Module 2: Psychology of Climate Change
Learning Objectives
The learning objectives for this module are:
- Build literacy around the psychological impacts of climate change as they relate to engagement and dialogue for climate adaptation;
- Develop practices to support personal wellbeing as climate adaptation practitioners; and
- Identify how to apply psychologically supportive approaches to adaptation engagement and dialogue.
Readings and Media
Required
How to Turn Climate Anxiety into Action – Renee Lertzman
https://www.ted.com/talks/renee_lertzman_how_to_turn_climate_anxiety_into_action?language=en
Hope and Mourning in the Anthropocene: Understanding Ecological Grief
https://theconversation.com/hope-and-mourning-in-the-anthropocene-understanding-ecological-grief-88630
Find your Pod – Jess Housty
https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2020/05/25/Find-Your-Pod/
Somatic Centering, Sumitra Rajkumar
https://healingjustice.podbean.com/e/12-practice-somatic-centering-with-sumitra-rajkumar/ starts at 1:27 – 14:52
Navigating Loss and Damage: Making space for ecological grief in the climate adaptation planning process – Quinn Howard (p. 103-110) https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/xmlui/handle/10214/17973
Holistic Model for Process Design worksheet, Jessie Hemphill [Download PDF]
Beyond Storms and Droughts: The Psychological Impacts of Climate Change
https://climateaccess.org/system/files/eA_Beyond%20Storms%20and%20Droughts.pdf P. 31 – 35 Tips for engaging
Optional
Ecological grief and anxiety: the start of a healthy response to climate change?
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30144-3/fulltext
Getting Real About it: Meeting the Psychological Demands of a World in Distress — Susanne Moser
https://climateaccess.org/system/files/Moser_Getting%20Real%20About%20It.pdf
Mental Health & Our Changing Climate: Impacts, Implications and Practices (Recorded Webinar) — Renee Lertzman, Judy Wu, Emily Dicken
https://shiftcollaborative.ca/2021/02/mental-health-our-changing-climate-impacts-implications-and-practices/
Hope vs. fear in the language of climate change – What on Earth (Start at 10:13 – 16:54)
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-429/clip/15803409
Communicating with empathy in an era of disruption
https://argylepr.com/insight-and-inspiration/how-to-face-the-strange-communicating-with-empathy-in-an-era-of-disruption/
Trauma-Informed: The Trauma Toolkit – Klinic Community Health Centre
http://trauma-informed.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Trauma-informed_Toolkit.pdf (P. 14, 17, 18)
Ecological grief as a mental health response to climate change-related loss – Cunsolo and Ellis
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0092-2
Lament for the Land
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi7QTyHERjY
This too Shall Pass: Mourning Collective Loss – Collective Psychology Alliance
https://www.collectivepsychology.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/This-Too-Shall-Pass.pdf
Not for the Faint of Heart: Tasks of Climate Change Communication in the Context of Societal Transformation
http://susannemoser.com/documents/Moser_chapterforFeolabook_preprint_000.pdf
Mental health and our changing climate: Impacts, implications, and guidance, American Psychological Association
https://www.climatepsychologyalliance.org/
