Dr. Joëlle Gergis is an award-winning climate scientist and writer at the Australian National University. She served as a lead author for the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and is the author of Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Sunburnt Country: The History and Future of Climate Change in Australia. Joëlle has also contributed chapters to The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg, and Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua.

"So even though I might be feeling really distressed by some of the work that I'm exposed to in my profession, it isn't just black and white. And sometimes things are going to be really difficult, and that's life. I mean, the reality is that life is really painful, and there are some really difficult realities, but there's also an immense amount of beauty and joy and all those things.

And so it's an active decision to seek those things out, seek those people out and groups that make you feel connected. And also just realizing that sometimes you need to go into a deep place of contemplation and a place of solitude where you sort of put your own pieces back together. And for me, that often involves connecting with nature.

So whether it's the ocean near where I live or the rainforests being around living creatures and other landscapes. And that makes me feel like I'm a part of something that does feel timeless and eternal. And I think that human beings, we have that in our bones no matter where we are, whatever culture you're from, wherever you live on the planet, we all share that really deep primal connection to the planet. So I guess it's a case of letting it flow through you really because sometimes it is going to, I think sometimes resistance is futile. Like it is just going to move through you, but realizing that it will pass. It's not going to completely break you. So, that's been my experience. I try and write about my experience with that. You know why? Because I think a lot of people feel these things, and I hope that my writing gives other people permission to express their own emotions and realize that there's another conversation that we could be having in public about how we feel about climate change and our changing world. And I really hope that it just provides people with some language around how we express those things."

http://joellegergis.com
https://climatehistory.com.au
www.blackincbooks.com.au/authors/jo-lle-gergis

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast