Should I Stay, or Should I Go?
A workshop for professionals conflicted about their company's role in the climate crisis.
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If you’ve been grappling with any of the following dilemmas lately, then I highly recommend a one-day workshop Matthew is running with climate psychologist Steffi Bednarek at The Conduit in London next month:
Do you feel conflicted about working in an organisation that doesn’t take climate change and ecological collapse seriously enough?
Are you thinking about leaving, but don’t know whether it’s the right thing?
Would you like to explore your dilemma without being judged, or given advice?
Are you torn between a desire to “insert trouble” into your existing role, or find a new one?
Are you asking what a meaningful life looks like in the context of the climate crisis?
Do these kinds of questions sometimes feel overwhelming or impossible?
Would you like to hear about the experience of others wrestling with similar dilemmas?
With the impacts of climate change hitting harder each year, many of us are experiencing a growing sense of cognitive dissonance between the reality of the situation we’re facing, and the response (or lack of) in the places where we work.
In most companies, it’s tacitly forbidden to voice our fears — or question why our organisations aren’t doing more.
Perhaps we work in finance, media, industry, advertising, the civil service or other systemically important sectors, and feel an increasingly uncomfortable mismatch between the necessity we see for transformational change — and the business-as-usual approach at the top.
Or perhaps we’re sitting with feelings of guilt or shame over acts of commission or omission by our organisations, that we feel could be doing so much more.
We may feel we have nowhere to turn with our dilemmas, reluctant even to open up to loved ones, for fear of overwhelming them, or that they’ll jump in with quick-fix solutions that won’t speak to the depth of the double binds we’re facing.
In recognition of the growing numbers of people questioning their relationship with their employers in the light of the climate crisis, Steffi Bednarek and Matthew are offering a one-day workshop to explore such concerns in a safe, confidential environment.
The idea is not to find “solutions,” but see what happens when we give voice to concerns that may not have a place to land in our workplaces — but nevertheless speak to fundamental questions about our identity and sense of personal responsibility at this consequential time.
Drawing on Steffi’s experience as a climate psychologist and facilitator, and Matthew’s experiencing quitting a prestigious role in a global corporation due to his climate concerns, this session will provide a place to witness each other’s processes around these dilemmas, and see what might open up as a result.
The cost is £285 with lunch included. We’re offering an early bird price of £250 until November 7. Places have already started to go so please book early to avoid disappointment!
Meet Your Facilitators
Steffi Bednarek
“I work at the intersection between climate change, complexity theory, and the human psyche.
I support leaders, teams, and organizations to develop the competencies and frameworks of care needed to face complexity without collapsing into inaction, to think trans-contextually without losing focus, and to nurture sustainable development while neither denying nor amplifying the challenges ahead. I support teams to confront difficult truths with resilience, ecological awareness, and a regenerative outlook.
With 25 years of experience in systemic change, complexity thinking, and climate psychology, combined with my own experience of leading teams and consulting organizations, I address the urgent need for regenerative change in ways that go beyond the mere correction of what is visible and measurable on the surface. My work delves into the deeper conditions that hold a problem in place.
I have worked for national governments, the corporate sector, global financial institutions, the sustainability sector, The Council of Europe, and large NGOs.
My work has been featured in the Huffington Post, the BBC, and numerous international publications and podcasts. Clients include BNY Mellon, Estee Lauder Companies, the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trust and many others.
I initiated and founded national and international projects, headed up mental health services and trauma intervention centres, co-founded the journal 'Explorations into Climate Psychology' and an education project for the Ministry of Education in Luxembourg.
I am an Associate of the Climate Psychology Alliance, 'Firekeeper' at the World Ethics Forum, and Associate of the American Psychological Association’s Climate Change Community of Practitioners.”
Matthew Green
“I quit a prestigious role due to my company’s lacklustre response to the climate crisis, and know how difficult the decision can be.
After many years working as an international correspondent for the Financial Times and Reuters, including in Iraq, Afghanistan and across Africa, I was rehired as a climate correspondent by Reuters in 2019.
Despite cherishing the role, my growing disillusionment with the company’s response to the climate crisis prompted me to quit in April 2022, and take up a position as global investigations editor at the nonprofit climate news service DeSmog.
The decision wasn’t easy.
Though I’m far happier now, I’ve had to navigate the conflicting financial, psychological and career pressures associated with a move from a secure position in a global media organisation employing 2,500 journalists to a tiny nonprofit with a handful of full-time staff. I’ve attempted to distil some of what I’ve learned in my weekly newsletter Toxic Workplace Survival Guy.
In parallel, I’ve devoted much of my spare time to understanding the role of individual, collective and inter-generational trauma in driving the climate crisis — a quest I document in my newsletter Resonant World.
In December, I completed the two-year Timeless Wisdom Training in the principles of trauma healing with Thomas and team, and am now training as a collective trauma integration facilitator. I’m a co-host of the Climate Consciousness Summit 2024, which brings together luminaries from the climate and trauma world.
This summer, I launched the Resonant Man initiative with my friend Jacob Kishere to provide spaces for men to step into greater vulnerability, authenticity and connection.
I live in southwest London with my wife Genevieve, a clinical psychologist, parenting coach and creator of the Resonant Parenting Project, and our six-year-old daughter Matilda. Our idea of a good time is making our annual pilgrimage to Medicine Festival, camping at Pitchcott Farm, or visiting ROARR!, a dinosaur park in Norfolk.”
Weekly Men’s Circles Starting This Month
and and are launching weekly men’s circles as the backbone of their Resonant Man initiative, starting this Sunday, November 10. Details here.
