Episode #24
Season 5, Episode 24: Reprise Episode From 2022 “Holding Space”
Here at the Climate Change and Happiness podcast, Panu and I are looking back at some of our earliest episodes. And this is a great example: Our second episode from 2022 that focuses on a core mission of our podcast, that of “holding space” – for climate emotions, for healthy sensibility and consciousness, and for creative action. Listen and look back on what at the time seemed a bit strange, and even controversial: Thinking about happiness in the context of your work addressing climate breakdown. And , as you listen, see how far you and we have come in our understanding of what healthy life and coping can be. (And in this season of talk about Odysseus, it's interesting that we were talking about the Greek concept of “thumos” or passion, courage and life force back then!) Original Summary: Safe spaces are crucial for the expression of climate feelings. Thomas and Panu talk about the loneliness people feel about climate experiences. What does it take to “hold space” for climate feelings, to “stand one’s ground” and “contain” experiences of sadness, grief or rage; and to practice “climate cosmopolitanism”? Panu looks back to pioneering work by Chellis Glendinning and shares Tim Jensen’s more recent concept of “ecologies of guilt.” Thomas reminds us of the role of values and that “We hurt where we care” echoing the writing of psychologist Steven Hayes, and classic insights about the “pains of an ecological education” going back to Aldo Leopold.
