I recently completed a 3-day training with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, where 1000 people came together to train and mobilize toward a net zero future. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but two things stand out: 1) being faced with all the facts is intense and overwhelming, there’s no shortage of data on the challenges or on the solutions; 2) to process the intense overwhelm, we need spaces and tools to make sense of the pain and the possibility. So I was thankful that the project leaders put me in touch with Liliane, a climate-aware consultant and trauma-informed facilitator.

THE IMPACT. Liliane Mavridara:

-is a Climate Reality Leader, a Climate Cafe Facilitators trainer with CPA-NA, a Climate For Health Ambassador

-synthesizes an eclectic cultural, educational and interdisciplinary background with hands-on professional expertise in transpersonal psychology, personal and spiritual development, women’s empowerment, mind-body health, and planetary health

-consults and educates on the impact of the climate emergency on community holistic health and wellbeing, and leads peer support circles that nurture relational and social capacity for sense making and purposeful co-transformation of our complex polycrisis

THE JOURNEY. In our conversation, we explore:

-Climate overwhelm: "We don’t have a solution problem; we have a nervous system coregulation challenge"

-Community connection: "Connecting back to our cultural roots, creating spaces where people can come together, is the most healing thing we can offer as a service to humanity"

-Reconnecting to what matters: "We don't want to live on a miserable planet. We are here to enjoy life, our environment, our friends, our families."