Transcript:
Witnessing climate change can be painful – whether you’re on the front lines of storms and fires or reading about melting glaciers and dying corals.
Kanko: “It’s causing grief at so many levels. People and places we love are suffering.”
Zen Buddhist priest Kritee Kanko is the founding spiritual teacher of Boundless in Motion, a nonprofit.
She says some people push their grief or rage away. They may feel ashamed of these emotions or believe they’re a sign of weakness.
But she says suppressing these feelings is harmful and can make it harder to cope and thrive.
So Kanko leads retreats to help people express and process climate grief. Some are designed for first responders, educators, organizers, and others who work with communities in the wake of climate disasters.
The retreats offer people time to rest, talk with one another, and participate in grief rituals that include drumming, chanting, and wailing.
Kanko: “We use these ancestral technologies that have existed in cultures around the world to help release what has been hidden and judged and pushed away.”
Kanko says the experience can be healing and can build people’s capacity to continue caring for their communities – and the Earth – as the climate warms.
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
