Jennifer Atkinson presents at Washington Climate Assembly

IAS faculty member Jennifer Atkinson presented her work on climate anxiety at the Washington Climate Assembly. Washington state residents are taking climate matters into their own hands as 90 members of the public join the country's first climate assembly to develop a comprehensive community-based climate plan.

Representing every congressional district in the state, assembly members will convene from January through March to discuss climate pollution, reach a consensus and forward their recommendations to the state Legislature. Experts including Atkinson have been invited to share research and make policy recommendations related to different aspects of climate change.

In February, Atkinson also gave talks on eco-anxiety at the University of Massachusetts’s Climate Change Initiative, and participated on the keynote panel at the Washington/Oregon Higher Education Sustainability Conference (WOHESC). During WOHESC, the keynote panel explored the theme of “Eco-grief and climate anxiety: managing the crisis,” which featured Atkinson’s podcast “Facing It,” Sarah Jaquette Ray’s book A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety, and Laura Schmidt’s work as founder of the Good Grief Network.