Sustainability | Susan Bodnar PhD

Limits Sustain People and the Environment

July 15, 2011 by Susan Bodnar

Part Five of the series on convergence of environmental and mental health (see part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here and part 4 here ). image from www.20somethingfinance.com President Obama is correctly observing that budgetary health depends on incisive and strategic limit setting.The same is true for ecological and psychological health. Most people tend to over correct for problems assuming that […]

Filed Under: personal environmentalism, series convergence of psychological and environmental health, Uncategorized Tagged With: debt and limits, ecopsychology, ground up environmental change, human relationship to nature, living within means, mind nature relationship, personal environmentalism, psychoanalysis and the environment, psychology and the environment, setting limits, sustainability

The Arts, Sustainability and Mental Health

July 8, 2011 by Susan Bodnar

Part four of the series on convergence of environmental and mental health (see part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here ). When a person is troubled by symptoms and problems that cause pain to self and others psychotherapy is an invaluable curative process. Yet, the process of exploration should not be confined only to the therapist’s office. […]

Filed Under: ecopsychcology, personal environmentalism, series convergence of psychological and environmental health, Uncategorized Tagged With: arts and sustainability, ecological unconscious, human relationship to nature, psychology and the environment, sustainability

Going Outside as a Mental Health Strategy

June 27, 2011 by Susan Bodnar

Part three of the series on convergence of environmental and mental health (see part 1 here and part 2 here). Mental health experts (and parents) argue that people of all ages need to spend time outside. Richard Louv has gathered some of the latest research in his two books: Last Child in the Woods and The […]

Filed Under: ecopsychcology, personal environmentalism, series convergence of psychological and environmental health Tagged With: climate change, ecological unconscious, ecopsychology, ground up environmental change, human relationship to nature, mind nature relationship, personal environmentalism, psychoanalysis and the environment, psychology and the environment, sustainability

Eat Food, With Others

June 24, 2011 by Susan Bodnar

(The second in a series about the convergence of psychological and environmental health) One strategy that any person or family can adopt to promote psychological and environmental health is to pay a good deal of attention to what is happening at the kitchen table. Almost five years ago Michael Pollan advised “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” While […]

Filed Under: ecopsychcology, personal environmentalism, series convergence of psychological and environmental health Tagged With: convergence of psychological and mental health, ecopsychology, ground up environmental change, human relationship to nature, Michael Pollan, Michael Pollan food rules, mind nature relationship, personal environmentalism, psychoanalysis and the environment, psychological aspects of Michael Pollan food rules, psychology and the environment, sustainability

Family Life and Sustainability

June 29, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

Social change takes place through individual and familial transformations. See this article in The Jewish Week for a personal reflection on what sustainability can look like at home.

Filed Under: human interaction, parenting, personal environmentalism, relationships Tagged With: eco-kashrut, ecological families, family life and sustainability, green families, Judaism and environmentalism, judaism and sustainability, personal environmentalism, sustainability

We the People: A Response to Evan Thomas and Al Gore

March 2, 2010 by Susan Bodnar

An adolescent with whom I work discussed the complexity of privilege. “My parents paid just over $12,000.00 for our family to go on a 5-day wilderness backpacking trip, with a service that provides the gear, the food, a plane to transport you there and a guide. I loved it and it changed me, like any […]

Filed Under: climate change, ecopsychcology, human animal interaction, personal environmentalism Tagged With: AL Gore NYT, climate change, ecological unconscious. human relationship to nature, Evan Thomas Newsweeek, excess living, ground up environmental change, human relationship to nature, personal environmentalism, pschological aspects of climate change, sustainability