Course Description
The UC Climate Resilience course is designed to promote hope, collective empowerment, and a map for individual climate action projects integrated within our communities.
The course is co-directed by Drs. Jyoti Mishra of UCSD and Elissa Epel of UCSF, two leaders at the intersection of climate change and mental health, and co-leaders of the UC-wide Center for Climate, Health and Equity: Mental Health Initiative.
This course has well-known professors as faculty leaders at 10 UC campuses, who will lead their local in-person experiential sessions.
To impact transformational resilience, the class will offer both educational content as online video lectures and experiential classroom sessions to build group cohesion.
Online Lectures
The online lectures are contributed by international leaders in climate science and action. These leaders also participate as the board of advisors for this course to help foster future climate leaders, champions, and ambassadors.
In-Person Sessions
The in-person sessions will be held in two small groups each led by the course faculty leader and a mindfulness-trained instructor. These sessions are designed to build shared learning skills, process climate-change-related distress in a safe space, and build social support and community collaboration on individual and collective action, culminating in class climate projects.
Course Learning Objectives
01.
Transform personal climate distress into action
02.
Develop climate resilience skills, including mindfulness, psychological resilience, and emotional regulation in the context of climate change and climate despair
03.
Develop skills in nature-embedded mindfulness restoration
04.
Learn best practices for climate advocacy
05.
Learn climate communication: how to discuss climate with others
06.
Understand the power of joyful engagement, become knowledgeable climate action ambassadors for coping with the meta-crisis, promoting change, and effective climate communications and advocacy
07.
Create connections with each other
08.
Assimilate essential concepts of Think Global, Act Local, that actions of each individual matter, and that Climate Action is the Work of a Lifetime