A Regional Climate Team
About a year ago, I invited people in my RC Region in Wisconsin, USA, to take equal turns thinking out loud about the climate. One person, X—, joined me, and we met together for several months.
I learned that I needed to distinguish between doing this and having a Co-Counseling session. I suggested some questions for us to focus on, and we let our minds go where they wanted to go:
“What do I think is effective in talking with people about the climate crisis?”
“With whom would I want to talk about it?”
“What have I already done?”
“What would I like to do?”
“Where have I seen climate change and racism linked [connected]?”
“What’s next for me?”
Our responses were interesting!
We kept reaching for what we think, even if we began with, “I don’t know.” We didn’t try to access our feelings. I helped X— steer [guide] her mind out of anger and discouragement.
We had two rounds of five or ten minutes each, often with two questions, plus one mini-session of ten minutes each. We met for a total of forty-five minutes each time.
When I became a Regional Climate Coordinator, I was encouraged to involve more Community members, so I offered a monthly ninety-minute-long meeting.
We began meeting in February 2023. The first four meetings were open to all. Different people came each time. After that, I invited those who wanted to be on a Regional Climate Team and were willing to make a four-month commitment. Ten of us are participating. (I even reached out again to those who had not responded to my initial invitation, and they all joined!)
I give group members at least one assignment each month. One of the assignments was to counsel on the climate situation and to look at the early distress that their feelings were connected to. Doing that was hard for some of them. So, in the next class, I asked them to do a mini-session on the question and then share with the group the early distress that they identified.
For my own encouragement and guidance, I’m using Present Time articles, notes from workshops and webinars, and our Climate Coordinators calls. At our recent meeting, I asked people to review, in mini-sessions, what RC has to offer that we can bring to the climate crisis, and to choose an article about it. I decided to read articles in Present Time and then share what I’ve learned with others.
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for climate coordinators
(Present Time 213, October 2023)