What Next?

You did it—hooray! And, you might be wondering… What now? What next?

Many Circles form and then disperse. Others have taken on shared projects. Some have continued to meet and collaborate for years. So much is possible! 

Your Circle may want to gather for another session to explore next steps—collectively and individually—using the questions and resources below. We suggest sharing this list/page with your Circle in advance. Then, take your “What Next” session in whatever direction would best serve the group. (You can also skip the session and just share these resources.)

☀️ Discuss These Generous Questions

• After 10 sessions of connection, what ideas or viewpoints are we taking with us that we hadn’t considered before? What shared concerns or hopes did we unearth in our discussions?

• What remaining questions do we still have as a group? What else do we want to discuss or return to? Are there other people or groups we would like to hear from or engage with?

• What could we do together, within our community/communities or beyond? What superpowers could we collectively leverage/combine? 

🌙 Sustain Your Circle Community

• After listening to the “What Can I Do?” miniseries from A Matter of Degrees, come together to set intentions for personal, professional, and political climate action. 

• Brainstorm a list of possibilities in each category.

• Then, narrow down. What are 2-3 actions to take in the coming season?

• Take the Green New Careers quiz + discuss your roles in a life-giving future.

• Continue engaging generous questions with the Dare to Question Journal. 

• Stay in touch:

• Create a Google, Signal, or WhatsApp group for ongoing communication.

• Gather monthly for support, intentions, accountability, community, collaboration.

• Hold a “reunion” in 1-3 months time and/or in 6-12 months time.

🌱 Grow the Conversation

• Share the anthology and/or additional resources with others.

• Spark a climate conversation with someone new.

• Convene another Circle (perhaps in your workplace).

📖 Deepen Your Knowledge

• Read Sacred Instructions by Sherri Mitchell. (You might do this as a Circle; 3-4 sessions, using a similar facilitation flow.)

• Listen to additional episodes from A Matter of Degrees & How to Save a Planet.

• Explore climate solutions with The Drawdown Review.

🐝 Take Collective Action

• Join/support a climate group, project, or campaign (see the appendix on p. 383-4 of All We Can Save for organizations referenced by essayists).

• Support a climate champion running for office (check out Climate Cabinet Scorecard).

• Get involved in voter registration and mobilization (check out Environmental Voter Project).

⚡️ Make It Professional

• Use your skills as a volunteer (check out Patagonia Action Works).

• Explore ways to bring climate into your current work or role (check out Climate Solutions at Work).

• Seek out new opportunities with greater climate focus (check out job boards shared here).

🛠️ Change Your Systems

• Move your money out of fossil fuels and into climate solutions (check out Marilyn Waite’s list of resources).

• Electrify everything, tapping into funds available through the Inflation Reduction Act (check out Rewiring America’s “Go Electric!” guide).

• Go renewable (check out Solar United Neighbors).

💛 Continue Feeling & Healing

• Seek out a climate-aware therapist (check out the climate-aware therapist directory, the Climate Psychology Alliances in North America and the United Kingdom, the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, and Psychologists for Future).

• Tap into “emotional methodologies” to build courage, acceptance, and inner resilience (check out The Work That Reconnects and The Good Grief Network).

• Draw on online resource hubs (check out Eco-Anxious Stories and Gen Dread).

💌 Stay in Touch with AWCS

• Sign up for our monthly newsletter with curated art and poetry, upcoming programs, and updates on our work → sign up here.

• Follow us on social media for nourishment, wisdom, and announcements (Instagram, LinkedIn, the artist formerly known as Twitter)

• Share your Circles experience via this short survey.