Building the capacity for relational engagement on climate change between scientists and communities. By Faith Kearns and Clare Gupta

Participants gathered at Mayacamas Ranch in northern California for an interdisciplinary pause. Photo by Susie Kocher.

It was a warm weekday night in the middle of our typically dry California summer as our group gathered around a fire ring at Mayacamas Ranch in Sonoma County to talk about relationship-centered approaches to climate change. We couldn’t have known then what we do now – that this beautiful ranch would suffer devastating damage in the wildfires that are still burning through this beloved part of the world. It now feels like a bit of a full circle moment – so much of the work that we are carrying out today was inspired by the collective grief around a large set of wildfires that happened in an adjacent California county just a decade ago. » Read More

Building the capacity for relational engagement on climate change between scientists and communities
by Faith Kearns and Clare Gupta

Participants gathered at Mayacamas Ranch in northern California for an interdisciplinary pause. Photo by Faith Kearns

Climate change is an emotional issue. It can be scary as a scientist to come up against that kind of emotion – whether your own or other people’s – when you’ve spent your career trying to remove feelings from your work, as most scientists are trained to do. At the same time, being uncomfortable with emotions can be a serious limitation when trying to engage effectively with others on contentious issues like climate change. » Read More