It’s hard to get your head around climate change. And it’s not just you – our brains simply aren’t wired to think about problems at that scale. And why would they be? Understandably, this can lead to all kinds of mental outcomes that don’t actually solve the problem. In fact, it’s counterproductive.
Dr. Sarah Jaquette Ray is an author and professor of Environmental Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt. On Climate Magic, she connects the dots between how you feel about the climate and your agency to do something about it. She explores the big and small questions about your relationship with the climate: what happens to your own mental health when you’re proactive about climate solutions? What do we know about PTSD for wildfire survivors? How do culture and your brain conspire to make you want to stick your head in the sand? What exactly is climate anxiety, and how can someone get past it? What’s Gen Z got to say about it all?
She’ll also highlight the everyday citizens who are rolling up their sleeves, despite–and because of — their debilitating despair. Climate Magic is about the emotional life of climate politics. You want to thrive in the Anthropocene, and the planet needs you to tap the root of your inner skills to build a better world. It’s not rocket science… it’s Climate Magic.
Climate Magic is recorded in association with Cal Poly Humboldt. To find show notes, transcriptions, and more information about each episode insert link (khsu).
S1: E1 – Climate Magic: Neuroscience and Climate Trauma, with Jyoti Mishra
S1: E2 – Climate Change and Mental Health, with Sarah Newman
S1: E3 – Eco-grief on the Frontline, with Ashlee Cunsolo
S1: E4 – How Climate Affects Your Brain Chemistry with Clayton Page Aldern
S1: E5 – Climate Anxiety and the Kid Question, with Jade Sasser
S1: E6 – Living in Alignment, with Bonita Eloise Ford
S1: E7 – Keanu Arpels-Josiah on Youth Climate Activism
S1: E8 – Dana Fisher on Apocalyptic Optimism
S1: E9 – Sarah Stein Lubrano on How to Change the 21st-century Mind
S1: E10 – Neuroscience and hope in the face of climate change with Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime
S1: E11 – “Black to the Ocean”, with Kory Lamberts
S1: E12 – Anya Kamenetz: “What do we owe the next generation?”
S2: E1 – “Thinking Like an Oak Tree” with Dr. Katharine Wilkinson
S2: E2 – Isaias Hernandez is “Queer, Brown, Vegan, & Climate-Hopeful”
S2: E3 – Faith Kearns believes that better communication can save the world
S2: E4 – Dave Powell: “This is Your Brain on Climate”
S2: E5 – Rabbi Ora Nitkin-Kaner on “The Firehose of Alarms”
S2: E6 – Leslie Davenport on “Nervous systems for systems change”
S2: E7 – Parenting in the climate crisis with Elizabeth Bechard
S2: E8 – “The Identity Politics of Climate Anxiety,” with Rebecca Weston
S2: E9 – Rethinking your final act: the climate case for green burial with Mallory McDuff
S2:10 – Coming March 2026
S2: E11 -Coming April 2026
S2: E12 – Coming April 2026
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Sarah Jaquette Ray 