ITRC PNW Transformational Resilience Network

The prospect of a dangerously warming planet inspires us to cling more tightly to our tribe. That is the discouraging finding of two newly published studies. One reports that confronting people with climate-change warnings provoked higher levels of ethnocentrism among residents of a central European nation—and decreased their intentions of acting in Earth-friendly ways. The other finds the threat of global warming increases group conformity , leading people to more tightly endorse the...

James Baraz has taught mindfulness meditation since 1978 and is co-founder of the world-reknowned Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. He is co-author of two books Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness and Awakening Joy for Kids. James has taught the Awakening Joy course to over 15,000 people. James and Bob Doppelt have known each other for over 30 years and lead retreats together at Spirit Rock. James Interviewed Bob as part of his "Conversations with the Wise" series. The...

The Capital Region Climate Readiness Collaborative (CRC) conducted our first Quarterly Adaptation Exchange in 2018 on how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma can be a detriment to an individual’s physical, social, and mental health that has lasting effects into adulthood. Climate impacts and an individual’s and/or community’s capacity to respond to trauma with resilience is intrinsically tied to access to a support system, resources, and past traumas. The reality is with Climate...

"So what are we, the climate anxious, to do? If there's any lesson in my story, I think it's the importance of admitting our personal limitations. Such an admission of human weakness grounds us. It helps us focus. It helps us recharge for the fight ahead and connect with those who share the same vision. It helps me to do what I can." https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2018-2-march-april/last-words/eric-holthaus-got-those-climate-change-blues

Wildfires, floods, mudslides, earthquakes, tsunamis—the list of natural disasters that haunt Los Angeles reads like the 10 Plagues of Egypt. What’s more, the city’s size and diversity mean that different neighborhoods are vulnerable to different events, and because of the city’s level of inequality, some residents are much better equipped to handle disaster than others. In response to these challenges, last week the City of Los Angeles, in coordination with the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100...

Below is a summary of what the ITRC has been up to in the past few months: 1. Conference on Preparing People for Climate Change In California After a slow start on registrations, the Jan 24-25 conference in Oakland ended up being sold out. On a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being excellent and 1 being poor), the 95 evaluations we received (out of 140 attendees) average out at 4.65, which we consider to be excellent. Two people said the conference changed their lives (one emailed afterwards to say...

This Sunday Oprah talk about her new discovery of trauma-informed care on CBS's "60 Minutes" saying: "This story is so important to me and I believe to our culture that if I could dance on the tabletops right now to get people to pay attention to it, I would," Winfrey says. Here are promos: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oprah-winfrey-childhood-trauma-ptsd-60-minutes-report/ https://www.cbsnews.com/video/oprah-explores-life-changing-question-in-treating-childhood-trauma/ TIC is VITAL to help...

In Alertnet: February 24, 2018 By Ruben Cantu, program manager for community trauma, mental health and violence prevention at Prevention Institute , and ITRC Steering Committee Member Found at: https://www.alternet.org/environment/global-climate-change-causing-local-trauma-heres-how-two-communities- We must build resilient communities before disaster strikes. Communities around the globe are feeling the effects of climate change, from scorching heat waves and out-of-control wildfires to...

Brewer is a change strategist dedicated to ensuring a thriving global civilization exists 100 years from now—and he believes this is becoming less likely every year. There’s rising instability in our fragile and rapidly changing biosphere, he says, and society is unlikely to escape harm. During our discussion, Brewer cited a list of urgent crises including climate change, soil degradation , ocean acidification, and biodiversity loss alongside techno-social issues like the breakdown of trust...

Hello! I work for The Cadmus Group and am responsible for implementing our integrated sustainability and resilience policy. One area that I'm focusing on because of the importance of transformational resilience for all of our employees is identifying personal resilience indicators that I can work with my HR leadership to integrate into our performance measures. This will help encourage our employees to enhance their own resilience, ultimately enhancing the resilience and connectedness of...

Hello Bob, A few things. We are interested in participating in both initiatives (the statewide steering committee and the statewide policy group), if we can balance them with our other work demands. In the meantime, we want to share some information on other activities in which we are involved (Paloma mentioned these during the conference call today). Could you post these to the forum? Thanks so much! 1.There is a free showing of Demain (Tomorrow) and a panel discussion (with Carl Anthony,...

Health Implications of Climate Change: a Review of the Literature About the Perception of the Public and Health Professionals By Julia Hathaway & Edward W. Maibach Summary Through a systematic search of English language peer-reviewed studies, we assess how health professionals and the public, worldwide, perceive the health implications of climate change. Recent Findings Among health professionals, perception that climate change is harming health appears to be high, although selfassessed...