Friends, One thing we know for sure about the essential climate work ahead is that none of us can do it alone. It is through collective action that we can make meaningful progress toward climate justice. Today, we invite you to listen to the first talk in our spring lecture series, “Collective Climate Action: Inspired Organizing for Our Future.” We’ll release new talks weekly on both our YouTube channel and on the Spring Creek Podcast from now through June. We invite you to share these talks with others to expand and inspire our collective work toward climate solutions. Today, we’re also announcing an upcoming author event with Jaclyn Moyer on May 16 to celebrate her new book, “On Gold Hill: A Personal History of Wheat, Farming, and Family from Punjab to California.” Read on for details on these programs and other opportunities. | | Collective Climate Action | 
| Climate scientist Joëlle Gergis writes, “When you realize that the 2020s will be remembered as the decade that determined the fate of humanity, you will tap into the eternal evolutionary force that has transformed the world again and again.” The evolutionary force that has transformed the world again and again is collective action. From revolutions and rebellions to fights for essential rights and freedoms, people have a long history of organizing to reshape society and overcome deeply embedded systemic injustices. This is what we are called to do now — to gather all the wisdom, resolve, and imagination we can to collectively create just solutions to the climate crisis. During the “Collective Climate Action” series, we’ll examine why collective action matters and how to find or redefine our roles in the climate movement. We’ll learn world-building techniques and collective visioning strategies that can help us dream about what is possible. And we’ll explore how being a part of this critical social movement can help us live better, more meaningful, lives. Whether you have been on the front lines of climate activism for years or are just starting to get involved, this series will help you tap into that eternal evolutionary force and inspire others around you to do the same. And you’ll have the tools and stories you’ll need to focus your climate efforts, deepen your determination, and work toward what is possible during this hingepoint in human and planetary history. | | “Collective Climate Action” will feature leading thinkers across many areas of expertise — climate activism, ethics, writing and storytelling, psychology, sociology, art, and more. These are thinkers who can see the power of what we can collectively accomplish next. They include: - Zahra Biabani, a social media influencer bringing joy to climate activism and author of "Climate Optimism: Celebrating Systemic Change Around the World."
- Peter Friederici, the author of "Beyond Climate Breakdown: Envisioning New Stories of Radical Hope," a book that centers the power of storytelling and urges us to embrace stories of life, complexity and community over stories that prioritize capitalism and economic concerns.
- Emily Johnston, a writer and poet, the co-founder of 350 Seattle, and a courageous activist who has helped organize countless climate protests, numerous boat blockades to halt vessels involved in oil extraction, and one daring shutdown of the Keystone Pipeline.
- Jeremy Lent, an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future.
- Diego Arguedas Ortiz, a Costa Rican climate reporter, Associate Director at the Oxford Climate Journalism Network of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, and instigator and participant in multiple initiatives that engage citizens on climate change.
- Francesca Polletta, a sociologist and award-winning author who studies the cultural dimensions of social movements, storytelling in protest and politics, and conditions necessary for radical democracy in movement spaces.
- Aisha Shillingford, an anti-disciplinary artist, world builder, and artistic director at Intelligent Mischief. She uses art, storytelling, and designed experiences to unleash the power of Black radical imagination to shape the future.
- Tory Stephens, Grist Fix’s Climate Fiction Creative Manager and Network Weaver, working to bring people focused on climate solutions together to boldly imagine just, life-giving futures.
- Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., a minister, community activist, and president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, which works to engage youth in voting and policy, including on environmental justice and climate issues.
- And Jennifer Atkinson, whose talk and bio you’ll find directly below.
| Talk by Jennifer Atkinson | 
| In her talk “Climate Anxiety, Hope and Action: Inner Strategies for Our Age of Crisis,” Jennifer Atkinson explains that the age of climate consequences is upon us, and anxiety and despair are rising along with global temperatures. To successfully face the challenges ahead, we need to build more than solar panels and sea walls — we also need to build the emotional resilience to stay engaged in climate work over the long haul. She offers five key steps for navigating the psychological and emotional impacts of climate change while channeling our anxiety into collective efforts to create a livable future. | | Jennifer Atkinson is an author and Professor of environmental humanities at the University of Washington, Bothell. She researches eco-anxiety, grief and hope, and teaches seminars on climate and mental health that have been featured nationwide. Her most recent book, “The Existential Toolkit for Climate Justice Educators: How to Teach in a Burning World,” offers strategies to help young people navigate the emotional toll of climate breakdown. Her podcast “Facing It” also gives listeners tools to channel eco-anxiety into action. | | Jaclyn Moyer Author Event | 
| Join local writers Jaclyn Moyer and Sindya Bhanoo for a conversation in celebration of Moyer’s new book “On Gold Hill: A Personal History of Wheat, Farming, and Family from Punjab to California.” In 2012, 25-year-old Jackie Moyer — the daughter of a forbidden marriage between a white American father and a Punjabi American mother — embarked on a career in organic farming, setting up shop on 10 rented acres in Gold Hill, California. When a friend encouraged her to add an heirloom wheat called Sonora to her crop rotation — a strain whose roots can be traced back to Punjab — Moyer saw an opportunity to repair her fractured relationship to her Indian heritage. Braiding memoir with historical inquiry, Moyer maps her personal story atop the entangled histories of wheat cultivation and the rise of the organic farming movement to examine how industrial agriculture has harmed our relationship with food, the planet and each other. “On Gold Hill” explores the complexities of multiracial identity and the immigrant experience, illuminates the urgent need for a more just food system, and investigates what it means to lose — and to reclaim — one’s heritage. On Gold Hill with Jaclyn Moyer Thursday, May 16 5:30 p.m. Corvallis Public Library main meeting room
Free and open to all This event is co-sponsored by the Spring Creek Project, the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, and Grass Roots Books. Book signing to follow event. | | Previously Announced Opportunities | 
| Fireline Fellowship The Fireline Fellowship invites writers, artists, and thought-leaders in the humanities to become part of a thinking community that, for two and a half years, will explore issues related to wildfire at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. Fellows will receive a $5,000 stipend, opportunities to learn alongside scientists in the field, and up to four weeks of residency time at the Andrews. Applications are due May 3. Learn more and apply. Environmental Writing Fellowship and Residency Spring Creek Project is partnering with Grist to host the 2024-25 Environmental Writing Fellowship and Residency on the theme of Climate Fiction. The winner of Grist's annual "Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors" short story contest will be awarded the year-long fellowship to continue or expand on their climate writing project. Spring Creek Project will award the fellowship recipient a $3,000 honorarium (which is in addition to the contest prize winnings awarded by Grist) and up to four weeks in residence at the Cabin at Shotpouch Creek. The submission deadline is June 24. Learn more and submit your work. |
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Spring Creek Project
Hovland Hall 102
Oregon State University
The Spring Creek Project brings together the practical wisdom of environmental science, the clarity of philosophy, and the transformational power of the written word and the arts to envision and inspire just and joyous relations with the planet and with one another. All of our programming is made possible by the support of generous donors. We welcome your donation in any amount in support of our work.
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