Facing the Storm: Holding Grief, Anxiety, and Deep Emotion during the Climate Crisis
An interactive futures salon to explore the emotional dimensions of climate change, and how we might move from paralysis to action.
In a time of accelerating environmental change, many of us are carrying unspoken burdens—grief for vanishing ecosystems, anxiety for the future, and a sense of helplessness in the face of planetary loss. “Facing the Storm” is a salon-style gathering that brings together voices from diverse disciplines—science, business, futures and foresight, storytelling, mental health, activism, and art—to explore the emotional dimensions of climate change.
Through a series of short, powerful talks, invited speakers will share personal reflections, professional insights, and community-based responses to the emotional toll of climate change. Following the presentations, we’ll open the space for facilitated discussion, offering participants the chance to connect, reflect, and imagine ways to move from paralysis to participation.
This evening is not about solutions in the technical sense—it is about making space for feeling, for shared mourning, and for finding solidarity in uncertainty. Whether you are a climate professional, an artist, an activist, or simply someone who feels deeply, you are welcome here.
Program
7:00-7:25 Meditative Sound Offering
7:25-7:35 Introduction
7:35-8:05 Facing the Storm Panel
8:05-9:00 Interactive discussion and Networking
Sound artist
Nour Batyne
Nour Batyne is a multidisciplinary artist, facilitator, and creative producer whose work lies at the intersection of immersive storytelling, futures thinking, and social change. She is the Founder of One of Many, an experience design studio dedicated to bridging healing and justice by connecting people with what it means to be a Future Ancestor.
One of Many’s flagship offering is a creative residency set in the Wadi Rum Desert of the Rift Valley in present-day Jordan. This immersive experience gathers multidisciplinary creators, leaders, and changemakers from around the world to elevate the most critical conversations of our generation. The residency has gathered over 30 creators to bear witness to and address one of the world’s most acute water crises.
Panelists
Talya Chalef
Talya Chalef is a South African–Australian experience designer, theatre and creative director, and producer specializing in immersive storytelling and narrative change. She creates projects that bring people together in unexpected ways - whether designing fifteen-foot puppets at the Border Wall, building interactive Choose Your Own Adventure performances at IKEA, or leading experience design as Head of Experience & Operations at PopShift, a nonprofit fostering more empathetic, inclusive narratives in Hollywood. She has created projects and participated in residencies across the globe and, in a time of deep polarization, is especially drawn to out-of-the-box collaborations that invite people to think, feel, and connect more deeply with one another www.talyachalef.com
Rajiv Joshi
Rajiv Joshi is a Scottish, Kenyan-Indian economist, strategist, and motivated movement builder with extensive senior executive management experience. A seasoned campaigner and entrepreneur, he has led some of the world’s largest alliances, campaigns, and social movements advancing climate justice, economic justice, and human rights. As Decisive Decade Initiative Lead Author at M2020, convened by Christiana Figueres, and as a senior political strategist, he has played pivotal roles in initiatives such as The B Team, the UN Campaign for the SDGs, and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, working with CEOs, union leaders, and former heads of state. He has also supported The Elders, including Mary Robinson and Nelson Mandela, helped launch the We Mean Business coalition to secure #NetZeroBy2050, and co-founded the Global Recovery Collective to drive vaccine equity during the pandemic. Rajiv currently serves as Executive in Residence at Oxford Saïd Business School and as a Fellow at Columbia University’s Climate School.
Kate Ogden
Kate Ogden has spent 16+ years advancing global advocacy and activism efforts, building campaigns that spark systemic change. She has demonstrated expertise in building a vision and strategy for driving systemic change across the corporate, public, and non-profit sectors. Her proven approach combines data-backed insights with human-centered storytelling to make the case for change, build alignment, and spark engagement. A natural people leader, Kate is dedicated to empowering others to take action, while balancing visionary thinking that challenges the status quo with hands-on, boots-on-the-ground execution.
Shalanda H. Baker
Shalanda H. Baker is the inaugural Vice Provost for Sustainability and Climate Action at the University of Michigan. She joined the university after serving as the Senate-confirmed Director of the Office of Energy Justice and Equity, Secretarial Advisor on Equity, and Chief Diversity Officer at the United States Department of Energy. Prior to that, she served in the Biden-Harris Administration as the nation’s first Deputy Director for Energy Justice. Before her appointment, she was a Professor of Law, Public Policy, and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University; an associate professor of law at the University of Hawai’i William S. Richardson School of Law; and on the faculty at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Shalanda holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the United States Air Force Academy, a Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law, and an LLM from the University of Wisconsin School of Law. Her book, Revolutionary Power: An Activist’s Guide to the Energy Transition, argues that energy policy is the next domain to advance civil rights (Island Press 2021).
Faclitators
Julienne DeVita
Julienne is a designer turned futures practitioner encouraging people to think, feel, and act differently for the long-term. As the founder of Liminal, a design futures agency, she blends strategic foresight, systems thinking, and design methodologies to develop strategies 5+ years into the future. Julienne is an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design where she teaches courses across AI, design, and strategic foresight. She conducts research with the university at the intersection of creativity, AI, and the future of labor. She is co-founder of the embodied futures collective, and chapter lead of Futures Friends NYC.
Alisha Bhagat
Alisha Bhagat is the Head of Futures at Forum for the Future, a global sustainability organization, where she leads projects focused on climate impacts, equity, and sustainable development. She specializes in participatory foresight methods and is currently developing a wargame on the energy transition. Her partners at Forum include philanthropies, academic institutions, and global companies. Alisha is a frequent speaker on the role of imagination in systems change and through the Diaspora Futures Collective explores how different cultures model and shape the future. She is part-time faculty at the New School and teaches futures and design. When not thinking about the future, Alisha is a sci-fi enthusiast and avid gamer.