Jill Ciment and a Peruvian-born environmental-sustainability professor who drove up from Fort Myers!
Brittany and I loved engaging with our audience at this, the first event in the monthlong Gainesville Reads program. Biologist Skip Snow (curator of the new “Heat” exhibit at the Gainesville Fine Arts Association) introduced our talk, and the new Gainesville Climate Cafe tabled before and after the event.
Among our activities: Audience members wrote down their feelings about climate change and “gave” them to the earth — as represented by this NASA ball. People admitted to feeling worried, frustrated, panic, overwhelmed, betrayed (by gov’t), sad — the whole gamut of emotions. Then we shared ways to process and channel these feelings through individual and group activities designed to foster connection and community.
Thank you to all who turned out. Thank you for being real with us. Thank you for sharing the depth of your feelings and for being a wonderful audience!
FYI, Brittany and I are available to speak on climate emotions at your next event. Contact me if you’re interested.
