Media

PSC in the Media

Calls for clear leadership as UN warns of an era of 'global boiling'

Dr Sally Gillespie is interviewed on ABC 24 News, 28 July 2023

Climate Psychologist and Psychology for a Safe Climate workshop facilitator, Dr Sally Gillespie, is interviewed by Casey Briggs about the lack of leadership on climate change. She says people feel lost and anxious about it, due in part to the lack of leadership and media engagement with the severity of the situation.

Watch the interview here

How to cope with climate anxiety

Dr Beth Hill is interviewed on Triple J Hack, 26 July 2023

Dr Beth Hill, Program Development Coordinator and facilitator for Psychology for a Safe Climate, along with Dr Blanche Verlie, talks to presenter Dave Marchese about climate change anxiety. They address the pressing question, how can you help your climate anxiety without totally disengaging with the issue? Beth joins the interview at 6:55 minutes in.

Listen to the interview here

Climate change apathy and how to avoid it

Carol Ride is interviewed on ABC Radio National, 15 June 2023

Carol Ride, psychologist, Executive Director and founder of Psychology for a Safe Climate, along with IPCC scientist, Dr Joëlle Gergis, talks to presenter Hilary Harper about climate change apathy and what we can do to avoid it. Carol discusses the impact climate change is having on mental health, and suggests ways to alleviate associated stress and anxiety.

Listen to the interview here

Access To Green Space In Australia Has Never Been Just Or Equal

Dr. Sally Gillespie talks to REFINERY29, 7 October 2021

Psychology for a Safe Climate’s Dr. Sally Gillespie is interviewed as part of a piece about the important issue of the inequality of access to green space, particularly as seen in Sydney during lockdown. 

Dr. Gillespie comments on how crucial we now know time outside is to our physical  and mental health, and for our social and community lives. She explains the physiological responses people experience within even a short time of being outside, and explains that we evolved to thrive within healthy green ecosystems. 

Read the article here

Psychological Effects of Climate Change

Wellbeing interviews Dr. Sally Gillespie, 5 October 2021

Psychology for a Safe Climate’s Dr. Sally Gillespie talks to Wellbeing on 2NURFM about the role and work of Psychology for a Safe Climate.  

She discusses the psychological effects of climate change and the need to prepare our mental health systems and communities for climate change impacts and the impact of climate change on our mental health.

Listen to the interview here (24:15)

Having kids in a climate crisis: would you do it?

Dr. Beth Hill is interviewed by The Age, 4 September 2021

Psychology for a Safe Climate Program Development Coordinator, Dr. Beth Hill, reflects that this topic is discussed at almost every workshop PSC facilitates. 

She recommends talking to friends and peers, and acknowledges that this is a big decision and it is valid to choose not to have a child in this climate context.

Read the article here

‘We can’t let this happen’: How ordinary people handle climate distress

The Age interviews Dr. Charles Le Feuvre, 11 August 2021

PSC Vice-President, Dr Charles Le Feuvre, in this interview with The Age explains how ordinary people handle their distress about the impact of climate change. In the article Charles said “Climate distress is a healthy response to the existential crisis. If you don’t feel some level of grief and fear you’re probably in denial.” 

Read the article here

How to cope with climate distress

triple j HACK interviews Carol Ride and Dr. Blanche Verlie 11 August 2021

In this interview, Carol Ride, PSC President, says feeling connected to people who share your climate values is helpful for coping with climate distress. “It gives them the connection, it gives them that validation, and it gives them ongoing support.” 

Read the article here

Eco-Anxiety Is Real — Here’s How To Cope With It

REFINERY29 interviews Dr Sally Gillespie August 2021

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2021 Climate Change report indicates that global warming is not only a very real threat, but that it’s getting worse and is now unavoidable. Dr Sally Gillespie, a climate psychology researcher and PSC member, says that it’s not surprising that many of us feel worried and anxious about the future after the report’s release — but there are ways to manage the anxiety.

Read the article here

The importance of acknowledging climate distress

Dr Sally Gillespie & Dr Charles Le Feuvre published in the Jimboomba Times,  August 2021

PSC members Sally Gillespie and Charles Le Feuvre provide advice on responding to the IPCC report, responding to the question – how can we best hear and respond to this alarm, caring for ourselves and others while mustering motivation for desperately needed action?

Read the article here

Radical hope in the time of climate crisis

Dr. Sally Gillespie writes for Pearls and Irritations, September 2020

As ice melts, bushfires, heatwaves and cyclones intensify, many grapple with the question of “what kind of hope, if any, can I hold as climate catastrophe deepens?” To answer this question, we need to not only accept the realities of worsening climate destructions, but also re-examine the nature and agency of hope in the face of existential crisis.

Read the article here

VIEW: Climate anxiety and grief are healthy feelings which can form a basis for action

Dr. Sally Gillespie writes for Echo Chamber Escape, July 2020

In this interview, Dr Sally Gillespie outlines how she has applied her studies and experiences with Jungian psychology to help others and publish a book on climate consciousness.

Read the article here

Energising Climate Conversations

Dr. Sally Gillespie writes for Pearls and Irritations, May 2020

Good climate reporting informs us about the complex consequences of a heating planet. In order to also act as a catalyst for change, climate campaigners need to acknowledge the complex emotional responses their stories stir while highlighting avenues for personal and collective action.

Read the article here

Climate action now! Here’s what women can do together

Dr. Sally Gillespie writes for Women’s Agenda, January 2020

It can be exhausting to fret over our individual carbon footprints. Our energy might be better spent pushing to change entire systems — where there are endless possibilities for climate action, writes Dr Sally Gillespie.

“As long as we are competing for the title of ‘greener than thou,’ or are paralyzed by shame, we aren’t fighting the powerful companies and governments that are the real problem. And that’s exactly the way they like it.”

Read the article here

From Despair to Action: Cultivating Hope in Times of Change

Bronwyn Gresham interviewed on Towards 2040, December 2019

It can be tough staying positive and resolute in the face of increasingly severe climate impacts and political inertia. In this final 2040 Conversation, Bronwyn discussed learning how to process the grief, rage and sadness that accompanies climate action and to build resilience and cultivate hope as things continue to change around us. 

Listen here

Climate Anxiety

Carol Ride interviewed on ABC Radio National’s All in the Mind, by Lynne Malcolm November 2019

Many of us are experiencing grief, anxiety and powerlessness about the future. We discuss the connection between climate change and mental health, and the strategies we need to maintain hope and take action.

Listen here

A chance conversation on climate change 

Carol Ride: Opinion piece published in Fairfax Regional newspapers March 2017

Recently I had a conversation with a fellow camper in a town in NE Victoria who said he ‘didn’t know about climate change’ and went on to tell me that climate change had always happened and that we are just caught in a natural cycle.

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Why don’t people get it? 

Carol Ride: Opinion piece published in Fairfax Regional newspapers November 2016

As a psychologist and activist I’m often asked how to explain to others that serious and urgent climate action is needed now. As in: Why don’t people get it? 

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Climate Denial 

Carol Ride: Opinion piece published in Regional newspapers August 2016

When we hear distressing news our first response is often disbelief. Even good news can take a bit of time to sink in, as we saw with some Olympic gold medallists. But bad news can shake our trust and beliefs to the core. We all probably know people who respond to life-threatening health news with disbelief, and then remain unable or unwilling to comprehend the reality and the implications of the bad news.

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