Edited for clarity transcription of the main content of this podcast
Heather: Hey so I’m really happy to welcome Peter Wicks. One of the workshops I run is on tone policing and I learnt about it from Layla Saad’s book Me and White Supremacy. It’s around how there’s kind of this white middle class politeness that shuts Black, indigenous, people of colour down by saying, “Oh, if you’re angry about something, we can’t hear you unless you are speaking politely to us.”
But, in addition to that, I have noticed, as a mixed heritage person, (Latina from my dad’s side…
Transcription of main content from this podcast.
Ecofascism is something I never thought I’d be talking about. And, yet, in the past year, I’ve noticed that there’s a particular vulnerability that we have to normalising the language that will lead us to ecofascism.
Some people would say that we already have ecofascism and, depending on your definition, depending on the context, that could be true. Let’s tease it out a bit.
If ecofascism is about people with power offering solutions about climate and ecological breakdown and the solutions blame a particular group of people or sacrifice them, that we could…
Discovering Extinction Rebellion (XR) meant I no longer felt utter despair when looking at the news. Other people cared. Other people weren’t numbed out. They were stepping out of their comfort zones and interrupting business as usual in London (and, eventually, elsewhere).
Sometimes, before XR, I would let myself feel the utter terror of what climate and ecological breakdown might bring. Would bring.
And so I was seduced by the idea of a simple answer to the question: what should I do? XR seemed to have an answer. …
How does the exclamation, “It’s urgent!” land in your body? Does it bring up a panic response? Does it make you think you need to drop everything and attend to something? Is there time to think about alternatives, time to think things through?
What if, a very long time ago, many generations before you were born, something quite bad happened to your people and a trauma response was passed down through genes and wombs? A trauma response so strong that you, like your ancestors, have trouble distinguishing between matters that need attending to immediately, in this moment (because something really…
In the climate change field, people often talk about “giving up hope” or “feeling hopeless”– or even “feeling hopeful.” What are we talking about? What, exactly, are we hoping for?
Do those of us in the climate change field (or: sector, industry, movement) — do we have an implicit agreement about what we mean? Is the hope that we can continue our lifestyles the way they are? That a “green” solution will be found? Or perhaps people are giving up hope that such a solution will be found.
Let’s unpack this a bit. …
“No Justice on a Dead Planet” reads a popular placard at recent climate protests.
But is it true?
On face value, yes. There can be no justice for humans if humans aren’t alive.
But the implication of the placard is that justice can wait (or must wait, even)… until we sort out the climate change mess.
This is debatable. And the debate is winnable.
The Definition of Insanity
During my seven years as Education for Sustainable Development Project Coordinator for the Higher Education Academy (2005–2012), we funded numerous innovative and lovingly-developed courses and projects. …
So many things about climate change make us feel uncomfortable. Shall we list some of them?
- We feel guilty for the ways we deem ourselves complicit in the destruction of ecosystems and other forms of life on earth.
- We feel guilty for not doing anything (much) about it.
- We feel guilty that we’re not feeling the effects of climate change in as big a way as other people in other parts of the world.
- We feel scared seeing what is happening and wonder when we will start to feel the effects (more), and what that will be like.
Our brains…
We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 days a hug for growth. – Virgina Satir
We’re going for 12 per day, okay? Here’s how (amend as necessary):
- Hug your neighbour when you go to borrow something for breakfast.
- Hug your friend with whom you meet up to travel to work.
- Hug your barista.
- Hug the security guard at work.
- Hug the receptionist.
- Hug the next hugable person you see at work.
- Hug the next hugable person on your coffee break. (It’s okay if these are the same people…
Smile and say to the bus driver, “Hello! Good morning!”
Can that really help to avoid a bus crash?
If our brain works better when we’re relaxed and happy, then a bus driver will be better able to cope with challenging situations on the road, challenging situations on the bus, when s/he is having good experiences.
Besides, ask yourself: Is it useful to believe that not smiling at the bus driver is a good way to promote safer driving on the roads?
Next step: Apply this to every other relationship in your life.
For more great tips, book me now at keduzi.org.
Photo Credit: “DSCN1712" by i-Ride Capital Metro, used under CC BY 2.0 / Desaturated from original
We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 days a hug for growth. — Virgina Satir
Men don’t do things by halves, so we’re going for 12 hugs per day. Here’s why:
- Boys usually didn’t get as many cuddles as girls when they were little. So there’s a lot of making up to do.
- Men put a lot of pressure on themselves and a hug will relieve that a bit.
- It can feel pretty lonely being a man.
- Men normally don’t get to hug and be close to their…
Heather Luna, Keduzi
Offering workshops to people driven by a collapse narrative: decolonisation, white supremacy culture patterns, cult dynamics.
