Climate Anxiety Washed Away by the Sea

In August 2024, H4C Founder Rev’d Dr Charlotte Bannister-Parker completed the final phase of the ‘Act of Lamentation’ that began at Marmalade Festival back in April. During our session the festival of social change, participants were encouraged to make a note of feelings or acts (of commission or omission) that they felt regret about in the context of creation care, and write them on pebbles and shells collected by Charlotte from the beach at Lindisfarne (Holy Island). By collectively acknowledging and expressing penitence for their previous limitations as environmental stewards, participants were able to let go of their negativity which forms part of the paralysing forces of climate anxiety. Correspondingly, these pebbles were then released back into the sea, reminding us all of our connection to nature, and the sense in which environmental stewardship is a process and a journey rather than a single static event. Watch a short video of Charlotte on the beach at Cley Next-The-Sea, North Norfolk:

Some examples of the regrets our participants expressed:

“Ignorance”

“Complacency”

“Not taking more action”

“Please take my sadness that I do not feel brave enough to face”

This process is one of the key steps to the fostering of climate agency that is at the centre of our charity’s mission. Click here to read more about our work.