Climate Crisis Culture Jenny Fraser Harris & Eilidh McLaughlin

“The whole process of bringing a child into the world (and mothering) has really made me look at myself and my resilience. I don’t think I was all that resilient before…but there’s something about the urgency of getting to the truth and really sorting out myself as a role model to her. I want my daughter to grow up with resilience and have a strong sense of her values and I need to model them for her in these early years. Facing these difficult truths, being able to sit with them and still contribute and function…I want to acknowledge the environmental breakdown, the broken systems, the political shitshow but I want to get to the place where I feel empathy for people in such denial and that’s what I want to model and embody. 
 
I believe that all these things that are good for our personal wellbeing are good for the planet too and it’s about how we show up in the world - the West needs to stop devaluing these feminine principles and then there would be a shift out of the systems which are destroying the world!”
 
As women in their mid thirties who have a deep level of awareness around the climate crisis, hosts Jenny Fraser Harris and Eilidh McLaughlin thought it important to talk next about a deeply personal and somewhat controversial topic: Motherhood. 
 
There is a strong connection between mothering and environmental advocacy - existentially, when thinking about Mother Nature, and more practically, when asking what motherhood and parenting looks like in a time of climate crisis, and how, as women, birthing people and mothers, we adapt.
 
At the time of recording Jenny and Eilidh were both at unique points in their Motherhoods - Eilidh was just about to have a baby and Jenny, who already has one child, was at the precipice of a big decision about having another - so it was an ideal time to explore this topic. This episode aims to present some thoughts and experiences on their own journeys with the hope of helping listeners process this emotional and very personal topic.
 
If you enjoy this episode please give it a like/review/share on whichever platform you use to download or listen! Follow us on Instagram @climatecrisisculture @jfraserharris @creative.sustainability or find us at https://climatecrisisculture.podbean.com/  
 
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Hosts: Jenny Fraser Harris and Eilidh McLaughlin
Editing + Artwork: Jenny Fraser Harris
Show Notes: Eilidh McLaughlin
Music: Michael Weldon
 
Links
Check out Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis here
Read Mothering into the Anthropocene by Kailea Frederick here
More info on Spilt Milk Gallery here
More about Pregnant athen Screwed here
Get involved with: Parents For Future here
Mothers Rise Up
Caroline Hickman study here

“It comes to this point: are my individual needs greater than the environment’s needs?”
 
Upon reaching a milestone of 1000+ downloads, hosts Eilidh McLaughlin and Jenny Fraser Harris release episode ten of their podcast Climate Crisis Culture. Having watched the new Netflix blockbuster Don’t Look Up, this episode explores environmental and climate apathy.
 
Using the film as a cultural reference and starting point they recognise the parallels between real life and ‘make believe’, trying to understand what roles different actors in society play when thinking about climate apathy - namely the media, politicians, scientists and citizens. In examining what apathy is, why it occurs and what they can do about it, the hosts reflect on personal experiences to understand how apathy occurs within their own lives.
 
If you enjoyed this episode please give it a review on whichever platform you use to download or listen! Follow us on Instagram @climatecrisisculture @jfraserharris @creative.sustainability or find us at https://climatecrisisculture.podbean.com/  
 
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Hosts: Jenny Faser Harris and Eilidh McLaughlin
Editing + Artwork: Jenny Fraser Harris
Show Notes: Eilidh McLaughlin
Music: Michael Weldon
 
Links
Check out Mona Chalabi’s work here
Sign up to the Plastic Free July campaign here
Learn more about the Don’t Look Up Climate Platform here
Read the To Mend a Nation article here
Read the Ben Okri article here
Watch the Solli Raphael x Greenpeace "Let's Make More Minutes Count" video here

"With the practical things we do it can sometimes feel like sacrifice and that's not a good space to feel like you're living life from. This feeling of giving things up, as human beings we don't want to live like that. We want to live in a full, joyful, happy, nourishing way...and we need arts and culture to show us how to do that. To see that a better world is possible and that we're not sacrificing, we're not giving up, we're just living in a different, better way for both us and the planet."
 
In a break from the usual structure, hosts Eilidh McLaughlin and Jenny Fraser Harris debrief their differing and shared experiences of COP26 in the 9th episode of their podcast, Climate Crisis Culture. 
 
Tune in to catch this honest and heartfelt conversation which details the ups and downs of their personal experiences during the two weeks of COP26.
 
If you enjoyed this episode please give it a review on whichever platform you use to download or listen! Follow us on Instagram @climatecrisisculture @jfraserharris @creative.sustainability or find us at https://climatecrisisculture.podbean.com/  
 
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Hosts: Jenny Faser Harris and Eilidh McLaughlin
Editing + Artwork: Jenny Fraser Harris
Show Notes: Eilidh McLaughlin
Music: Michael Weldon
 
Links
Kill the Bill campaign
Trash Plastic by Sophie Tait
Emi Mahmoud
George Monbiot Article

“Being there is vital for my outlook and hope for life because it can feel really heavy and hard to deal with the climate crisis. I think being there and being part of this thing will give me hope and remind me of why humans and life and being on this planet are amazing. I need that hope. And I think, especially with the last 18 months, doing events via Zoom and not with other people who are giving you that nourishment. People are beautiful and the world is beautiful, and I just need to be there for my own sanity! ”
Climate Crisis Culture podcast hosts Eilidh McLaughlin and Jenny Fraser Harris take on COP26 in this short one off episode which delves into what COP is, why it’s so important and what the potential problems with it are.
As well as defining and describing COP they confess their hopes and fears for the event, and discuss what role art and culture plays in the communication of the complex information and messages being discussed.
Watch out for their top highlights as they spotlight some great events happening both on and offline during the talks.
If you enjoyed this episode please give it a review on whichever platform you use to download or listen! Follow us on Instagram @climatecrisisculture @jfraserharris @creative.sustainability or find us at https://climatecrisisculture.podbean.com/ 

“The world that we talked about that we're so fearful of - yes that is happening but it doesn't need to be what we imagine. This fear of the future really gets me because what could be the future could be so amazing! Our lives don't need to be less than or deemed shit in comparison to what we had. And the world we could live in could be SO enriching and SO amazing but how do we communicate that? How do we get society to understand that by transitioning to this world that is better for the planet, we're not giving up loads of shit, we're giving up the stuff that doesn't matter! In turn we're going to move forward into this beautiful potential life that is so much more enriching.”
In this new series of Climate Crisis Culture, podcast hosts Eilidh McLaughlin and Jenny Fraser Harris are back with a bang! Off the back of the release of the IPCC report, this episode explores climate fear: what it is, why we feel it and what we can do about it. 
What are our personal fears relating specifically to the climate crisis, and what is the route of these fears? How can we make ourselves feel better about the climate crisis while actually taking action to combat it? How is our mental and physical health so intricately linked with the health of the planet and nature? How can we face this fear and turn it into positive action?
Significant mentions of: Anthropologist Aet Annist, COP 26 and the IPCC report, Kardashians in a bunker, over consumption and Earth Overshoot Day, autonomy and self care, filmmaker John Akomfrah, photographer Mitch Epstein and fear tactics, Gen Dread, the Climate Psychology Alliance and of course, as we do in every episode, the magnificent Caroline Hickman!
If you enjoyed this episode please give it a review on whichever platform you use to download or listen! Follow us on Instagram @climatecrisisculture @jfraserharris @creative.sustainability or find us at https://climatecrisisculture.podbean.com/  
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Hosts: Jenny Faser Harris and Eilidh McLaughlin
Editing + Artwork: Jenny Fraser Harris
Show Notes: Eilidh McLaughlin
Music: Michael Weldon
Links
View Mitch Epstein’s American Power collection here.
Read about John Akomfrah’s installation here.
Read more about All We Can Save x Gen Dread here.
Sign a petition to stop the Cambo oil field here.
Sign up for the Climate Reality Project Leadership training here.
Read all about COP26 here.

“These creatures provide us with so much and these ecosystems keep us alive, yet we can’t seem to grasp it (the loss). And that’s what’s so important about what artists and musicians do - they cultivate that connection, they cultivate that love and that feeling for these things that are essentially abstract. Things you don’t know on a personal level, but that you ultimately need for survival.”
In the sixth episode (and final of season one) of Climate Crisis Culture, podcast hosts Eilidh McLaughlin and Jenny Fraser Harris explore loss. This episode is a personal one. Both women suffered great personal loss - each losing their mother in their early twenties. A couple of years later they met through work and went on to form a deep bond over this devastating shared experience. 
Jenny and Eilidh use the time in this podcast to discuss their journeys through grief and how the loss has impacted their understanding of the climate crisis. They also talk about the deep sense of loss associated with ecosystem collapse, exploring how this compares to personal loss and if and how the two are connected. 
Significant mentions of: Thanatology (the study of death), ecological grief, shifting baseline theory, Solastalgia, the anticipation of loss, Naomi Klein, planetary crisis vs climate crisis, and the importance of creative practice as a coping mechanism for loss.
If you enjoyed this episode please give it a review on whichever platform you use to download or listen! Follow us on Instagram @climatecrisisculture @creative.sustainability @jfraserharris or find us at https://climatecrisisculture.podbean.com/  
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Hosts: Jenny Faser Harris and Eilidh McLaughlin
Editing + Artwork: Jenny Fraser Harris
Show Notes: Eilidh McLaughlin
Music: Michael Weldon
 
Links
Read more about Climate Cafes here.
Listen to / buy Anohni’s album Hopelessness here.
Read more about ‘Ice Watch’ by Olafur Eliasson here.
Check out The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris here.
The Red Hand Files by Nick Cave here.