Free School for Farmworkers presents: Climate Grief

Climate grief, eco-grief, eco-anxiety, solastalgia. There is a growing language and vocabulary to describe the experience of being part of a rapidly changing planet, and the sense of loss that arises from witnessing and anticipating this change. From increasingly severe hurricanes and wildfires to yet another summer of record-breaking heat, these wide-scale changes have local impacts that we are seeing and feeling every single day. Even with this growing language and vocabulary, it is difficult to make sense of these changes, and the scale, pace, and severity at which they are taking place.

Farmworkers are in particularly close contact with our changing environments, with the heat and extreme weather patterns, and with what this means for how things live, grow, or die. Experiencing these changes in isolation or without meaningful processing or support takes a deep toll on our hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits, leaving many of us chronically anxious, numb, hopeless, and burnt out as a result. And yet, there is infinite support and resources that we can turn to, that are available to us through our experiences tending land, growing food, and working intimately with the cycles of the natural world.

How do we make sense of our changing environment? What can we both learn from and offer to the earth and the local environments we are a part of? How do we navigate the mental, emotional, and spiritual impacts of climate change and ecological loss? How do we access support? Join us at our upcoming Free School teach-in, where we will explore our experiences with climate grief and what it means to be living through wide-scale ecological change and loss. Held by writer, facilitator, and grief doula, Mai Cortez Doan, this workshop will offer space for writing and personal reflection, sharing, and guided practice for being with climate grief and turning to the natural world in ways that grow our capacity to navigate ecological loss and change, with support and connection, with reciprocity and care.

Facilitator bio: Mai Cortez Doan is a writer, facilitator, and grief doula. Mai facilitates community offerings around writing and processing grief and teaches how the natural world can support us through loss, death, and change. Mai lives in Albuquerque, NM, with her dog, Story. learn more about Mai and their work at maicortezdoan.com.

Join us Monday, September 8, at 4:30 pm PT/7:30 pm ET on Zoom.

Accessibility information: This session will be facilitated in English and simultaneously interpreted into Spanish by Cooperativa Brujúlas. Closed captioned will also be available.

Co-hosted by Not Our Farm, UW-Extension, and FairShare CSA Coalition. Free School for Farmworkers strives to create pockets of opportunity to skill share, connect, and learn about parts of agriculture that can be overlooked, forgotten, or hoarded due to the nature of working on farms under capitalism.

Please note that Free School for Farmworkers sessions are a farmworker-only space. We define a farmworker as someone working on a farm they do not own, for or without pay, including interns, apprentices, cooperative workers, and aspiring farmworkers. If you have questions about whether you are eligible to participate, please contact Anita Adalja at anita@notourfarm.org.