Getting a grip on climate emotions

Many thanks to Kerry Hill for this summary of a great NZN event, held on 18th September 2024.

This week, a group of Net Zero Climate Leaders joined forces at the City of Perth Library, to do something a bit less familiar.

We worked through our feelings and emotions related to the challenges tackling climate change.

This event was less about our regular approach, which usually relates to engineering and science… and more about how we can work in groups to facilitate an environment conducive to working through the frustrations that we collectively face. This approach could be applied in personal and social situations or within different work organisations.

Isis Alexandra Rivera welcomed us to the evening workshop and began the proceedings with a mindfulness exercise. She encouraged us to tap into how the current state of the environment is making us feel.

Then, Keith Hutchings shared his practical steps on creating a space in small groups to allow each other to work through these emotions without judgment. My take aways include:

🍃 Building a safe space of trust with a regular meeting cadence is key
🍃 Sitting together in groups of 6-8 people is a powerful way to hear everyone’s voice equally - larger groups should break into smaller groups
🍃 Start off by setting a positive tone about any recent good news
🍃 The challenge is to not give advice, but to listen equally to one another for a designated time
🍃 After listening to one another, to wrap things up, bring the focus back into the present and then discuss what can we look forward to.

Thank you Isis and Keith for sharing some very practical ways to deal with the challenges we all face as Climate Leaders across multiple industries. Thank you to Mariana Domingues and Max van Someren for organising the evening and for the refreshments.

We look forward to our next event in two weeks time on how Sustainability and ESG are shaping business moves and career grooves. Please join us on October 1.