Climate Crisis and Consciousness: Re-imagining Our World and Ourselves

187 Pages·2019·3.912 MB·English

by  Sally Gillespie

“This is a soulful work that speaks to all of us concerning the great-
est threat to life on Earth. With care and acuity, Sally Gillespie
brings us close to this issue and presents heart centered approaches to
not only hold our grief, but to work towards re-imagining new, cre-
ative ways to be with Earth.”
– Jeffrey T. Kiehl, climate scientist, Jungian analyst and author
of Facing Climate Change: An Integrated Path to the Future
“As the climate changes, we must also change our thinking. With not
just brilliance but also profound insight and compassion, Dr Sally
Gillespie shows us how. We will save our world only when we better
understand the depth of our responses to it. No book could be more
timely.”
– Stephanie Dowrick, PhD, author of Seeking the Sacred:
Transforming Our View of Ourselves and One Another
“This lovely book asks how we can live well in a world ravaged by
climate disruption and then guides us empathically and sensitively
through the process. Sally Gillespie shows us how to live with our
confusion, draw on our dreams, speak our pain and join with others
on a journey whose outcome is uncertain but whose necessity has
never felt more urgent.
Imbued with a deep respect for the natural world and filled with
inspiring examples – check out the Knitting Nannas! – Sally Gillespie
offers myths and tells stories that both comfort and inspire. She has
lived the painful journey that so many people need to take, and she
meets our fears and vulnerabilities with compassion and resolution.
Whether you are trembling on the edge of climate awareness or burnt
out from years of struggle, this wise book will help you find your
place in the growing climate movement and its new consciousness.
Read it – it will give you courage and help you step out.”
– Rosemary Randall, co-founder of Carbon Conversations
Project, www.carbonconversations.co.uk
“Climate Crisis and Consciousness covers such a range of vital
issues in such a lively and personal style I am sure it will quickly
become a ‘must read’ for these climate troubled times. I found
myself feeling envious of Sally Gillespie’s ability to draw on such a
variety of literatures to find the psychological resources we will all
need to negotiate the difficult transition ahead. In her hands, that
phrase ‘every crisis is an opportunity’ no longer became a bland
piece of Blairite rhetoric but a convincing call to each one of us to
be the transformation that this warming earth requires.”
– Professor Paul Hoggett, co-founder of the Climate
Psychology Alliance
Climate Crisis and Consciousness
Climate crisis disrupts the beliefs, values and behaviours of contem-
porary societies, sparking potential for radical changes in culture and
consciousness.DrawinguponherexperienceasaJungianpsychotherap-
ist and a researcher in the field of climate psychology, Sally Gillespie
writesaboutthechallenges,dilemmas,opportunitiesandtransformations
ofengagingwithclimateandecologicalcrises.
Many factors shape how we understand and respond to the existen-
tial threats of climate crisis. This accessible book with its discussions
about worldviews, cultural myths, emotional resilience, social con-
nectedness, nature relatedness and collective action explores con-
sciousness change in those most engaged with climate issues. Calling
upon the words and stories of many people, including Indigenous
leaders, ecologists, campaigners, writers and philosophers, Gillespie
encourages us to enter into climate conversations to forge emotional
resilience, ecological consciousness and inspired action.
With its unique focus on the psychological experience of facing
into the climate crisis, this warm and supportive book offers compan-
ionship and sustenance for anyone who wants to be alive to our nat-
ural world and to the existential challenges of today. It is an essential
resource for counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers and other
helping professionals, as well as climate campaigners, policy makers,
educators, scientists and researchers.
Sally Gillespie, PhD, worked as a Jungian psychotherapist for over twenty
years before undertaking doctoral research in climate psychology at Western
Sydney University. She now lectures, and facilitates workshops, on climate
psychology and ecopsychology. A former president of the Jung Society of
Sydney, Sally is a member of Psychology for a Safe Climate, the Climate
PsychologyAlliance andtheClimate WellbeingNetwork.

Climate Crisis and
Consciousness
Re-imagining Our World and
Ourselves
Sally Gillespie
Firstpublished2020
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
52VanderbiltAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninforma
business
©2020SallyGillespie
TherightofSallyGillespietobeidentifiedasauthorofthis
workhasbeenassertedbyherinaccordancewithsections
77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprinted
orreproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,
mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafter
invented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermission
inwritingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybe
trademarksorregisteredtrademarks,andareusedonlyfor
identificationandexplanationwithoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
Acataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromthe
BritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequestedforthisbook
ISBN:978-0-367-36532-5(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-367-36534-9(pbk)
ISBN:978-0-429-34681-1(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
bySwales&Willis,Exeter,Devon,UK
for the young ones
everywhere
and
for Jonathan
always

Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction:seachange 1
1 Departingfamiliarshores 8
DroppingtoEarth 8
Disintegratingworldviews 11
Maturingmyths 14
Changingminds 18
Full-bodiedengagement 22
2 Fallingofftheedgeoftheknownworld 28
Unsettlingnews 28
Hearteningstories 31
Imaginingtheworst 34
Facingintofear 37
Talkingopenly 41
Acceptinguncertainty 44
3 Encounteringourworldanew 50
Re-visioningnature 50
Evolvingperspectives 52
Grievingthelosses 56
Meetingmortality 61
LovingEarthwell 64