A Space to Allow for Sadness, Mourning, and Fear about the Climate Crisis and Mass Extinction

The story of the climate crisis is the story of loss: the loss of trees, of polar bears, of whales, of bees and birds, of human beings. It is the loss of home, security, and even hope.

The grief that such loss engenders is unique in our time. Witnessing the death of all of life is more than the heart can hold, more than the individual psyche can integrate.

We also are aware that for many people and their communities that the climate crisis is a stimulus for disagreement and conflict. We are aware that these disagreements can also be a stimulus for grieving and pain.

But we grieve because we love. “To the degree that your heart is shattered over loss is precisely the degree to which you loved that which has gone,” writer Catherine Ingram says.

However, to grieve alone can be unbearable. To grieve in community can be healing.

We invite you to come together in community to grieve, in the spirit of love and gratitude for the gifts we have received from this ailing planet.

We invite you to let your heart break open and to allow yourself to be received with compassion, empathy, and infinite tenderness for all that you love, all that you mourn, all that you ache to hold onto.

This series of five Earth Empathy Circles live video meetings is a structured way for us to unite across time zones and to mourn together in virtual circles of trust and care.

Both the facilitators and the NVC Academy are donating their time and effort to make these meetings happen. Our only request is that you consider making a $20-$100 (or more) donation to an environmental organization (and no one will be turned away for lack of funds).

Five Video Meetings in four languages!

1. English

Date: 8 December 2019 (Sunday)

Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am ET / New York (convert to your time zone)

Facilitator: Dian Killian, Ph.D. (United States)

Benefits: Milagro Project for the vaquita porpoise and the Sea of Cortez.

REGISTER here.

2. Japanese (日本語)

Date: 13 December 2019 (Friday)

Time: 8:00-9:30 pm JST / Tokyo (convert to your time zone)

Facilitator: Makiko Imai 今井麻希子 (Japan)

Benefits: The Coral Triangle Conservation for marine conservation.

REGISTER here.

3. Swedish (Svenska)

Date: 15 December 2019 (Sunday)

Time: 19.00 – 20.30 CET / Stockholm (convert to your time zone)

Facilitator: Liv Larsson (Sweden)

Benefits: Vi-Forest to give vulnerable people the opportunity to earn income planting trees.

REGISTER here (English)or here (Svenska)

4. French (Français)

Date: 12 January 2020 (Sunday)

Time: 10:00 am – 11:30 am ET / Montréal (convert to your time zone)

Facilitator: Jessica Vogt (Canada)

Benefits: Sustainability Network to support environmental non-profits to become more effective and efficient.

REGISTER here.

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5. English

Date: 19 January 2020 (Sunday)

Time: 9:00 am – 10:30 am ET / New York (convert to your time zone)

Facilitators: Dian Killian, Makiko Imai, Liv Larsson, Jessica Vogt

Benefits: Tree Sisters, a global network of women who fund the restoration of tropical forests.

REGISTER here.

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Overview:

We are offering the video meetings in numerous languages out of the recognition that the environmental challenges we are facing affect us globally and, to find a solution, we will need to act collectively and internationally.

The languages are English, Swedish, Japanese and French (we may offer a second round in additional languages in 2020). You are welcome to join as many meetings as you wish, in the languages you speak.

Each 90-minute meeting will be led by a certified trainer (or trainer candidate) with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, and each will take the form of a Grieving Circle: you will be welcomed, invited to speak, or just hold space for others, and you will be received with empathy.

Grief wants to move within us and through us. The gift of such movement can be renewed clarity and the impulse to act, to once again put one foot forward, to join with friends and neighbors to contribute in whatever way you’re called to serve.

Both the facilitators and the NVC Academy are donating their time and effort to make these meetings happen. Our only request is that you consider making a $20-$100 (or more) donation to an environmental organization (and no one will be turned away for lack of funds).

At the end of each meeting, the facilitator will share information about a cause they love and an organization they trust as a source of inspiration that has been chosen to receive funds for that meeting. In addition to grieving together in community and supporting each other, we aim to raise a total of USD $5,000 in donations for immediate and crucial environmental action.

Will you join us? And will you help us spread the word?

Note: You will be invited to make your donation when you register. We will forward the funds raised to the designated organizations.)

We thank you in advance for joining us and to exploring the power and impact of mourning together in community and being present to each other in empathy!

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Who Made This Possible

This is a joint project of NVC Academy and Work Collaboratively, with support from Liv Larsson, Makiko Imai, and Jessica Vogt. We also thank Lynda Smith Cowan for her help and support!

The facilitators thank NVC Academy and its staff for donating time and resources to help make this project happen. And we wish to remind you that participating in NVC Academy programs is a low-carbon way (and close to zero-carbon if your internet is solar or wind-powered) to learn and practice Nonviolent Communication (NVC)!

You can support the NVC Academy with a donation.

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At Work Collaboratively, our vision is a world where the needs of all life matter and are held with care. As part of this vision, we are committed to doing all we can to care for the environment and, through doing so, our future as a species and all life on the planet. For details, check out our Green Commitment.