Dear Members and Friends,
It is great to be able to share with you this opportunity to deal with the overwhelming feelings some of us feel when considering the effects of our climate crisis.
The following information about a program brought to us by Lissa Radke of the Ashland County UW-Extension will help you decide if you'd like to participate. It includes links to learn more about the presenter and the topic:
Many people in the Northland, and indeed around the world, are having strong emotions as a result of seeing ecological destruction caused by climate change (melting glaciers, barrier reefs dying), natural disasters (Australian and Californian wildfires, rainforests burning), and illegal environmental activities (wildlife poaching, trophy hunting). The emotional response has been called eco-anxiety, ecological grief, or solastalgia (mourning the loss or destruction of special places).
Regional flooding events have intensified these feelings for some of our neighbors and loved ones, many who experienced the trauma of several major flood events in the last 5 years.
Dr. Leah Prussia, Masters in Social Work, is a licensed social worker and instructor at the College of St. Scholastica, who will give a presentation about solastalgia, then lead the gathering to help people deal with their emotions, on Tuesday, January 21, 2020, at 6:30 PM in the Garland Room, second floor of the Vaughan Public Library, Ashland.
Dr. Prussia will offer ways to cope with anxiety, and there will be a discussion about ways to support each other through ongoing methods.
The program is free and open to the public.
For more about Dr. Prussia see her bio here<http://www.css.edu/graduate/masters-doctoral-and-professional-programs/areas-of-study/master-of-social-work-(msw)/faculty-and-staff.html
For an article about how the world's scientists are dealing with their grief, see this article in The Guardian<https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/12/how-scientists-are-coping-with-environmental-grief
For information about how University of Wisconsin educators are working together to support people experiencing eco-anxieties click here<https://centerhealthyminds.org/loka-initiative
Thank you,
Lissa Radke
Ashland County Extension
682-7017
Anne Chartier
President
League of Women Voters of Ashland and Bayfield Counties
