Thomas and Panu welcome Quebecois psychologist Karine St. Jean as their first guest on the podcast. Karine practices mindfulness and uses Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) in her climate-focused work with clients in Montreal, Canada. In a wide ranging discussion, the three discuss the value of sitting with challenging feelings and maintaining flexibility in terms of sustainability action. Karine emphasizes the value in “meaningful faith” and finding “collective meaning” in honoring the positive and negative emotions that come up around issues of the environment. Thomas recognizes some important works that integrate Buddhism and ecology as well as concepts like hyper-empathy that take on added meaning in the context of the climate crisis. Panu rounds out the discussion by introducing the concept of “binocular vision” as a way to hold multiple emotions in awareness as we grapple with complex 21st century dilemmas.

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