Inside Out: Climate Action and Ecological Emotion

Featuring world-leading experts on ecological emotion, this panel will explore how climate change is affecting us inside, and how our interior worlds are shaping the world around us and the world to come.

Emotion is what moves us, as Glenn Albrecht writes in his book Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World. The panel will help us see and understand the feelings and emotions about climate change which are moving us to grief, dread, anger, and paralysis – and, sometimes, to action. It asks how we care for each other as conditions deteriorate, and how better understanding what is happening inside us helps to build the strong, resilient selves and communities required for transformative climate action.

Speakers:

• Prof Glenn Albrecht, author of the solastalgia concept and of Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World(Cornell, 2019)

• Yehansa Dahanayake, a youth activist with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition

• Dr Sally Gillespie, researcher, writer and workshop facilitator in the climate psychology and ecopsychology fields. Her book Climate Crisis and Consciousness: Reimagining Our World and Ourselves explores the psychological challenges and developmental processes of climate engagement for individuals and societies.

• Christie Wilson, Psychotherapist and Regenerative Practitioner, Climate and Mental Health manager for Psychology for a Safe Climate and core team member for Regen Sydney

Hosted by Dr James Dunk and moderated by Dr Chloe Watfern, Ecological Emotions Research Lab, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney:

• Chloe Watfern is an artist, writer and researcher focused on the connections between climate change and mental health. She works at the Ecological Emotions Research Lab, University of Sydney, the Black Dog Institute, UNSW and Maridulu Buydari Gumal SPHERE.