Dekila Chungyalpa, founder and director of the Loka Initiative at the Center for Healthy Minds, presents “Art in the Right Place: Spiritual Ecology and Sacred Landscapes,” a presentation about the intersection of spirituality, art, and environment on Sunday, August 7, 2022 at 2pm. This free event is the final program associated with the Between Spaces exhibition by Kelly Parks Snider.
Chungyalpa has worked on climate change issues for more than 20 years and strives to bring contemplative practices that address eco-anxiety and climate distress to the public. She will share techniques to help people cope with emotions and, in the long term, build inner resilience.
According to the Climate Psychology Alliance, ecological anxiety (eco-anxiety) is the most frequently used term in literature and research to describe heightened emotional, mental or somatic distress in response to dangerous changes in the climate system.
“Climate change has moved from the sidelines to center stage in the past few years. The public is awake to the implications of what is at stake; a world of accelerated and intensified natural disasters such as wildfires, droughts, floods, hurricanes and storms, increased economic upheavals, health crises and political instability,” said Chungyalpa. “Not surprisingly, as we begin to understand exactly how environmental and climate issues affect us, our lives and those we love, our anxiety and concern have grown in tandem.”
Research suggests that people at the frontlines of environmental and climate issues, disaster-impacted populations, Indigenous peoples, younger generations and environmental scientists and professionals are uniquely affected by environmental and climate issues' psychological and emotional impacts because they overwhelmingly bear the costs.
“Many of them combat anxiety, a chronic sense of doom, anger and feelings of helplessness regarding these issues despite working actively to avert, adapt to or mitigate the impacts,” said Chungyalpa.
This project is supported by Dane Arts and the Madison Arts Commission with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board, Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. Header image: detail of applique by Leslie Nyugen.