When I first began teaching SUST 200 at Penn State in the fall of 2018, the weight of the climate crisis was something I truthfully hadn’t acknowledged or felt on a personal level–or maybe I did. Still, because it feels so amplified in my current state, I could be minimizing how I felt six years ago. Regardless, as I went through the course topics each week of that first semester, muddling my way through teaching about issues outside of my comfort zone, like mass transportation, food waste, and soil degradation, the heaviness of the climate crisis began to seep inward and root itself in the core of my being. Over the next few years, I did my best to tamp down these feelings of dread, helplessness, and anxiety so that I could teach the course with an air of confidence and control. The evolution of the course and a growing awareness of the students’ own feelings of anxiety led me to make an important addition to the class content. 

Spring 2022 was the first semester that I, with significant support and guidance from my TA for the course and PhD Candidate in Science Education, Emily Olsen, created space to openly acknowledge and discuss eco-anxiety alongside tips for managing this anxiety. I was validated in this decision when I attended a webinar in late April 2022 that emphasized the importance of validating climate emotions in education. Being vulnerable and sharing my personal feelings, fears, and concerns for the future while also cultivating a safe space for students to either listen or share their own emotions related to the changing climate is now a core feature of SUST 200. I am hopeful that this class and its approach not only motivate students to take action in their future careers and livelihoods but also contribute to their emotional resiliency through healthy conversation, self-care, and empathy for others. 

The joy of getting to teach and work with students like Ava–the author of the below blog post – is the remedy for my eco-anxiety. I am inspired by her motivation and energy to not only explore her creative side but also to share her emotional processing with others in a very vulnerable and public space so that readers may benefit from it. She, alongside all of the other students I have been fortunate to meet over the years, reminds me that this generation is full of creative, motivated, and educated climate warriors who can and WILL make a difference. Without further ado, I hope you will enjoy Ava’s blog titled “Becoming a Creative Climate Warrior”.