Circles Session 1
Begin
My heart is moved by all I cannot save:
so much has been destroyed
I have to cast my lot with those
who age after age, perversely,
with no extraordinary power,
reconstitute the world.
—Adrienne Rich
🎵 Welcome Tune (optional)
Right Down the Line by Lucius
🌱 Opening
Read Adrienne Rich quote that opens All We Can Save.
💫 Introductions
Welcome everyone. Express enthusiasm for the start of this collective journey. Then, begin a round of introductions using this prompt.
Prompt: Share your name, pronouns, and what made you say “yes” to this invitation. Then “popcorn” to someone else. (Circle leader should go first and model this.)
🌻 Agreements
Share these agreements for Circle dialogue. Then, welcome any questions, comments, or suggested additions. Request affirmation from the group (verbal “yes” or thumbs up).
Generous: We will ask open and generous questions, offer our own stories and ideas generously, and listen to one another with a generosity of spirit.
Equitable: We will have a single conversation—one voice at a time, with roughly equal time to share. We will each step up or step back with awareness of our own proclivities and privilege.
Confidential: We will ensure that sharings made within our Circle are not shared beyond it, unless someone gives clear permission to do so.
Growing: We will lean into learning, welcome diverse opinions and perspectives, and support our mutual growth in knowledge and power.
Courageous: We will bring our heads and hearts to this space, holding hard truths while looking towards what is possible and how we can best contribute.
Joyful: We will divest from perfection, performance, and posturing. We will welcome laughter, soak up the light when it comes, and celebrate progress and one another.
Additional agreements for this Circle?
☀️ Discussion
Move through 3 generous questions, ensuring everyone has a chance to share.
Do you think of yourself as a climate feminist? If so, what does that identity mean to you? If not, how does it feel to try it on?
What are the qualities of feminine/feminist climate leadership, and where do you see it emerging?
If “what we pay attention to grows,” what do you want to pay attention to and grow over these 10 sessions together?
📓 Journal Prompt
Offer the following journal prompt, for those who may want to reflect and write between this session and the next one.
Prompt: How did your climate journey begin? What/who influenced you?
🔧 Workplace Exploration (optional)
If you’re doing a Circle in the workplace, offer the following prompt for exploration between this session and the next one. (You may also want to email/message it.)
Prompt: Does your organization have sustainability/climate goals and initiatives? If so, what stakes has your workplace already put in the ground? Do they seem to match the seriousness of the climate crisis? If not, are there examples at other organizations that inspire you?
🌙 Closing
Express gratitude. Remind group of next session date/time. Finally, read the prose poem summary of All We Can Save to close (p. xxii–xxiv).
Additional Resources
For those who may wish to watch/listen further—now or down the road—we’ve curated a couple resources related to this section of All We Can Save. Please share these with your Circle after the session.
🎧 How Gender Equality Can Save the Planet podcast episode by A Matter of Degrees and How to Save a Planet (via Apple, Spotify, anywhere you listen to podcasts)
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