Interview with Mary Jayne Rust

This fabulous interview of UK ecopsychologist Mary Jayne Rust by ecotherapist Linda Buzzell aired on the Ecopsychology Voices series produced by Carol Koziol, founder of the Canadian Ecopsychology Network.

Seven Days of Beauty

Regular contributor Jamie McHugh created Seven Days of Beauty, a series of seven short videos originally dedicated to the healing of post-election trauma and distress but just as relevant today. Thank you, Jamie, for sharing it with us here on Gatherings.

Some Good News (for a Change!)

By Amy Lenzo
(first published in the ICE blog)

Two media communications coming out of the first part of 2016 are making my heart sing!

The most recent was Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscars “Best Actor” acceptance speech for his role in The Revenant. In it he spoke out forcefully about the critical threat of Climate Change, giving specifics about the collective response he sees needed to address it and a special shout out for First Nations peoples whose “voices have been drown out by the politics of greed”. It brought a smile to this man’s face as well:

Leonardo-Acceptance

The other was Al Gore’s latest TED Talk on the Case for Optimism on Climate Change, where he talks first about the continuing seriousness and ongoing effects of climate change, and then moves on to share some of the changes we ARE making and how those changes are impacting what is now possible, and what our future can hold. A hugely inspiring talk from this courageous and visionary Nobel Laureate:

Losing Contact With Nature

One woman’s opinion, by Amy Lenzo
First published on the ICE blog

MonbiotArticleOn reading an article by George Monbiot in the UK Guardian called If Children Lose Contact With Nature They Won’t Fight For It … I agree wholeheartedly with Monbiot’s title, but my hackles rise at the (to me) lazy & inaccurate argument that follows, “blaming” the entire problem at the door of on-screen-engagement.

The truth is that while large-scale social conditions have indeed changed our children’s freedoms and access to the natural world (there’s a lot more happening here than the rise of the internet, folks), I believe that those little screens also hold some part of the way back for many of us (and our children).

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Introduction to Ecotherapy

from Beth Lapin

Because of its relative newness, many people are not aware of ecotherapy nor do they have an understanding of it. I have recently completed two outreach efforts to broaden the public’s understanding and appreciation of this emerging field. I’d welcome any feedback about either of them, available through the hotlinks below.

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Let’s Go Outside

Cool video from the Let’s Go Outside Revolution, sent in by our keen web-watcher Chitola Utsanami.

Beautiful Omo

A link to this video showcasing the beauty of the Omo people was sent to us by Chitola Utsanami (aka Jorge Conesa-Sevilla)

Ecopsychology and the Generative Approach

from Daniel Schwab, a video relating the correspondences between ecopsychology and Christopher Alexander’s generative approach to architecture, in several parts:

Schwab argues that the ecopsychology platform is shared to a high degree by architect Christopher Alexander (author of A Pattern Language and The Nature of Order) and that an ecopsychological understanding could enrich a nature-like approach to architecture.

The video was created for the 2011 Portland Urban Architecture Laboratory 2011 International Conference on “Generative Process, Patterns and the Urban Challenge.”

From John Seed: October 2011

News
John Seed  has just received word that The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s “Australia-India Council” has agreed to fund his expenses for 6-weeks of Climate Change, Despair and Empowerment workshops around India from Feb 2012.

Reports
The International Day of Action for the Amazon on August 22, 2011, was great! Photos (downloaded as a pdf) and TV News Clip:

Upcoming Programs
November 4-7
Nourishing Ecological Identity – A Wild Journey in the Tarkine with John Seed
Nov 25 – Dec 2
Buddha by the Beach (download pdf), Dharma Gathering, Mid-north Coast NSW, Australia

Links
The Rainforest Information Center

 

New Television Series

Tony Wright just launched a new television series in the UK that “pulls it all back to our symbiotic origins (with plants)”. Here’s a sneak peek: