Grief and Gratitude Ritual
Processing our grief at environmental loss and damage, and reconnecting with our ecosystem.
Transition New Mills will be hosting a Climate Grief and Gratitude Ritual on 21 December, 2024, in New Mills. This will be facilitated by Mary Dees MSc CTA(P) Eco-psychotherapist. Further details will be posted here soon.
Ecological grief, or climate grief in particular, is the sense of loss that arises from experiencing or learning about environmental destruction or climate change. Groups impacted heavily include young people feeling betrayal from lack of action by governments and scientists witnessing the decline of ecosystems - but any of us can have such feelings.
Grieving the loss of loved ones may not look the same as experiences of climate loss, but we can learn a lot about how to provide support and combat hopelessness by borrowing from existing structures of care. Grief rituals vary widely across cultures, but generally serve as a means of honouring the deceased, comforting the bereaved and facilitating the process of mourning.
For eco-grief, rituals that provide symbolic meaning through intentional actions can help us develop a sense of gratitude, identity, and reconnection with and within our ecosystem. This may help to ground us in a place and time, holding space to acknowledge lived environmental losses and uncertain futures.
