Ground Up Environmental Change

Limits Sustain People and the Environment

July 15, 2011 by Susan Bodnar Leave a Comment

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 […]

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Going Outside as a Mental Health Strategy

June 27, 2011 by Susan Bodnar 3 Comments

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 5 Comments

(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 […]

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People Don’t Always Act in their Best Interest

March 9, 2010 by Susan Bodnar Leave a Comment

Some people have been debating whether or not scientists should become climate change activists or if they should stick to the data. The concern is that the general population seems less worried about environmental issues. Given our culture’s typical reliance on external solutions to problems, it doesn’t surprise me that journalists and pundits are looking […]

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

March 2, 2010 by Susan Bodnar Leave a Comment

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 […]

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The Pope says Green Begins at Home

January 5, 2010 by Susan Bodnar Leave a Comment

In his New Year’s address, the pope called on Catholics (and I assume the rest of us can participate) to consider protecting the environment a personal responsibility as well as a political event. The Pope said, “An objective shared by all, an indispensable condition for peace, is that of overseeing the earth’s natural resources with […]

Filed Under: climate change, ethics, personal environmentalism, politics, Uncategorized Tagged With: Copenhagen, environment, ground up environmental change, personal environmentalism, Pope's new year address, relationship to nature