Environmental Activism and Self Care: Finding Balance for the Journey
Educational program for teens and adults
Co-sponsored by SF Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility & Climate Psychiatry Alliance
Now more than ever, we have become increasingly aware of the threat posed to the future of our planet and all life on Earth. Today’s young adults must face the reality of rising sea levels, species extinction, wildfires, floods, and global instability, which for many can lead to feelings of climate anxiety and overwhelm. In order to create lasting and sustainable change as environmental activists, it is essential to find tools that can support our well-being throughout these demanding times.
This series, developed by rising high school junior Ella Suring, is designed to give teens and adults these tools through presentations by leaders in the environmental and wellness worlds so that we are rooted in a connection to nature, and an awareness of what we are trying to protect. The series will explore how yoga and meditation can help promote balance, and include speakers presenting on topics ranging from connecting with nature, eco-anxiety, community engagement, developing skills to be an effective voice for change, and much more. Each interactive workshop will be followed by a Q&A and suggested focus so that participants can get a chance to talk directly with the presenters and utilize these skills throughout their daily lives before the next gathering.
This is a multigenerational program designed for teens and adults. Throughout the series, we aim to build a community that supports the work of environmental activists now and going forward. Because of this, attendance at all events isn’t required but strongly encouraged. Register for the events using the links below or on our Activities and Events Calendar to receive the Zoom link.
January 14th: Growing Up in the Age of Climate Change: Facing Eco Anxiety & Climate Grief
7:30 - 9:00 pm | Leads: Robert Root, MD; Robin Cooper, MD
In this presentation, Dr. Root and Dr. Cooper will share about the spectrum of emotional responses related to living in this world with climate change. They will also address the range of other impacts that climate change has on all living beings in this world. Additionally, Dr. Cooper will speak towards the normal emotional responses and how young people can work towards viewing these uncomfortable feelings as normal and that they alert us to take effective action to manage both individual personal feelings and to join collectively to create effective community based solutions.
About the Speakers:
Robert Root MD trained with Former Vice President Al Gore and his group as a Climate Reality Leader in 2019. Dr Root was an English Literature major at Brown University and received his medical degree from Yale. He then trained in medicine and Psychiatry at the NY Hospital Cornell Medical Center in New York City. Dr Root was the Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at California Pacific Medical Center from 2001-2019 and has worked at the non-profit Child Mind Institute. He has also served as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCSF and Dartmouth Schools of Medicine. Dr Root is the published author of 2 books of photography including Image In Mind. He is honored to be recognized as a Top Doctor in his field as featured in SF Magazine from 2014-2021.
Dr. Robin Cooper is a San Francisco psychiatrist who has had a private practice for over 35 years and is also a faculty member at UCSF, Dept of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She has worn many different hats over her career both as clinician and as educator and supervisor with psychiatric residents and medical students and active advocate for access to health and mental health care and working to de-stigmatize mental illness. Over the last decade or more, she has focused most of her efforts on both education and advocacy about climate change and the impacts on mental health. She has been a leader in Citizens’ Climate Lobby which focuses on national legislation solutions to the climate crisis, the Health Action team within that organization and member of many other groups with a health and climate change focus. She is the co-founder and on the steering committee of Climate Psychiatry Alliance, a group dedicated to understanding, education and advocacy about the specific impact of climate change on mental health. She has written and spoken on a number of local radio shows and podcasts about the emotional issues related to living in our changing world due to the climate crisis.
Organization she is co-founder of and leader of steering committee:
www.climatepsychiatry.org
For identification of activities:
www.citizensclimatelobby.org
www.sfbaypsr.org
February 11th: Climate Justice for Earth and All Beings
7:30 - 9:00 pm | Lead: Lucy Garcia
Earth is a living organism, and our best ally in healing ourselves, our societies, and our places. I will speak about the mounting scientific evidence for this, what it means for climate action, and about indigenous writing on “all our relations”—the idea that all life, the waters and the lands are our relations, beings we are responsible for. I’ll invite your participation in the Council process, and afterwards open discussion on practical matters.
About the Speaker:
Nature was my most reliable friend in my childhood. I grew up to study Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at UCLA, graduating in 1998. We moved our family to my then-husband’s hometown in the Dominican Republic where I designed, and as a family we built an ecohome.
Upon returning to the US, I taught Biology and Environmental Studies in a Title I public high school for eighteen years. For climate, I would have my students organize a community conference on climate change, which morphed under their guidance into the annual Green Festival--with 80+ poster presentations by students, science fair style; speakers, tables, and workshops from local agencies and organizations; and best of all, food, games, music, art, contests, etc. All of this, plus conference organization of set-up, registration, translation, childcare, extra credit, crowd-control, security, and clean-up was done by students.
I sponsored the Heart of Nature Club who organized with the local Sierra Club to lobby the City Council to get off coal (successful) and gas (ongoing). The school club organized presentations by the Alliance for Climate Education. They spoke to every teacher about recycling in the classroom. The students started and maintained for years both a native plants/rain garden and a food garden.
After retiring, I was trained at the first online Climate Reality Project training in July 2020 along with 6000+ others from around the world. Right now, we are organizing the Climate Curricula Committee, to get a LAUSD Climate Literacy Resolution passed that ambitiously boosts climate teaching in our schools.
March 11th: Mental Health and Coping Strategies for Youth Climate Justice Activists
7:30 - 9:00 pm | Leads: Xiaoxuan (Christina) Chen & Myroslava Fisun
A qualitative interview study examining how climate justice activism impact youth mental health, and the strategies they use to cope with the challenges of activism.
About the Speakers:
Xiaoxuan (Christina) Chen MS '21/MD '24 is Global Health Subchair at Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF) and co-founder of Health Students for Climate Action (HEALS-CA) at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She has conducted research and interviewed Bay Area youth climate justice activists to identify the sources of hope and resilience, as well as ways that climate justice activists working with youth can best support their mental health.
Myroslava Fisun is a high school student and climate activist who is currently a hub coordinator for the Sunrise Movement, where she oversees climate justice efforts in the Bay Area. She has spoken at multiple statewide conferences on the role of youth in the climate justice movement. She is also a member of the EarthEcho Youth Leadership Council, chairs her city's Climate Action Committee, and engages students worldwide in the fight for climate justice.
More dates and speakers to be announced. These presentations will occur on the 2nd Friday of every month at 7:30pm in partnership with the Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter's Green Friday educational speaker program.
Photo by Frances Denny for The Luupe of the Climate Strike on September 20, 2019 in New York City.