With Climate Mental Health Network (CMHN), we created a set of resources on ecological and climate grief, which were published 30th April at https://www.climatementalhealth.net/grief-resources
People regularly ask me: why focus on grief, when it’s the time for outrage and action? I answer by nodding, and then trying to explain how grief and passionate resistance are connected in the midst of socio-ecological crisis. Remembrance is work of grief, and remembrance keeps up the struggle against injustice.
There’s both local and global dimensions in ecological grief and grievance. Sometimes there are acute losses which sadness helps us to engage with. Tears reconnect us with Earth.
In the background, there’s the great change: from the age of cheap oil into another age. Many things that people from industrialized societies have taken for granted need to change. But change and letting go are difficult, and there’s a major fight going on, based on efforts to deny the evident need for transformation.
We need safe spaces for sorrow. It is a long process of reconstructing our identities, belief systems, roles in society, and practices. Robert Neimeyer and colleagues call this “meaning reconstruction”, and it requires re-telling of our stories.
For this multifaceted work, the new materials prepared by me, Anya Kamenetz, Sarah Newman and others, offer words, practices, and ideas. The videos by different people bring testimonies of various ways that ecological / climate / sociopolitical grief plays out in their lives. I hope that they’re useful for you, too; and if so, please spread the word. We’d also love to hear about your experiences.
The written resources include:
– A grief guide
– Images of types of loss and grief
– Activities
– Tip sheet for parents and educators
For the research behind the materials, see my article Ecological Sorrow from 2024. I hope you’ll find the materials useful!