Emma and Rachel became friends through their work on the City of Bristol Just Transition Declaration.
They decided to start Climate Joy CIC after experiencing and observing the serious impact both climate change, and climate and nature action can have on the health of activists and wellbeing of communities. Research supports Emma and Rachel’s observations. Climate change is seriously impacting mental health and while climate activism offers positive well-being benefits it can also lead to difficulties such as burnout, depression, anxiety, stress, and even long-term health conditions.
Emma, Rachel, and friend Alice Tatton-Brown, sought the answers to these problems through the practice that worked for their own recovery – joy! Their explorations were grounded in the established traditions of Disabled Joy and Black Joy. For these movements, joy is more complex than happiness—it is a site of resistance and resilience that asserts the individual’s humanity and right to pleasure in a way that can exist alongside oppressions and difficult emotions. Joy doesn’t happen automatically, however. It is an active practice and, like any practice, it needs to be cultivated.
Emma, Rachel and Alice started experimenting with a range of creative events to support climate joy. Emma ran two series of workshops—an artist-in-residency at climate hub Sparks and a series called Play for Planet hosted at St Anne’s House—and Alice and Rachel collaborated on some of these events.
Emily Fifield, who had worked closely with Emma and Rachel on previous climate action, then joined the project. Together, the four women launched Climate Joy CIC!
climatejoy.org 