Ecology, Attention, Action Discussion Group

hands on tree trunk istock

Environmental collapse permeates our lives, creating anxiety, depression, helplessness, anger. One known path towards healing and towards collective action is to come into a more tangible relationship with our environments. This begins with what we call ecological attention: A deepened focus on relationships among organisms and environments. When we leave our labs, screens, and classrooms to move out into the world, we ground our sense of ecological health/unhealth in the experiential as well as the theoretical. We reawaken awareness of ecological beauty, strangeness, and complexity, including the sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste of the environments that house and sustain us. This deepened awareness leads to a desire for care. A desire for care leads to a desire to act. Ecology, Attention, Action. 

What?

With support from the College of Arts and Sciences Expanding Horizons Initiative, we're hosting a monthly discussion group centered on this concept.

Who? 

Open to all (students, faculty, staff, community members, visitors).

When?

About once a month on a Friday in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025, 12:45-2pm (CWRU "Community Hour"). 10/11, 11/8, 12/6, 1/17, 2/14, 2/28, 4/11, 5/9

Where?

Classroom-based meetings held at 11635 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH (click here for a map), room 140. Excursions take place at nearby locations, details below.

Register

Optional but appreciated, click here to register

Type

Excursion plus lunch. Meet at 11635 Euclid Ave for a quick lunch and short walk around the area. You'll meet plants growing in the neighborhood and engage in an "active looking" practice facilitated by Fey Parrill and {to be added}. 

Ecological Attention Focus

Looking. How does shifting our visual attention allow us to reconnect to nature? How can this reconnection awaken a sense of love, and facilitate physical, mental, spiritual, and community well being? 

Reading

If you have time, click here to read this piece by Joanna Macy

Macy, J. (1995). Working through environmental despair. In T. Roszak, M. E. Gomes, & A. D. Kanner (Eds.), Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind (pp. 240-259). Sierra Club Books.

Other notes

To be added

Register

Optional but appreciated, click here to register

Type

Excursion. Meet in Harkness Classroom, which is located in Florence Harkness Memorial Chapel, 11200 Bellflower Road Cleveland, Ohio (click here for map). Lunch will be served, followed by a short urban sound walk. (A sound walk is a walk with a focus on listening to the environment.) After returning to the classroom, we'll do attention exercises (courtesy of the composer Pauline Oliveros). Facilitated by Francesca Brittan. 

Ecological Attention Focus

Listening. How do we perceive and process sound? How do music, noise, silence, and natural soundscapes impact our physical and mental health?

Reading

None!

Other notes

Parking: Guests are encouraged to park in the Campus Center Parking Garage (Lot S-29) when visiting campus (click for map). This garage is underground and the public entrance is located at 11172 East Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44106.

Register

Optional but appreciated, click here to register

Type

Classroom. Meet at 11635 Euclid Ave, Room 140. Lunch provided. Note any dietary restrictions when you register. You'll learn about research on the intersection of religious/spiritual beliefs and nature connection, facilitated by Joshua Wilt, Julie Exline, Sudi Harbool, and Anastasia Frank. 

Ecological Attention Focus

Feeling. How do our religious and spiritual beliefs impact what we attend to, how we feel, and how we make sense of the world. 

Reading

None!
 

Register

Optional but appreciated, click here to register

Type

Tim Beal will facilitate a writing exercise entitled Prayerful Animism: Playing with Inherited Forms

In this creative writing workshop, we will play with the poetic form of the collect (pronounced “CAH-lect,” not “cuh-LECT") as a means of cultivating earth creatureliness in a more than human world. This exercise is for you; sharing anything you write is totally optional.

Ecological Attention Focus

Feeling. How can writing reshape attention and allow us to connect with nature. 

Register

Optional but appreciated, click here to register. 

 
Type

Excursion. Meet at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Ames Family Atrium, 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44106). You'll tour the Rose B. Simpson exhibit Strata (click here to learn more), in a discussion facilitated by Andrea Rager and Car Aldana. 

Admission to the museum is free. See their website for accessibility info: https://www.clevelandart.org/

 

Ecological Attention Focus

Looking. How can seeing works of art through an ecocritical lens help us make sense of and address the climate crisis?

Type

A discussion facilitated by Nárcisz Fejes and {to be added}. 

Ecological Attention Focus

Touching, and Tasting. How can attention to food and food systems facilitate nature connection and systems change?

Reading

 

Other notes
Type

Classroom. Reflecting on our work.

Ecological Attention Focus

All modalities. What have we learned together about looking, listening, feeling, tasting over the course of our meetings. 

Reading

 

Other notes

To be added.
 

Type

Classroom. Wrap up. Where do we want to go next? (Happens after classes have ended.)