Is Your Job Part of the Climate Problem?
Join our one-day workshop to explore the dilemma you can't talk about at work.
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“How do we think our way through the difficulties we are experiencing when the way we think is part of the problem?” — Steffi Bednarek
Survival Tool #36: Find Spaces To Speak Freely
In July last year, I recorded an impromptu video exploring my experience of an inner conflict that I suspect many people share: We want to be part of a meaningful response to climate breakdown and ecological collapse, but our workplace is either change-resistant, or an active part of the problem. (Resonant World #35: Should I Stay, or Should I Go?).
That video served as the inspiration for a one-day workshop that I’ll be co-facilitating in the beautiful surrounds of the The Conduit in London on Saturday, December 7 with my friend Steffi Bednarek, the climate psychologist, author and facilitator.
Steffi has a wealth of experience in working with professionals who feel torn about their role in relation to the climate crisis, and has accompanied more people in engaging deeply and sensitively with these kinds of questions than anyone else I know.
We’ll be supporting a small group of people from diverse backgrounds to explore the professional dilemmas we’re facing in response to the planetary situation in a safe, confidential and nourishing environment.
We won’t be offering answers or advice, or guiding the discussion to any predetermined conclusion. Rather, we’ll be creating a space to share the questions, thoughts and feelings that the crisis evokes in us — but which lie outside the bounds of acceptable conversation in most offices, leaving us feeling isolated.
In mine and Steffi’s experience, this process evokes a potent form of collective intelligence that connects each participant to a deeper source of wisdom than we might access by grappling with these overwhelming dilemmas alone.
We’re not going to tell you to quit your job, or glue yourself to the boardroom table.
But you’ll end the day with greater clarity about the contribution that’s yours to make — and the support of a group of peers committed to aligning our working lives with our values.
The cost is £285 with lunch included. We’re offering an early bird price of £250 until November 7.
Please do let me know if you have questions, and I’d of course be very grateful for help spreading the word among people who might be interested.
Meet Your Facilitators
Steffi Bednarek
“I work at the intersection between climate change, complexity theory, and the human psyche.
I support leaders, teams, and organizations to develop the competencies and frameworks of care needed to face complexity without collapsing into inaction, to think trans-contextually without losing focus, and to nurture sustainable development while neither denying nor amplifying the challenges ahead. I support teams to confront difficult truths with resilience, ecological awareness, and a regenerative outlook.
With 25 years of experience in systemic change, complexity thinking, and climate psychology, combined with my own experience of leading teams and consulting organizations, I address the urgent need for regenerative change in ways that go beyond the mere correction of what is visible and measurable on the surface. My work delves into the deeper conditions that hold a problem in place.
I have worked for national governments, the corporate sector, global financial institutions, the sustainability sector, The Council of Europe, and large NGOs.
My work has been featured in the Huffington Post, the BBC, and numerous international publications and podcasts. Clients include BNY Mellon, Estee Lauder Companies, the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trust and many others.
I initiated and founded national and international projects, headed up mental health services and trauma intervention centres, co-founded the journal 'Explorations into Climate Psychology' and an education project for the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg.
I am an Associate of the Climate Psychology Alliance, 'Firekeeper' at the World Ethics Forum, and Associate of the American Psychological Association’s Climate Change Community of Practitioners.”
Matthew Green
“I quit a prestigious role due to my company’s lacklustre response to the climate crisis, and know how difficult the decision can be.
After many years working as an international correspondent for the Financial Times and Reuters, including in Iraq, Afghanistan and across Africa, I was rehired as a climate correspondent by Reuters in 2019.
Despite cherishing the role, my growing disillusionment with the company’s response to the climate crisis prompted me to quit in April 2022, and take up a position as global investigations editor at the nonprofit climate news service DeSmog.
The decision wasn’t easy.
Though I’m far happier now, I’ve had to navigate the conflicting financial, psychological and career pressures associated with a move from a secure position in a global media organisation employing 2,500 journalists to a tiny nonprofit with a handful of full-time staff. I’ve attempted to distill some of what I’ve learned in my weekly newsletter Toxic Workplace Survival Guy.
In paralell, I’ve devoted much of my spare time to understanding the role of individual, collective and inter-generational trauma in driving the climate crisis — a quest I document in my newsletter Resonant World.
In December, I completed the two-year Timeless Wisdom Training in the principles of trauma healing with Thomas Hübl and team, and am now training as a collective trauma integration facilitator. I’m a co-host of the Climate Consciousness Summit 2024, which brings together luminaries from the climate and trauma world.
This summer, I launched the Resonant Man initiative with my friend
to provide spaces for men to step into greater vulnerability, authenticity and connection.I live in southwest London with my wife Genevieve, a clinical psychologist, parenting coach and creator of the Resonant Parenting Project, and our six-year-old daughter Matilda. Our idea of a good time is making our annual pilgrimage to Medicine Festival, camping at Pitchcott Farm, or visiting ROARR!, a dinosaur park in Norfolk.”
Summary
Find spaces where you can harness the power of collective intelligence to cast your workplace dilemmas in a new light.
Weekly Men’s Circles Starting Next Month
and I are launching weekly men’s circles as the backbone of our Resonant Man initiative, starting on Sunday, November 7. Details here. 
Climate Conciousness Summit 2024 Now Open to Register
I’m excited to be serving as as co-host on the Climate Consciousness Summit 2024, staged by the Pocket Project in partnership with DeSmog. This unique gathering will bring together leaders from the climate movement and global trauma healing community for seven days of generative dialogues. See you there!
I consult on surviving toxic workplaces; and can also help you navigate your toxic workplace via the Tarot. Click here to inquire:
I write Toxic Workplace Survival Guy during my spare time from working as an editor at nonprofit climate news service DeSmog (a model workplace). Subscribing, sharing, liking, commenting or buying me a coffee helps make this project sustainable. Thank you!