Emma and Rachel met on a climate justice exchange with the US Embassy and became friends through their work as co-creators of the City of Bristol Just Transition Declaration.
They decided to start Climate Joy CIC after experiencing and observing the serious impact climate and nature work can have on the health of activists and wellbeing of communities. Research supports Emma and Rachel’s observations, and finds that, while climate work has many positive benefits, it can also lead to a difficulties such as: burnout, depression, anxiety, stress, and even long-term health conditions.
Emma, Rachel, and friend Alice, sought the answers to these problems through what worked for their own recovery and the solution reached for by many resistance movements – joy! In particular, they read around Disabled Joy and Black Joy. For these movements, joy is more complex than superlative happiness—joy is a site of resistance and resilience that asserts the individual’s essential humanity and right to pleasure in the face of oppression. This allows activists in these spaces to stay healthy and effective in the face of their struggles.
Joy doesn’t happen automatically, however. It is an active practice and, like any practice, it can be cultivated. The tools Emma, Rachel and Alice found for this were creativity and play.
They started experimenting running workshops experimenting with uses of creativity and play towards climate action. Emma ran two series of workshops, firstly, through an artist-in-residency at climate hub Sparks exploring how creativity can support climate action and, secondly, a series called Play for Planet hosted at St Anne’s House.
Emily, who had worked closely with Emma and Rachel on previous climate action, then joined the project and the four woman used their knowledge developed over a collective XXXX years of activism to launch Climate Joy CIC!
Climate Joy 