Community Call 017

WE’RE BACK for our next Community Call. And this time, we’re holding space for our community to come together and share their experiences with anxiety around the climate crisis and its connection to fashion.

At ZWDO, we understand it can become overwhelming, especially as a creator, to see the waste mounting up in your own space, or to consider the enormous waste created by the fashion industry. But with the very real impacts of climate change being felt disastrously across the globe today, more often than not by those who have not contributed to its ferocity, we need to be able to deal with feelings of anxiety effectively, so that we can fiercely play our part in stopping its advance.

We will be joined by the fantastic Jo McAndrews, member of Climate Psychology Alliance (CPA), who will lead the session, creating space for everyone to engage, listen, and share, as well as providing strategies for support and action.

So please join us for what is set to be an important and supportive call. We will be addressing climate anxiety in connection to the whole of the sustainable fashion movement, everyone is welcome!

ABOUT JO

“I trained originally as a psychotherapist and have always worked in community settings to support young people and families. I have also worked as a trainer and facility for the past 30 years with a range of groups and organisations, mainly around mental health in children and young people and also with supporting teams of adults.

My strong purpose now is educating and holding processes around climate anxiety and the growth of radical resilience. I see that being distressed about what is happening on the planet is a totally healthy response but that it becomes a problem when we are isolated in that distress. My work is all about how we learn ways of facing what is happening in emotionally healthy and supported ways and that we take action together. I am a member of the youth group in the Climate Psychology Alliance and run my own project LifeKind.”

ABOUT CLIMATE PSYCHOLOGY ALLIANCE

“Our core focus is in psycho-social studies and the psychotherapy field, approaches which help us to understand the unconscious processes and emotions which control our thoughts, beliefs and behaviour and which manifest in mutually reinforcing systems of defence in society.

Anxiety, guilt and shame make it very difficult for people to face the reality of climate change and lead to denial and disavowal while the norms and structures of everyday life validate and reinforce these responses.

To be part of the solution we must first recognise that we are part of the problem, part of that richest 20% of the world whose lifestyles are based upon heavy fossil fuel consumption. Part of the CPA’s work is to challenge the cultural norms of privilege and resentment. In addition to the more obviously radical task of eliminating greenhouse gasses from the global economy, the CPA believes in challenging the consumerist paradigm.”

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ZWDO Community Calls aim to build a strong and thriving zero waste community online. By providing a space to connect, share and discuss current topics with inspiring individuals from across the world, they foster new opportunities for learning, developing relationships, and connections. Through open discussion we increase access to new knowledge, ideas, networks, and ways of thinking.

A live transcription will be available. If you have any other accessibility needs please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you. Email us at [email protected].