Climate Psychology Certificate

For a great many people, the human impact on the Earth was not apparent until recently, but this is not the case for all people or cultures. For the Indigenous people of the world, radical alteration of the planet, and of life itself, is a story that is many generations long. They have had to adapt, to persevere, and to be courageous and resourceful in the face of genocide and destruction, and their experiences have given them a unique understanding of civilization-based devastation.

In this episode author and journalist Dahr Jamail is joined by ecologist and activist-scholar Melissa K. Nelson for a unique conversation exploring ideas from Indigenous voices at the center of conversations about the current climate crisis. These stories and perspectives of those who have long been attuned to climate change, provide indispensable wisdom to those looking for new and different responses to the challenges we all face.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on March 23rd, 2023. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

A massively diverse group of organisms, fungi support and sustain nearly all living systems. Fungi throw our concepts of individuality, and even intelligence, into question. They can change our minds, heal our bodies, and even help us remediate environmental disasters. By examining fungi on their own terms, we are changing our understanding of how life works.

In this episode, Merlin Sheldrake, biologist and author of the bestselling book Entangled Life, is joined by CIIS Professor of Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion Elizabeth Allison for an illuminating conversation about the ways these extraordinary organisms, and our relationships with them, change our understanding of the planet on which we live, and the ways that we think, feel, and behave.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on May 5th, 2023. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

CIIS Professors Jeanine Canty and Leslie Davenport scheduled to speak at Revolution from the Heart of Nature

Coverage of our work healing individuals, communities, and the earth

CIIS Climate Psychology Professor Leslie Davenport reflects on the emotionally charged psychological effects of climate change with the PBS NewsHour

Read about CIIS Professor Leslie Davenport's critical work on climate distress and eco-anxiety in the July 10th issue of The New Yorker Magazine

In this episode, award-winning young author JM Holmes is joined in conversation by Stephanie Anne Johnson to discuss the inspiration for his debut collection of short stories.

This episode was recorded during an event on August 23, 2018 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

We know our planet is in trouble and we’re seeing direct effects on human heath as a result. It’s estimated that we have fewer than 60 harvests left in our world’s soil and that our oceans will be 70 percent more acidic in just 30 years. These aren’t doomsday prophecies—this is our realistic future if we don’t act now.

Author and policy expert Erin McMorrow believes that we can heal our planet by restoring our natural connection with the Earth and the divine feminine. Through her work and her writing, Dr. McMorrow teaches us how to transform ourselves, our socioeconomic systems, and the environment that sustains us by aligning with the natural cycles of the Earth.

In this episode, Dr. McMorrow is joined in a conversation with renegade economist Della Z Duncan. They discuss Dr. McMorrow’s book, Grounded, in which she explores both the ecological and spiritual basis of our existing climate crises as well as wisdom and tools to initiate a transformation to save our soils and our souls.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on March 24, 2021. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is very rarely found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. Environmental scientist, advocate, and author Jessica Hernandez introduces and contextualizes Indigenous environmental knowledge and proposes a vision of land stewardship that heals rather than displaces and generates rather than destroys.

In this episode, Dr. Hernandez is joined by Indigenous scholar and activist Melissa Nelson in a conversation exploring her latest book, Fresh Banana Leaves, and how to stop the eco-colonialism ravaging Indigenous lands to restore our relationship with the Earth to one of harmony and respect.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on February 10th, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Racism permeates every aspect of society. Environmental racism is a form of systemic racism in which people of color are disproportionately burdened with health hazards through policies and practices that force them to live in proximity to sources of toxic waste such as sewage works, mines, landfills, power stations, major roads, and emitters of airborne particulate matter.

In this episode, co-founder of Movement Generation: Justice and Ecology Project, Gopal Dayaneni is joined by community organizer and environmental justice advocate Carla Maria Pérez for a powerful conversation exploring the connections between environmental racism and climate change and what we can do as individuals and communities to address and heal from the harms of both.

This episode contains explicit language. It was recorded during a live online event on April, 28, 2021. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence and hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in ways that are dazzling and profound. In this episode, Suzanne is joined by scholar Laura Pustarfi for a conversation about her life, her work, and her recent book Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 24th, 2021. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

In her latest book, Losing Eden, acclaimed journalist Lucy Jones interweaves her deeply personal story of recovery from addiction and depression aided by the support of the natural world with an exploration of the intersection of science, wellness, and the environment. In this episode, scholar Laura Pustarfi joins Lucy for a conversation about the importance of maintaining our bond with nature and why we need communion with the wild to feel well.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on August 14th, 2021. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

One of the most distinguished voices in American literature, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet N. Scott Momaday has devoted much of his life to celebrating and preserving Native American culture, especially its oral tradition.

A member of the Kiowa tribe who was born and grew up on Indian reservations throughout the Southwest, Dr. Momaday has a deep attachment to the land he knows well and loves deeply. In his latest book, Earth Keeper: Reflections on an American Land, Dr. Momaday reflects on his native ground and its influence on his people and the person that he is.

In this episode, Indigenous scholar and activist Melissa Nelson talks with Dr. Momaday about his life, his work, and the importance of remembering that the Earth is a sacred place of wonder and beauty; a source of strength and healing that must be protected before it’s too late. Dr. Momaday reminds us that we must all be keepers of the Earth.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on November 12, 2020. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

As the climate changes, many therapists have been helping patients with a relatively new diagnosis that has a variety of names: eco-anxiety, climate anxiety, climate despair, eco-despair, and eco-grief.

No matter what you call it, many of us are feeling the same things and asking ourselves, and each other the same question. With ecosystems failing all over the planet, is there any reason for hope?

In this episode, author Craig Chalquist is joined by ecotherapist Linda Buzzell for an inspiring conversation about tackling our climate anxiety by cultivating eco-resilience.

This episode contains mentions of suicide, abuse, and trauma. It was recorded during a live online event on April 14, 2021. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Seeing the suffering of the planet and that of humans as inseparably linked—the ecological crisis as psychological crisis, and vice versa—opens the door to a mutuality of healing between people and nature. At the heart of both chronic and acute forms of narcissism is a socially constructed false self—an isolated, damaged ego in a delusional cycle of selfishness.

In her work, CIIS Professor Jeanine Canty uses the lens of ecopsychology to show that the pervasive and extreme forms of narcissism we find in many modern societies are the result of alienation from the natural world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In her forthcoming book, Returning the Self to Nature, Jeanine shares how we can move beyond a world that revolves around selfish and disconnected identity models, and step into healthy relationships with ourselves, our communities, and our planet.

In this episode, Jeanine is joined by CIIS Lead for the Climate Psychology Certificate Leslie Davenport for an inspiring conversation on visualizing and embodying the wild naturalness of being human, and how to gain skills to begin experiencing a courageous, pluralistic, and ecological self.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 8th, 2022. A transcript is available below.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to more fully reveal injustices, inequities, and imbalances that contribute to climate change, ecological degradation, and economic instability that threaten our individual and collective well-being. This potent time invites us to consider questions like: How can we cultivate individual, collective, and ecological resilience in this unstable new reality? What lessons does the pandemic offer for addressing climate change and human health?

This episode features Natalie Metz, licensed Naturopathic Doctor, herbalist, faculty member and mentor in the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research, and Elizabeth Allison, Professor of Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion, in a conversation exploring connections between human health and the health of the planet. They discuss the current global narratives in medicine and climate change, and how each narrative relates to human and planetary health. Natalie and Elizabeth explore the microcosm and macrocosm of embodied health and the emergence of a new consciousness that embraces collective well-being.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on June 18, 2020. You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

In this episode, authors Sean Kelly, Sam Mickey, and Adam Robbert are joined by public radio journalist and Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness graduate Kat Snow in a conversation about ecology as a connective science and its impact on our society.

This episode was recorded during an event on June 14, 2017 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

In this episode, Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion Professor Elizabeth Allison provides an exploration into spiritual ecology. Discover how deepening our relationship with the natural world helps us thrive.

This episode was recorded during an event on March 12, 2020 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

In this talk, Professor Jacob Sherman discusses the role that philosophy might play in diagnosing and responding to the our global climate crisis.

At CIIS, Jacob Sherman serves as Professor and Chair of the Philosophy and Religion Department, Chair of the program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness, and also teaches in the Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion program.

This episode was recorded during an event on September 5, 2019 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

Author, teacher, and ecophilosopher Joanna Macy is known the world over for her workshops for social and environmental activists. She's joined in conversation by ecophilosophy teacher Renée G. Soule to discuss her life and work.

This episode was recorded during an event on April 8, 2016 in front of a live audience in San Francisco, California.

Indigenous scholar and activist Melissa Nelson and Zen teacher Wendy Johnson discuss ecological knowledge and how to listen to the land.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on February 2, 2017.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Award-winning author and scholar David George Haskell is joined by CIIS professor Elizabeth Allison for a conversation about nature's most magnificent net workers.

This episode was recorded during a live online event on September 14, 2017.

You can watch a recording of this episode and many more episodes on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel.

Mycologist and author Paul Stamets explores the magical world of mushrooms, deepening our understanding of the planet and its people.