The Climate Cafe is an open and inclusive space offering participants online support over their fears concerning the climate crisis.
As it becomes more evident that climate and ecological breakdown are a clear and present danger to our safety and wellbeing, we increasingly need to talk about what our changing world means for us in terms of impacts at personal, family, and societal level. We need to imagine it in some detail to be able to think about it clearly and constructively, and to explore some complex feelings and thoughts which may often be taboo and hard to talk about.
So, what is a climate café?? The word cafe can be misleading – it’s more of a sharing all our feeling’s sessions. A climate café is a group session that is strong enough to allow the exploration of fear, anxiety, and other emotions such as anger, helplessness, sadness, grief, or depression. The focus of discussion is participants’ thoughts and feelings about the climate and ecological crisis. There are no guest speakers and no talks, and it is an advice-free zone.
So, what happens at the climate café? We start by doing some slow breathing until we all feel calm, and then we simply go around the circle and share how we are feeling about things.
We don’t talk about what we are doing to save the world or what needs to be done. It’s not a planning meeting. We just talk about what is on our minds. Nothing is off limits so you can say whatever you need to say or feel.
When it’s your turn to talk you’ll have the supportive and loving ears of the rest of the group – you won’t be interrupted as it’s not a chat as such, more of an opportunity to spill out all your thoughts and feelings to people who totally get it.
With sturdy enough support structures in place, most people can sustain challenging feelings without either dissociating and numbing or going into blind panic. They can engage with difficult truths whilst staying connected and grounded.
Antonia, who runs the sessions, loves facilitating the Climate Café because people are brave enough to be vulnerable with each other – which fast tracks us all to connection. There is zero judgement – just a lovely supportive atmosphere. People leave feeling relieved and much less lonely.
