Climate & Nature Crisis
Before You Read: Take Care of Yourself
This page contains confronting information about the state of our climate. It’s important to pause and care for your wellbeing as you read
- Be kind to yourself, wait until you're ready to begin reading.
- Read with a trusted companion or group where you can process together.
- Choose a time and setting that feels safe, supportive and unrushed.
- Pause often, breathe consciously and check in with yourself and others.
- Take breaks, avoid overloading yourself and come back when you're ready.
Take a deep breath. Take your time. Take care
The Crisis We Face
The climate and nature crisis is no distant threat, it’s here and it’s rapidly reshaping the world we live in. The collapse of ecosystems, mass displacement, biodiversity loss and the destabilisation of climate systems are already impacting life across the Earth.
Understanding, acknowledging and processing the state of the climate is a profound task. The way we respond to it speaks to our individual and collective climate journeys. At PSC, we focus on building the emotional capacity needed for compassionate, regenerative climate engagement.
The State of the Climate
Read the 2023 IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report here →
The current IPCC* report analyses the state of the climate, making for difficult, but essential reading. It confirms what scientists and communities on the frontlines have long been telling us,
“The pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change.”
And the UN secretary general, António Guterres said,
“This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.”
At PSC, we're determined to play our role at the social and emotional forefront of climate change, which we believe is connected to the physical climate; connecting everything, everywhere, all at once.
*The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations (UN) body that distils the work of thousands of scientists into definitive reports on the state of the climate, its impacts and how we can respond. These assessments guide global policy, shape treaties like the Paris Agreement and set the scientific baseline for climate action.
Helpful Reading:
Read The Planetary Boundaries Framework here →
This model helps us understand the conditions we rely on to live on a healthy planet, and the boundaries we must honour to support them.
Read the PSC Glossary →
The concepts and terminologies in this field can be complex and hard to grasp at first glance. The PSC Glossary helps digest some of the terms most relevant to our work and the context in which we operate.
A Safe Climate for All Life
At PSC, we envisage a safe climate for all life, shaped together in compassion. It's both a goal and a process we're committed to supporting.
For PSC, a “safe climate” is made of two interconnecting parts:
1. The physical climate — the planetary conditions that sustain life.
2. The psychological climate — the inner and social conditions of relational trust, safety and community wellbeing.
We see these as inseparable: Fostering a safe psychological climate is essential to enabling a safe physical climate, and vice versa.
For us, this means:
This vision calls for an inner and collective transformation. It is realising the possibility of renewal even amidst loss; an ongoing emotional and ecological regeneration. It calls for compassion, care and community. Where climate engagement is not rooted in fear or urgency, but in love, imagination and a sense of kinship with life. This is how we endeavour to respond to the unprecedented challenge before us, this is our vision of a safe climate for all life, shaped together in compassion.
Climate Feelings Space
This is a lot to take in!
Connect with our resources in our unique Climate Feelings Space for tips, information and practices to help you slow down, reflect and process what this means to you.
Climate Cafés
Research shows, when we connect with others in tough times, our resilience actually increases!
Come along to one of our many Climate Cafés around Australia and connect with like-minded people. You're not alone, we're in it together.
Psychology for a Safe Climate (PSC) is not a provider of clinical mental health services.
The support and advice we provide are not intended to replace clinical services from mental health professionals and is of a general nature only.
We empower, support & equip people to respond to the climate & nature crisis.
At PSC, we work where this crisis meets the human heart and mind, strengthening the emotional foundations that make meaningful, regenerative climate action possible. We help communities experiencing climate distress like fear, grief and overwhelm grow into grounded, compassionate engagement.
a safe climate for all life, shaped together in compassion
Your gift strengthens climate wellbeing, supports communities and powers lasting change.
.jpg)