I am reading to help me better understand what I am seeing.

But it´s not all science! There is plenty of food for thought to be found in movies, art, organizations, and the events I am attending.

Here´s a look at a few things that have got me thinking lately.

RESEARCH-RELATED: 

 

💡Still digesting this recent report on how our brains respond to climate change. 

 

💡Thinking about this study on Environmental Behavior.

Title: Does Mindfulness Mediate the Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Pro-Environmental Behaviors? (2024) 

SPOILER: Yes, but there are gender differences.

 

💡Reading recent environmental psychology papers, including some intriguing research by Dr. Eleanor Ratcliffe, who asks, ¨How do environments help people recover, restore, and flourish?¨  

 

💡Revisiting the decades-old ideas of Rachel & Stephen Kaplan´s Attention Restoration Theory (ART) regarding environments that restore directed attention, and some updated perspectives on it.

 

💡Cheering the Radical Attention Movement and their concepts of human fracking, attention sanctuaries, cognitive liberty, and attention activism to ¨re-enchant a distracted world¨...YES. 

 

💡Exploring more deeply the subjects of solastalgia (the distress of environmental impacts, or ¨feeling homesick while still at home¨) and anticipatory nostalgia (the emotional experience of missing aspects of the present before they are lost) through the work of Glenn Albrecht, Krystine Batcho and Simran Shikh, as well as Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut.

 

💡Considering this research about imaginaries and imagination by Natàlia Cantó-Milà and Swen Seebach.

 

💡Learning more about Lisa Suckert´s work related to sociological perspectives on imagined futures. 

 

RIGHT HERE IN THE NETHERLANDS: 

 

💡 Intrigued by the possibilities when including Global South imaginaries as described by Dr. Joost Vervoort (et al) at Utrecht University. 

 

💡Diving into everything related to longing, including the work of Dutch organizational psychologist Susanne Scheibe of University of Groningen. Especially intrigued by this take on Sehnsucht or ¨life longings¨

 

💡Talking about contemplative ecology with my new friend (and thoughtful researcher) Evanne Nowak. We both spoke at the International Conference on Environmental Mindfulness in Rome in September. She is doing fascinating work!

 

💡Enjoyed an inspiring meet-up with transformation design leader Carola Verschoor, talking about Transforming Worlds, all things transformational, and our shared birthday.

 

READING: 

💡Richard Powers´ sweeping and wonder-full novel, Playground

I loved his book, The Overstory, about forests. This one makes an absolute star of our oceans.

This NPR podcast interview of Powers by Ari Shapiro is excellent.

 

💡The free online courses and resources available on All Things Urban.

 

💡Celebrating group-hang guru Priya Parker and her new book, The Art of Fighting, about how we can practice disagreeing with each other in low-stakes ways. 

 

💡This Substack post by Dr. Jean Renouf titled Urban Collapse: What Cities Teach Us When Systems Fail. I especially appreciate the inclusion of Sarajevo and the unflagging determination of the people to meet in basements to continue with education, music, and theater despite the very real risk of being hit by snipers.

 

💡One of the best things about speaking at the World Adaptation Forum in Budapest in April was swapping asides during the presentations as I sat next to triple-scientist, fabulous gardener, and provocatively insightful author George Tsakraklides. 

I feel like I am sitting next to him again as I read his latest book, The Biology of Collapse: Lessons From Nature On Growth, Power, Extinction, and Rebirth. It is not for those brand new to the concept of collapse, but what a riveting and unblinking assessment written in a science-informed but delightfully George-y voice. Brilliant!

 

WATCHING/VIEWING:

💡Christopher Nolan's masterful film, The Odyssey. The final two sentences keep coming back to me:  "Civilization will rise again. Our mistakes will be forgotten."

 

💡This video from Plantist.org shook me by the shoulders. and made me re-commit to a vegan diet. (If we all did this, we could free up land around the world matching the true size of Africa for growing food.) 

 

💡I was mesmerized by this exhibition of the work of the notoriously rebellious Dutch painter Jan Cremer at the Museum de Fundatie in the utterly charming small city of Zwolle, Netherlands (an hour by train from Amsterdam). I loved reading his bodacious claims, seeing into his quirky creative process, and being delighted by the surprisingly playful pieces among the darker, more brooding examples of his work.

 

UPCOMING PRESS/APPEARANCES:

💡Had a fascinating conversation as a guest on Dave Pendle's podcast, Phenomenal Conversations, which will be shared in November.

💡'Tis the season...to apply to present at conferences! I have a few submissions in for events next spring and summer. Hope to have some good news about those soon! 

 

So, that gives you a general idea of what's swirling in my brain.

What´s going on in yours?  

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