There’s climate change and then there’s anxiety about climate change

This Chicago winter is waffling between two extremes: unseasonably warm and bitter cold. Either way, it’s getting harder to ignore the evidence of climate change in our forecasts and extreme weather, and that can bring up any number of hard feelings. Libby Bachhuber is a licensed clinical social worker and therapist, and she wants to give people a space to process their “eco anxiety” by hosting “Climate Cafes” around town. She recently collaborated with Haven Denson, the Chicago Conservation Corps Coordinator at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, to bring a Climate Cafe to the museum. In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Denson and Bachhuber about processing eco anxiety and leaning into hope for the future.