Psychology for a Safe Climate

Sustainable Living festival 2017

Feelings rather than facts move us to act. What's a rational response?

We are all regularly exposed to the dire predictions that climate change offers for our planet - some of them downright terrifying and bleak. And yet change doesn’t necessarily follow. If it’s not ignorance then what in our psychology prevents us from responding? Are we burying our heads in the sand in the hope it will go away? 

Panelists:

Theo Kitchener's life work is all about social and environmental transformation. She's particularly interested to show what's possible in terms of self-actualisation, collective self-organisation, sustainable low-tech lifestyles, egalitarian economics, climate drawdown, community building and transformative justice. She is the founder of Livelyhood, Doing It Ourselves and previously the Sharehood. Over the last few years she has been researching, experimenting and developing self-help strategies in order to learn to live, and to share the good life. 

Claire Dunn is a writer, educator, journalist and barefoot explorer. Claire worked for many years as an environmental campaigner with organisations such as The Wilderness Society, before turning her attention to the human-nature connection, studying Deep Ecology with Joanna Macy, eco-psychology, and wilderness survival skills. In 2010, Claire embarked on a year of bush living, completing the ‘Guunuwa Independent Wilderness Studies Program’. Her recent book “My Year Without Matches: Escaping the the City in Search of the Wild” is a memoir of that journey. Claire is a passionate advocate for ‘rewilding’ our inner and outer landscapes, and facilitates nature-based reconnection retreats and contemporary wilderness rites of passage.

Carol Ride is a psychologist and founder of Psychology for a Safe Climate. This group of psychologists and helping professionals build awareness of how people emotionally deal with climate change, as well as support people to face the issue. Carol has worked as a therapist and trainer for more than 30 years in the field of couples and their relationships. She has been involved in the climate movement since 2006, and was founder of community group Darebin Climate Action Now.

Chairperson: Kiri Bear is a facilitator, artist and deep ecologist, passionate about exploring humanity's relationship with nature and with themselves.  She blogs at www.humansarenature.com

Part of the National Sustainable Living Festival - Big Weekend.