Transform Eco-Anxiety Pod: 11 Steps

Pierre-Eric Sutter has written two books which describe how we can transform our eco-anxiety into eco-choices and eco-engagements that will help solve the climate problem. This presentation will first cover important ideas from his first book, Don’t Be Afraid of Collapse (N’ayez pas peur du collapse): “eco-gestures”, brakes to taking climate action, and how active optimism leads to satisfaction for both yourself and the people around you. From there, we will move on to the second book, Living Well With Your Eco-Anxiety: Take Care of Yourself by Taking Care of the World (Bien vivre son eco-anxiete: Prendre soin de soi en prenant soin du monde). In it, Sutter presents an 11-step “map” of eco-anxiety which progresses through four time frames and describes a gradual process which allows one to completely change their worldview.

Sutter spent several years conducting thousands of interviews with people who had become completely demoralized after learning about collapsology by reading How Everything Can Collapse (P. Servigne) in 2015. It was a best seller in France that year. Sutter is an existential therapist. He noticed that many of the demoralized people were able to transform their state of being and generate positivity and happy living despite the collapses that they witnessed around them (climate, diversity, democracy, politics, supply chains, etc.). He discovered that some people had read the book, become thoroughly depressed, and then somehow worked through it all to become “transformed”. In 2020, with Loic Steffan, he wrote Don’t Be Afraid of Collapse about this phenomenon. This summer he wrote the second book, which carefully maps each step and provides 28 exercises that can lead to transformation.

On the first Tuesday of each month, the Transform Eco-Anxiety Pod cycles through the four aspects of transforming: being with change, making meaning, making choices, and engaging. This session will include two breakout-room opportunities as well as a general discussion. For those who are already familiar with Sutter’s ideas, a “Level 2” discussion will be held on Wednesday, December 6th at 11:00am PDT. If you are interested in registering for that, please email Robert Bell (rfbbbbb@gmail.com) for the link.