Nature Feelz Symnposium

In December 4-8, The Cairns Institute Fellow, Dr Larraine Larri and JCU Doctoral Candidate, Nita Alexander participated in the Sydney Environment Institute, “Nature Feelz Symposium” at the University of Sydney.

The transdisciplinary symposium aimed to reflect on how heightened ecological distress informs our responses to the climate crisis. It drew contributions from scholars, activists, artists, therapists, citizens and community members, showcasing the diverse and creative approaches to experiencing, suppressing, making sense of, managing, preventing, intensifying, and resisting ecological distress. Also considered were the ecological emotions of beings other than humans. Sessions were designed to garner insights from people collaborating across disciplines and practices attempting to expand our conceptual scope towards addressing these issues.

Larraine’s presentation, “ The craft of wisdom: Climate activist learning in the hands of Australia’s Knitting Nannas” explored how crafting became the core social movement learning process of the Australian Knitting Nannas and a strategy for generating climate activist hope.

Nita, “(In)Action: Harm and hope in young people’s climate activism” drew on her latest doctoral work-inprogress paper. She presented an exploration of young people’s emotional connection to the ecological crisis that climate change presents. Young people continue to be largely excluded from politics. Dominant adult-centric narratives express concern for young people’s welfare in the face of climate despair. These narratives suggest that it is causing them harm to engage with the climate change crisis. 

Of particular interest was the work being done by psychologist researchers Samantha Stanley, Teaghan Hogg, and Léan O’Brien on eco-anxiety, mental health, and pro-environmental behaviours. Their presentation defined the main features of climate anxiety and presented data on how eco-anxiety affects people.
Key findings included:
• Experiencing eco-anger predicted better mental health outcomes, as well as greater engagement in pro-climate activism and personal behaviours;
• Eco-anxiety and eco-depression were less adaptive, relating to lower wellbeing; and,
• Those feeling eco-depressed were more likely to report participating in collective climate action, while those feeling eco-anxious were less likely to join the cause.
• Eco-anxiety is increased by engaging in social media and science communication. It is decreased most by nature connection, engaging in climate justice activism, and mindfulness or meditation practices.

For more information, contact larraine.larri@my.jcu.edu.au