Wellness Resources

Thinking about climate change can be scary and solastalgia is real! This guide provides a brief list of avenues, tools, and readings to help you know that you’re not alone and to work with the stress and anxiety of these times.

If there’s one single message we hope you come away with, it’s that dealing with climate change (and life) is not a journey to take alone. There are a lot of people wrestling with climate change, its intersections, and its impacts both in and out of Swarthmore. 

We’re not mental health professionals, so please don’t hesitate to touch base to CAPS, other campus resources, and any other mental health services you may have access to.

That said, we are always available to chat. Reach out to sustainability@swarthmore.edu or directly to any of us in the Office of Sustainability. Additionally, we’ve included some resources below for personal exploration. 

Resources and Readings

• A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet by Sarah Jaquette Ray ‘98 (Available through Tripod here)

• How to Fight Climate Despair

• Hot Take Podcast + Newsletter

• On Being Podcast

Meditation is a great way to center yourself, to practice becoming not quite-so caught-up in negative feelings, and to learn to respond to yourself and the world in a more compassionate way. Here are a few resources helpful for beginners and more experienced practitioners alike:

• Mindfulness in Plain English

• Headspace - $10 a year with @swarthmore.edu, intro course is free

• Tara Brach Meditations and her RAIN Framework

• Great Meditation

• InterFaith Center Weekly Meditations

Additional activities to clear your head might include:

• Getting outside! Enjoy Crum Woods trails and our campus-wide Scott Arboretum

• Check out a movement class! There are many wellness offerings at the Matchbox.

Get involved in Sustainability at Swarthmore!

• Reach out to your Green Advisors to learn about how you can engage with sustainability in your residential hall

• Stop by an Office of Sustainability Office Hours (check out SwatCentral for the next date) 

• Join us for the Climate Essentials workshop series

• Attend a Council on the Uncertain Human Future Session 

• Apply to the Green Advisors Program or President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship

• Join a student group!