Climate Emotions Wheel
Using this wheel can help people identify their emotions regarding the climate crisis—and work with them. Emotions wheels have been a visual tool used by psychologists for decades to help people better understand and interpret their own feelings. This Climate Emotions Wheel is based on the research of Panu Pihkala at the University of Helsinki and particularly his 2022 paper Toward A Taxonomy of Climate Emotions. It is not intended to be comprehensive or definitive, and it is not to scale; positive emotions are not typically identified in most research as often as other emotions on this scale. Climate Advocacy Lab.
Sustainable Development Goals
Cascadia Stack’s work focuses on these three objectives of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
#3—Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Well-being is mind, body, and spirit. By preparing our mental stamina of visualizing and preparing for emergencies, then we are more equipped to thrive during and after an event— whether sudden or gradual.
#11—Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. It all begins with an idea. We believe in the power of shopping and consuming goods which are sourced locally. Intentional communities, permaculture and hydroculture are an ethos we support as a tool of climate resilience.
#13— Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. The power of action is as simple as sending an email to your state representative or writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. These small actions can relieve individuals of their feelings of despair and helplessness. We make suggestions for this and support our fellow Cascadian organizations that focus on these efforts. We believe that when we take care of our climate anxiety, we are better equipped to take these kinds of actions.
Resource guide
National Suicide Crisis Lifeline. Call or text to: 9 8 8
Climate Aware Therapists. Climate Psychology Alliance, North America. Directory.
podcast/TEDtalk
Anxiety and grief comes with
climate change. NPR, 2021What is Climate Anxiety? Seat at the Table. 2022. YouTube video series. Jack HarriesHow to Turn climate anxiety into action. Renee Lertzman. TED Talk, 2019In Conversation with Leslie Davenport. 2020. Earth Conversations. Spotify.Interview: "Generation Dread",
Britt Wray. Podcast video, 2022Everything Wrong and Nowhere to Go. 2023. Short film by Sindha Agha. PBS Short Film Festival.Facing It. Jennifer Atkinson, 2020Earth Oasis. Podcast on Spotify. Ive and Thanesh.Climate change and happiness, podcast episodes. Thomas Doherty and Panu Pihkala.Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet. 2021. Thich Nhat Hanh. Podcast and book. Interview by Bascomb & Doering, 2022.Articles/blogs/web
Climate Anxiety is an Overwhelmingly White Problem. Sarah Jacuette Ray, Scientific American, 2021Rising Through Resilience.
Tamara Staton. "Medium", 2022.The Impact of Climate Change on Mental Health: A Systematic Descriptive Review. academic article, 2020Compilation of links for Youth
Various. Portland Community College. Compiled by Roberta Richards.Optimism is a Key Weapon Against Climate Change. Sarah Jaquette Ray, Institue of Art and Ideas, 2024Climate change in the American mind: Beliefs & attitudes. website, current.Tools for Coping with Coping with Eco-Anxiety Zöe Serrano, Cut the Crap, blogbooks
Active Hope. revised, book. Joanna MacyEmotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change 2017. Leslie DavenportSolastalgia: An Anthology of Emotion in a Disappearing World. Edited by Paul Bogard. Foreword by Glenn Albrecht.All We Can Save Anthology edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine WilkinsonBraiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall KimmererAll the Feelings Under the Sun: How to Deal with Climate Change Leslie Davenport, 2021. A kid’s book.How to Live in a Chaotic Climate LaUra Schmidt and Amy Lewis Reau.Ecotherapy: Healing With Nature In Mind, edited by Linda Buzzell and Craig ChalquistWebsite photo credits:
Home
“A tug boat in the water near a bridge” Vancouver, WA unsplash.com @SwitchingLanes
“Grayscale photo of mountain surrounded by trees” (smoke rising from the Eagle Creek fires raging in the Columbia River Gorge). by Dale Nibbe
“A group of people holding hands on top of a tree” by Shane Rounce
“Serious men and women sitting in a circle during group therapy, talking” by Unsplash + Getty Images
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“Hiking boots standing near the Columbia River Hwy” by Kevin Butz
“Squirrel holding a nut on the roots of a tree” by Roman Rezer
Programs
“Aurora Borealis” Photo by Greg Johnson on Unsplash
“Enchanting Forest” Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash
