Eco-Anxiety or Active Hope - Hortense Halé-Yang & Pauline Soudy
Topic: eco-anxiety?
Hortense HALLÉ-YANG is originally from France but spent most of her life in Asia. She has been working in Beijing for over 20 years, and since 2010 in the environmental field, at NGOs and businesses. She is passionate about environmental protection and creating a positive impact. She is currently heading ESG for a European real estate investment company.
In parallel, she is very active with the Climate Fresk, a 3-hour collaborative workshop designed to raise awareness on climate change and inspire action (www.climatefresk.org). Hortense is an experienced facilitator of the Climate Fresk, and she trains, coaches and coordinates a network of facilitators in North China. She runs workshops and trainings for organisations and the general public, online and offline, adult and junior, in French, English and Chinese. She is also a Biodiversity Collage facilitator, following the same method, on an equally critical topic (www.fresquedelabiodiversite.org/en.html).
Both workshops tackle tough topics that bring up strong feelings in participants. In this talk, Hortense will share how emotions are addressed and the importance of this step in a transformational learning process.
Pauline lived and work in China for 9 years before moving back to France 1 year ago. For the last 10 years she worked as an entrepreneur on ecological transitions topics. She started by founding a platform to promote social entrepreneurship in China through media and events and in 2018 started to work with companies to co-create impact projects.
In 2019 she became a climate fresk facilitator and launched the community in China. Climate Fresk is a 3-hour collaborative workshop designed to raise awareness on climate change and inspire action (www.climatefresk.org). As an experienced trainer and facilitator of the tool, she also delivers it for many companies.
With forever the intuition that the ecological crisis is, in the end a human crisis calling for deeper transformations, she trained as a coach 3 years ago and is now actively studying topics around eco-psychology and deep ecology to understand how a better connection to ourselves, others and the earth can serve more systemic and collective changes.
In this talk, Pauline will share about eco-anxiety and the place of emotions in process of individual and collective ecological transformations.
Meeting Purpose
Discuss eco-anxiety and how to support people experiencing it, especially through the lens of the Climate Fresk workshop.
Key Takeaways
Eco-anxiety is a rational response to climate crisis, not a mental illness - it signals our compassion and interconnectedness
Different people experience different emotions (fear, sadness, guilt, etc.) when learning about climate change
Allowing space to process emotions is critical, using tools like emotion cards
Coaches/facilitators don't need solutions, but can support the process of exploring emotions and purpose
Topics
Climate Fresk Workshop
Interactive workshop to learn climate science through gamification
Dedicated section to identify/share emotions after learning the facts
Using emotion cards helps create safety to open up
Different people experience different emotions (fear, anxiety, gratitude, etc.)
Defining Eco-Anxiety
Chronic fear of environmental catastrophe and concern for the future
An existential suffering that can trigger action/responsibility
Not a mental illness, but a sane response that needs navigation support
Anticipated grief over a future that is now uncertain
Coaching for Eco-Anxiety
Need more coaches educated to support eco-anxiety sufferers
Focus on building resilience, emotional awareness, reconnecting with nature
Identify purpose and create "active hope" by envisioning desirable futures
Don't need to be the solution expert, but facilitate the exploratory process
Next Steps
Explore offering Climate Fresk workshops for coaches/facilitators
Continue the conversation around supporting eco-conscious clients
Look into Joanna Macy's "Work that Reconnects" for frameworks