Radical Joy for Hard Times: Healing ourselves as we try to heal the world around us
Although I like to think that taking my Climate Change Communication class is a rewarding journey, I know that can also be emotionally taxing. We spend the entire semester talking about climate change, obviously, so that can wear anyone down. We are focused on how to talk about it to diverse audiences, but also we spend a great deal of time learning about all of the things that haven't worked in communicating about climate change in the last 40 years. Many students' and communicators' first instincts, like to give people more information, increase education, appeal to them with apocalyptic rhetoric, are turned on their head as we explore the plethora of real-world and scientifically verified examples of these techniques not working (and even backfiring). Of course, we try to find all of the things that do work to break past politically motivated reasoning and polarization, but it's admittedly hard work. 
Enter Radical Joy for Hard Times and the Global Earth Exchange. RadJoy is an "organization, practice, and worldwide community" dedicated to helping people heal both the places they love and their relationships to those places. In my class, participating in an earth exchange, which entails spending time in nature, reflecting or meditating, and creating a piece of art (however rudimentary) with found objects to honor that place, also acts as a way to help honor our own feelings of despair surrounding climate so that we may allow ourselves to move past them and act. The ritual helps us to acknowledge what is making us sad and channel our energy, while also pausing to share a lived experience with the world.
This semester my students made some beautiful pieces, and several sent short reflections on what they experienced and thought about during their Earth exchange. I'm collecting these thoughts and images here so that they might inspire others as well.
"Skaket Beach, Orleans Massachusetts. This beach is one of my favorite places on the Cape to watch the sunset. The bay you see in the picture is becoming more and more of a wounded place. It is experiencing loss of biodiversity and pollution. My friend and I met here to go for a walk, and made this heart out of seaweed along the way. It was almost therapeutic to stop and take this small action in nature.There was no litter to be seen on the beach, and although the bay is a wounded place this reminded me that it can get better." - Claire
This
bird is located at my cottage on the bank that was recently torn up and filled
with rocks to stop it from caving in and eroding further due to high water
levels on Lake Michigan. The water levels are only expected to rise higher and
climate change is thought to contribute to this effect as it is higher now than
the record highs recorded in 1986. - Meghan
Seldom have I just witnessed my
backyard for what it is. Usually, if I’m outside, I have a cup of coffee,
homework, or a book in hand. I never just spend time with the breeze, the
sunlight, the grass, and the bugs. Simply sitting and listening and watching
and waiting, I saw insects I had never seen and heard several distinct bird
calls. It was nice. However, a little to my right was a decent sized circle of
dead grass, and it was hard not to look at. It was created by a kiddie pool
that my brother left out a little too long. I kept coming back to the patch of
dead grass. It is funny how the past few years of my life have been propelled by this desire to help the earth and the people who are a part of it, and I can’t even take proper care of my backyard. In a way, it’s pretty pitiful. In the grand scheme of things, a patch of dead grass is extremely miniscule. Putting that tiny patch of grass into perspective should have made me feel better, but it didn’t. I felt guilty. How am I supposed to combat these huge environmental issues when I can’t even take care of my own yard? I continued to look around and watch my tiny corner of the world move around me, and eventually a sense of peace overtook the guilt. Nothing grand or revolutionary, but I felt calm. - Hayley
We are all interconnected through an endless spiral of
existence. Whenever I think about Pacha Mama, I am always reminded of the coexistence that
must be present but is lacking within our society. When we think of nature, we
think of this distant place that is so far from our everyday lives. This
distance and disconnectedness that has cultivated within our culture has lead many
to deny the harm that we are causing Mother Earth. There are individuals who
are trying to remove a rock within this swirl and fool us into thinking we are
not as connected to the earth and should not fight to protect her from harm.
They try to create illusions in our minds and hide these illusions with
political power. Do not be fooled by these individuals, remember where your
home is, I fight for what I stand on, I fight for Mama Earth, our home. –
Triniti
This evening I took a stroll to the creek behind my house
but on my way there I discovered this tree with some really cool indents that
reminded me of caves. The cave had its own little ecosystem going on. I thought
this would be a beautiful place to make my art. I used sticks, moss, and leaves
in the area to make the bird you see in these pictures. I did some meditating
and dance. It was a refreshing time in nature. - Madi
A cairn by the lake of my childhood. This place
is the reason I have a deep appreciation for the natural world, and why I went
on to focus in Environmental Studies. I'm grateful to have grown up in a place
where I was free to roam the woods surrounding the lake, and I'll never forget
it. – Anne
For my RadJoy reflection, I chose to sit near a stream in
my backyard. What was once a waterway with small fish, frogs, and other forms
of life, is now overgrown and polluted by runoff from the road constructed near
my house. While sitting near the stream, I remembered being little and begging
my parents to let us stay outside longer catching frogs or running along the
stream. I remembered the frog we caught from the stream and named him Fatty. We
kept Fatty in a bucket in our backyard one night during summer and when we woke
up the next day to check on him he was gone. My brother and I were so sad, but
the memory stays with me to this day. However, the stream has changed and there
are no frogs for catching anymore. But, sitting by the stream, I realized that
its beauty is still there in memory. I made a heart out of leaves I found by
the stream as a gift of beauty to that place. -Sophia
For my reflection
activity, I simply chose to step out to my porch. It overlooks a small garden
in our front yard, and in our quiet neighborhood on a sunny day, it’s the
perfect place to sit and think for a while. I brought a speaker outside,
because music always helps to get the brain working. I sat on the ledge, feet
dangling above the flowers and trees, and I did absolutely nothing for an hour
and a half. It was a perfect way to clear my head and get in a better state of
mind; the flowers smelled nice, there was a lovely breeze blowing through, and
there were various birds chirping and bees buzzing around. As time went on, I
began to look around for materials to construct a bird out of … All in all,
this was a very calming exercise, and I would absolutely do it again. – Sam
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