Though an existential loneliness often accompanies eco-distress, millions of people are feeling this. There are no social norms for talking about it, so a validating setting must be sought out. Finding the right place to do that can be transformative. Here's a list of places to drop in for a one-off climate conversation where one's concerns can be mirrored.
Sometimes you just need to express your climate feelings with other people who get it, and not much more is required. Activist and psychologist Margaret Klein Salamon created Climate Awakening as a series of ongoing sharing and listening sessions that anyone can drop into virtually.
Learn more or join a virtual listening session: climateawakening.org
Climate cafes are human-centric, emotions-friendly meetings where people can safely express what they’re sensing about what the climate crisis means—not in some far-out future way, but for their own lives and loved ones. They are a relational and permission-giving space that help people work through their fears and frustrations. Search online for “your city + climate cafe” to find a climate cafe near you, or sign up for an ongoing virtual series run by the Climate Psychology Alliance here.
Drawing attention to the pressure that the climate crisis puts on reproductive decisions, and the injustice this causes for people of childbearing age today, Conceivable Future hosts “house parties” where people can express their concerns and desires about how to have kids, or not, in these times. The founders adamantly support personal choice and do not endorse any way as the “right” way to navigate reproductive decisions in the climate crisis, whether that might mean having multiple children, adopting, or refusing to reproduce.
Download the Conceivable Future “House Party How-To” and host your own gathering, or upload a testimonial about how the climate crisis is shaping your intimate decisions.