Creative Climate Mixer & Workshop w/ Jeff Golden: Centering Joy and Wonder in the Climate Change Movement
Calling all creatives! The Climate Imaginarium is hosting a mixer and workshop to connect artists of all types to create climate stories to be shared at a big open mic in July.
Starting at 1 pm, people will mingle and break into small groups by creative discipline and vibe and share ideas for new projects and collabs.
At 2 pm we will have a 90-minute workshop led by author Jeff Golden, blending experiential activities, video, short readings, and open discussion to explore the deeper emotional and psychological roots of our climate crisis. Participants will examine why happiness has been steadily declining in the U.S. since the 1940s despite material and financial gains, and why money accounts for only a small fraction of our overall well-being. The session investigates how modern levels of consumption reflect a deeper poverty, particularly in the ways we rely on work and money to fill emotional voids. This leads to a powerful reflection on how our societal narratives around success, possessions, and happiness are not only unfulfilling but also directly tied to environmental degradation. Drawing from the wisdom of thinkers like Brené Brown, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Rumi, the workshop invites a reimagining of climate work as a pathway to richer, more meaningful lives rooted in vulnerability, presence, and joy.
This workshop will be paired with a Climate Cafe, creating a space for participants to process the emotional dimensions of the content—such as grief, anxiety, and hope—through open, supportive conversation. Together, the event offers both insight and connection and find renewed purpose in the climate movement.
About the Author:
Jeff Golden, M.Ed., is the author of Reclaiming the Sacred, winner of the Nautilus Grand Prize and named Best Environmental Book of 2023 by IndieReader. He has written and taught about these topics for over thirty years, most recently as a scholar-in-residence at Vassar College. He is a former Fulbright Scholar in sustainable development, he was awarded the US State Department’s Millennium International Volunteer Award, and he has headed several nonprofits dedicated to the environment and social justice. He has worked with Nobel Peace Prize laureates, he was the lead on the creation of one of the greenest certified buildings in the US, and he has penned a monthly column on sustainability.