National Centre for Resilience

A variety of life experiences have led me to believe that developing and nurturing our relationships are key to living a rich and supportive life. Connection is what we are innately driven towards and is what we could all likely use a little bit more of. This belief in strong and healthy connections with our community and our natural environment is what drives a lot of my professional and personal life. At times it seems wildly simplistic and idealistic, maybe if we all just were a little bit kinder and spent a little bit more time walking barefoot in the grass or amongst the trees, the world would be a better place. However, I am acutely aware of how complex our lives are, and can be, in amongst the breadth of wider societal and global contexts and crisis’s that influence how challenging the above is for most people.

Collective, current, and historical trauma, pandemic’s, climate change related disasters, conflict, and the general stress of day-to-day life make connection to others and our natural world difficult. This is the tension and discomfort I find myself sitting in and wanting to know more about. Wanting to support others to make the necessary changes to their individual, family, and community life to combat the climate crisis, and yet knowing that many communities and families have very valid reasons to prioritise putting food on the table, paying bills as best they are able and surviving another day. Eating plant based, having eco-friendly transportation options, getting the best energy tariff, and making other more pro-environment behaviour changes are still limited to those that are financially and socially privileged enough to be able to make those choices, which is not the majority. So how do we support all members of our communities to be active participants in reconnecting with others and with the natural world? How do we support nature connectedness and reminding ourselves that we are an integral part of the ecosystem – not separate or above it? What more can we do to centre the voices of indigenous peoples and other global majority communities that bear the brunt of the global minority’s actions? There are many injustices within this conversation that need interdisciplinary collaboration to understand the true nature of the complexities and lived experiences, and how to move forward. This is the space where you will find me.

 

 

 

 

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First published: 21 June 2023