Eco-Anxiety and the Pandemic
A Free Interactive Nine-Week Course Via Zoom Meeting
Mondays August 3, 2020 to October 5, 2020
5:30pm - 6:30pm ET
5:30pm - 6:30pm ET
Worrying about climate change and the pandemic can feel overwhelming, but there are ways to help reduce this anxiety and climate breakdown at the same time. Register here for all or part of the 9-week series of classes to:
• Consider the relationship between the pandemic and the eco-crisis
• Learn about the interconnected effect of these crises on mental and physical health
• Explore the impacts of the eco-crisis on New England
• Validate eco-anxiety as a sane, healthy response
• Discover how to make friends with uncertainty
• Experience a sense of kinship with the natural world as practiced by Native Americans and Zen meditators
• Find ways to engage in our diverse communities during these challenging, unpredictable times, centering on dignity as a guiding principle
• Ultimately, find joy in measuring up to the great trumpet call of our time, responding to the pandemic and the eco-crisis with newfound resiliency and creativity.
• Consider the relationship between the pandemic and the eco-crisis
• Learn about the interconnected effect of these crises on mental and physical health
• Explore the impacts of the eco-crisis on New England
• Validate eco-anxiety as a sane, healthy response
• Discover how to make friends with uncertainty
• Experience a sense of kinship with the natural world as practiced by Native Americans and Zen meditators
• Find ways to engage in our diverse communities during these challenging, unpredictable times, centering on dignity as a guiding principle
• Ultimately, find joy in measuring up to the great trumpet call of our time, responding to the pandemic and the eco-crisis with newfound resiliency and creativity.
Course Syllabus
Monday, August 3: The Relationship Between the Pandemic and the Eco-Crisis
The course will begin where we are: an overview of the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and the eco-crisis. David R. Loy, author of several articles and books including Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2019) and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center will present.
Monday, August 10: The Interconnected Effect of the Pandemic and the Eco-Crisis on Mental and Physical Health
The second class will address the impact of this interconnected crisis on mental and physical health. Dr. Will Hafford, an associate professor of psychology and adventure therapy at Unity College in Maine and a licensed clinical psychologist who maintains a private practice in Hampden and Belfast, will present on the mental health effects. Diane Fitzgerald, Soto Zen Buddhist priest, resident teacher for Zen DownEast and member of the senior teaching community of Greater Boston Zen Center, will present on the physical health effects based on the HarvardX 2020 course: The Health Effects of Climate Change.
Monday, August 17: The Eco-Crisis and New England
This class will offer a clear view of the impacts of the eco-crisis on New England. Dr. Ivan Fernandez, Distinguished Maine Professor, Climate Change Institute & School of Forest Resources, University of Maine Orono will present. The class will focus on a discussion of indicators of change and pragmatic connections to our lives and communities. We will discuss the role of science, and reasons for optimism despite the logical anxiety brought by the challenges of social inequity, a pandemic, and a changing climate that have converged in 2020. We will focus on New England, with Maine as a case study discussing its transformative process taking place in response to these challenges.
Monday, August 24: Acknowledging our Grief
Feeling anxious or depressed about the twin threat posed by the eco-crisis and the pandemic is actually a sane, healthy response. The class will use environmental activist and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy’s well-known process for opening our hearts to our anxiety and grief. We will also explore the cognitive biases that keep us from acting. Presenters: Fran Ludwig, Senior Assistant Teacher, and Mary Downing, Assistant Teacher, Greater Boston Zen Center and Zen DownEast.
Monday, August 31: Letting Our Eco-Anxiety Transform Us - Part 1
To change the world we have to change the metaphor. To change the metaphor, we need to experience ourselves and the world in a different way. Instead of seeing nature as there for our exploitation, we learn to see the earth as alive, as a self-organizing cosmos, as interdependent, and as not separate from us. Newell Lewey, Passamaquoddy language instructor and linguist, University of Maine, Machias, will present. In describing himself, Lewey writes, “I am a father and grandfather who is concerned about my families’ future and that of all the generations of all our People who are yet to come.”
Monday, September 14: Letting our Eco-Anxiety Transform Us - Part 2
Meditation practice is a path to experiencing ourselves and the world in a different way. Making friends with uncertainty and reframing it as a way of coming alive, instead of uncertainty being a source of anxiety, can be liberating. If we embrace the truth of uncertainty, we can develop the courage to stay open and engage with the world. This class will include meditation instruction and a “Vent Diagram” exercise in which we will work with the tension between loving and accepting the world as it is, while fighting for the change we want to see. Presenters: Diane Fitzgerald, Soto Zen Buddhist priest, resident teacher for Zen DownEast and member of the senior teaching community of Greater Boston Zen Center, together with Leslie Gajdukow, assistant teacher Greater Boston Zen Center and Zen DownEast.
Monday, September 21: Cultivating Active Hope
The talk about planetary hospice is misplaced and disempowering. Disillusionment in the face of the pandemic ignores our responsibility to address issues of fairness and care for the most vulnerable among us. Change doesn’t happen by having a single plan and executing it; it happens by a cascade of solutions that generate what cannot be envisioned initially. Active hope does not require optimism. It does not require us to do anything but to align with a greater purpose. We identify what we hope for and take steps to move in that direction. Discussion will be followed by an exercise in letter writing to our grandchildren or our future self, expressing our active hope. The presentation will use environmental activist and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy’s work on active hope and the work of Charles Eisenstein, particularly his new book, Climate: A New Story (https://charleseisenstein.org/books/climate-a-new-story/). Presenter: Fran Ludwig, Senior Assistant Teacher, Greater Boston Zen Center and Zen DownEast.
Monday, September 28: Facing These Challenges Through Community Engagement
We all deserve the opportunity to be heard and to express ourselves in the myriad ways we can - first and foremost, positively and peacefully. Community is critical to leaning into the challenges we face as a planet. Group activism can be a powerful way to lean into these challenges, to express ourselves, to get our message out and to engage with our community. This class will feature a discussion on how we can engage in our communities during these challenging, unpredictable times. University of Maine Machias professor, Dr. Tora Johnson, will share with us her work on resolving conflict and engaging diverse people in productive decision-making, centering on dignity as a guiding principle.
Monday, October 5: Eco-Anxiety and the Pandemic Course Wrap-Up and Action Plan
This final class will summarize what we have explored and learned, inviting us to share what we can give and what we need to move forward together to respond to these challenges. We will give special attention to what activism looks like at a time of social distancing.
The course will begin where we are: an overview of the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and the eco-crisis. David R. Loy, author of several articles and books including Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2019) and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center will present.
Monday, August 10: The Interconnected Effect of the Pandemic and the Eco-Crisis on Mental and Physical Health
The second class will address the impact of this interconnected crisis on mental and physical health. Dr. Will Hafford, an associate professor of psychology and adventure therapy at Unity College in Maine and a licensed clinical psychologist who maintains a private practice in Hampden and Belfast, will present on the mental health effects. Diane Fitzgerald, Soto Zen Buddhist priest, resident teacher for Zen DownEast and member of the senior teaching community of Greater Boston Zen Center, will present on the physical health effects based on the HarvardX 2020 course: The Health Effects of Climate Change.
Monday, August 17: The Eco-Crisis and New England
This class will offer a clear view of the impacts of the eco-crisis on New England. Dr. Ivan Fernandez, Distinguished Maine Professor, Climate Change Institute & School of Forest Resources, University of Maine Orono will present. The class will focus on a discussion of indicators of change and pragmatic connections to our lives and communities. We will discuss the role of science, and reasons for optimism despite the logical anxiety brought by the challenges of social inequity, a pandemic, and a changing climate that have converged in 2020. We will focus on New England, with Maine as a case study discussing its transformative process taking place in response to these challenges.
Monday, August 24: Acknowledging our Grief
Feeling anxious or depressed about the twin threat posed by the eco-crisis and the pandemic is actually a sane, healthy response. The class will use environmental activist and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy’s well-known process for opening our hearts to our anxiety and grief. We will also explore the cognitive biases that keep us from acting. Presenters: Fran Ludwig, Senior Assistant Teacher, and Mary Downing, Assistant Teacher, Greater Boston Zen Center and Zen DownEast.
Monday, August 31: Letting Our Eco-Anxiety Transform Us - Part 1
To change the world we have to change the metaphor. To change the metaphor, we need to experience ourselves and the world in a different way. Instead of seeing nature as there for our exploitation, we learn to see the earth as alive, as a self-organizing cosmos, as interdependent, and as not separate from us. Newell Lewey, Passamaquoddy language instructor and linguist, University of Maine, Machias, will present. In describing himself, Lewey writes, “I am a father and grandfather who is concerned about my families’ future and that of all the generations of all our People who are yet to come.”
Monday, September 14: Letting our Eco-Anxiety Transform Us - Part 2
Meditation practice is a path to experiencing ourselves and the world in a different way. Making friends with uncertainty and reframing it as a way of coming alive, instead of uncertainty being a source of anxiety, can be liberating. If we embrace the truth of uncertainty, we can develop the courage to stay open and engage with the world. This class will include meditation instruction and a “Vent Diagram” exercise in which we will work with the tension between loving and accepting the world as it is, while fighting for the change we want to see. Presenters: Diane Fitzgerald, Soto Zen Buddhist priest, resident teacher for Zen DownEast and member of the senior teaching community of Greater Boston Zen Center, together with Leslie Gajdukow, assistant teacher Greater Boston Zen Center and Zen DownEast.
Monday, September 21: Cultivating Active Hope
The talk about planetary hospice is misplaced and disempowering. Disillusionment in the face of the pandemic ignores our responsibility to address issues of fairness and care for the most vulnerable among us. Change doesn’t happen by having a single plan and executing it; it happens by a cascade of solutions that generate what cannot be envisioned initially. Active hope does not require optimism. It does not require us to do anything but to align with a greater purpose. We identify what we hope for and take steps to move in that direction. Discussion will be followed by an exercise in letter writing to our grandchildren or our future self, expressing our active hope. The presentation will use environmental activist and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy’s work on active hope and the work of Charles Eisenstein, particularly his new book, Climate: A New Story (https://charleseisenstein.org/books/climate-a-new-story/). Presenter: Fran Ludwig, Senior Assistant Teacher, Greater Boston Zen Center and Zen DownEast.
Monday, September 28: Facing These Challenges Through Community Engagement
We all deserve the opportunity to be heard and to express ourselves in the myriad ways we can - first and foremost, positively and peacefully. Community is critical to leaning into the challenges we face as a planet. Group activism can be a powerful way to lean into these challenges, to express ourselves, to get our message out and to engage with our community. This class will feature a discussion on how we can engage in our communities during these challenging, unpredictable times. University of Maine Machias professor, Dr. Tora Johnson, will share with us her work on resolving conflict and engaging diverse people in productive decision-making, centering on dignity as a guiding principle.
Monday, October 5: Eco-Anxiety and the Pandemic Course Wrap-Up and Action Plan
This final class will summarize what we have explored and learned, inviting us to share what we can give and what we need to move forward together to respond to these challenges. We will give special attention to what activism looks like at a time of social distancing.
Although there is no charge to participate, we request that you Register Here.
Last Call To Register: Registration for each class will close within 48 hours prior to that class.
For further information, contact zendowneast@bostonzen.org
With thanks to our sponsors:
EcoSattvas DownEast (https://www.zendowneast.org)
Sierra Club Maine (https://www.sierraclub.org/maine)
Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine (https://www.peacectr.org).
Last Call To Register: Registration for each class will close within 48 hours prior to that class.
For further information, contact zendowneast@bostonzen.org
With thanks to our sponsors:
EcoSattvas DownEast (https://www.zendowneast.org)
Sierra Club Maine (https://www.sierraclub.org/maine)
Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine (https://www.peacectr.org).